Understanding Chapter 13

Chapter 13 of the Minnesota Statutes — the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (MGDPA) — is the law that decides who can see data collected, created, or kept by Minnesota government entities: state agencies, counties, cities, school districts, and similar bodies. Its starting premise, in section 13.03, subdivision 1, is simple: all government data is public unless a specific state or federal law says otherwise. The rest of the chapter is mostly a very long list of those exceptions — which data is private, confidential, or nonpublic, and under what conditions someone can still get access to it anyway.

Two other things worth knowing up front:

• "Public" data can be seen by anyone, for any reason (or no reason) — the requester doesn't have to explain why they want it.
• "Private" or "confidential" data is restricted to certain people, most often the person the data is about (called a "data subject"). This is exactly why the Act draws such a sharp line, described below, between the general public's right to see public data and a data subject's separate right to see data about themselves.

These two sections get confused constantly because they both start with "a person can request data" — but they answer different questions and apply to different data.

Before a government entity collects private or confidential data directly from you, Section 13.04, subdivision 2 generally requires it to give you a notice — nicknamed a "Tennessen warning" after the 1975 court case that prompted it — covering four specific things: (1) why it wants the data and what it'll be used for, (2) whether you're legally required to give it or can refuse, (3) what happens either way if you refuse, and (4) who else is authorized to see it. One notable exception: this notice isn't required when law enforcement is collecting investigative data as part of an investigation.

Section 13.43 covers data about people who work for or are engaged by a government entity — and it explicitly reaches further than just employees: it also covers volunteers and independent contractors. A request about someone with a government contract is generally analyzed under this section, not as a general "contracts" search.

Generally public: name, gross salary, job title, employment dates, work location, the existence and final disposition of any complaint that resulted in disciplinary action, and (above certain dollar thresholds) settlement agreements. Generally private: the underlying investigative details behind a complaint until final action is taken, most home/personal contact information, and similar. Applicant data (people who applied but weren't hired) has its own, more restrictive rules under subdivision 3 — notably, an applicant's name stays private unless they become a finalist.

Section 13.46 covers data about people collected by the "welfare system" — a term that covers more than you might expect. It includes the Department of Human Services, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, county social services and public health agencies, and contractors who provide welfare services for those agencies. It covers records tied to SNAP, medical assistance, child care assistance, child support, and similar programs.

Welfare data works backwards from most government data: instead of starting out public, it's private by default, and only becomes accessible when a specific exception applies. Common exceptions include a court order, certain police investigations, agencies checking each other's records for eligibility or fraud, and child support enforcement. Mental health data is protected even more tightly than other welfare data (subdivision 7). And there's a separate set of rules for data about a provider (as opposed to a person receiving benefits) under subdivision 4: a provider's name and whether their license is active are public, but who reported them and their financial details are not.

Government entities routinely hire private businesses to perform work the entity would otherwise do itself — running a program, managing a facility, providing a service. Section 13.05, subdivision 11 ("Privatization") closes what would otherwise be an obvious loophole: a private company can't escape Chapter 13 just because it isn't the government. This applies to any individual or organization that contracts with a government entity to perform a government function — a giant corporation, a one-person consultant, a nonprofit, a healthcare plan, all the same. When that private person or business "agrees to perform a government function," the data it creates, collects, or keeps in the course of performing that function is subject to Chapter 13 exactly as if the company were the government entity itself. The law also requires every such contract to include a notice stating that this subdivision applies.

Section 13.82 splits law enforcement data into pieces, some always public, some only public once an investigation closes.

Always public, regardless of an investigation's status: arrest data (time, date, place, charges, the arresting officers, custody status — subd. 2); request-for-service data — this is the basic "someone asked for help" record, including 911 calls: what was reported, when, and how the agency responded (subd. 3); and response/incident data (a timeline, location, personnel involved, a brief factual summary of what happened, and victim/witness names — subd. 6).

While an investigation is active, the investigative file itself (interview notes, evidence, analysis) is confidential or protected nonpublic, beyond the always-public pieces above. It generally becomes public once the investigation goes inactive — the agency decides not to pursue charges, the statute of limitations runs out, or all appeals are exhausted — unless releasing it would still jeopardize a related case. Some things stay protected even after that: the identities of undercover officers, sexual assault victims, informants, and certain witnesses can be withheld regardless of the investigation's status, and recordings "clearly offensive to common sensibilities" stay nonpublic even once inactive (though the fact that they exist doesn't).

Section 13.825 covers footage from police body cameras and other "portable recording systems." The default is the opposite of most police data: most body camera footage is private or nonpublic, not public, unless it falls into one of a few specific public categories.

Generally public: footage of an officer firing a gun (in situations where the officer has to report it), and footage of a use of force that causes substantial bodily harm.

A person who appears in the footage can ask to inspect it — watch it in person, without a copy — and see everyone in it, unredacted. Getting an actual copy to keep is a separate request with a different rule: for a copy, the agency has to blur or otherwise remove anyone else in it who didn't consent to being shown, unless that person is an on-duty officer (an officer's identity generally can't be hidden this way). Someone involved in a vehicle crash that a body camera recorded can request an unredacted copy, but only for use in an insurance claim or a court case about the crash.

How long the agency has to keep it: ordinary footage only has to be kept 90 days before it can be deleted. Footage from a shooting, or a use of force causing substantial bodily harm, or tied to a complaint against an officer, has to be kept at least a year. Footage of an officer using deadly force has to be kept indefinitely. The statute also allows a request that a specific recording be held longer, up to 180 additional days, for potential use as evidence.

This trips people up because there are actually two different Minnesota laws in play, and they don't cover the same things.

Where does the right to see one's own medical records come from?

Mostly from a separate law, the Minnesota Health Records Act (Minn. Stat. 144.291–144.298) — not Chapter 13. It applies to any health care provider, public or private, regardless of whether the patient is on Medical Assistance or paying cash. It requires the provider to give the patient "complete and current information" from their record, including a treating provider's own handwritten notes.

How does this compare to the federal HIPAA law?

On one specific point, Minnesota's law goes further than HIPAA. HIPAA generally lets a therapist keep their own separately-stored therapy notes (what HIPAA itself calls "psychotherapy notes") out of a patient's records request. Minnesota's Health Records Act does not include that exception. On top of that, HIPAA has its own rule that whenever a state law gives patients more access than HIPAA's federal minimum, the state law applies instead. Put together, a Minnesota therapist generally cannot point to HIPAA alone as a reason to keep a patient's own therapy notes from them. Both laws still allow one narrow exception either way: a provider can leave out a specific piece of information if sharing it would clearly harm the patient.

Does a request have to be made on the provider's own form?

The statute does not say so. It requires a written request, and does not say it must be on any particular form — a signed letter naming the patient and what's being requested meets the statute's own requirement. Many providers offer their own form because it's easier for staff to process, but a plain written request is enough under the statute. Once a provider gets one, the statute generally gives it 30 calendar days to hand over the records.

So where does Chapter 13 fit in?

It applies on top of the Health Records Act specifically when the provider is itself a government entity (a county-run clinic or public hospital), or when a private provider or health plan is standing in for the government under the 13.05, subd. 11 contractor rule described above — which is exactly the Delta Dental / PMAP situation: because Medical Assistance managed care runs through a state contract, the data the plan and its network generate in administering that coverage can carry Chapter 13 requirements in addition to whatever the Health Records Act already requires.