December 23, 1997; Minnesota Department of Finance
12/23/1997 10:15:43 AM
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to section 13.072 of Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13 - the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. It is based on the facts and information available to the Commissioner as described below.
Facts and Procedural History:For purposes of simplification, the information presented by the person who requested this opinion and the response from the government entity with which the person disagrees are presented in summary form. Copies of the complete submissions are on file at the offices of PIPA and, with the exception of any data classified as not public, are available for public access.On October 27, 1997, PIPA received a letter from Mark Anfinson, an attorney, on behalf of his client, the St. Paul Legal Ledger, a Minnesota newspaper. In his letter, Mr. Anfinson requested that the Commissioner issue an opinion regarding his client's right to gain access to certain data maintained by the Minnesota Department of Finance. Mr. Anfinson enclosed copies of related correspondence. In response to Mr. Anfinson's request, PIPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Wayne Simoneau, Commissioner of Finance. The purposes of this letter, dated November 12, 1997, were to inform Commissioner Simoneau of Mr. Anfinson's request, and to ask him or Finance's attorney to provide information or support for its position. On November 21, 1997, PIPA received a response from Commissioner Simoneau. A summary of the detailed facts of this matter follows. In a letter dated October 10, 1997, Patrick Boulay, publisher of the Legal Ledger, wrote to Finance and requested copies of 1998 local government bonding proposals, which we understand have been scored by your office. In response, Peggy Ingison, State Budget Director, wrote to Mr. Boulay that the data he had requested were classified as protected nonpublic data pursuant to Minnesota Statutes Section 13.646. Ms. Ingison told Mr. Boulay that the data would be made public on January 15, 1998, pursuant to Section 16A.11. In his response to PIPA's letter, Commissioner Simoneau reasserted that the data were classified according to Section 13.646, and would be available to the public as of January 15, 1998. Commissioner Simoneau provided a copy of Finance's Strategic Capital Budget Plan Policy Manual, which describes the scoring process.
Issue:
In his request for an opinion, Mr. Anfinson asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:
Discussion:
Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes Section 13.03, subdivision 1, government data are presumed to be public unless the data are classified as not public by statute, temporary classification (see Section 13.06), or federal law.
In relevant part, Section 13.646, subdivision 2, provides: [l]egislative and budget proposals, including preliminary drafts, that are created, collected, or maintained by the state administration are protected nonpublic data. After the budget is presented to the legislature by the state administration, supporting data, including agency requests, are public data. Supporting data do not include preliminary drafts. Pursuant to Section 13.646, subdivision 1, state administration includes the Department of Finance. According to Commissioner Simoneau, [t]he sole purpose of the scoring data [the data requested by the Legal Ledger] is to provide additional information in the budget review process. The capital budget review process, as described in the manual provided by Commissioner Simoneau, is the process by which capital budget request proposals are prepared for consideration by the Legislature. Preliminary scores of capital budget requests are part of the budget proposal. Accordingly, the preliminary scores of capital budget requests are protected nonpublic data until January 15, 1998, when the data become public, pursuant to Sections 13.646, subdivision 2, and 16A.11, subdivision 1. At that time, anyone who so chooses may gain access to the preliminary scores of capital budget requests. Opinion:Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue raised by Mr. Anfinson is as follows:
Signed:
Elaine S. Hansen
Dated: December 23, 1997 |
Response to data requests
Legislative data/Legislative and budget proposals (13.605 / 13.646)
