February 7, 2001; Minnesota Department of Human Services
2/7/2001 10:18:43 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 IPA and, except for any data classified as not public, are available for public access. On December 19, 2000, the Commissioner received a letter dated December 16, 2000, from Teresa Graham. In her letter, Ms. Graham requested that the Commissioner issue an opinion regarding her access to certain data that the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) maintains. IPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Michael O'Keefe, Commissioner of DHS, in response to Ms. Graham's request. The purposes of this letter, dated December 29, 2000, were to inform him of Ms. Graham's request and to ask him to provide information or support for the Department's position. On January 8, 2001, IPA received a response, dated same, from Martha Watson, Human Resources Director for DHS. A summary of the facts is as follows. Ms. Graham wrote that on November 15, 2000, she requested inspection of public data from the [DHS] pursuant to Minnesota Statute 13.43. Ms. Graham wrote that on December 8, 2000 (approximately three weeks later), she called Ms. Watson who acknowledged having received the data request. Ms. Watson asserted that Ms. Graham called on December 7, not December 8. In a letter dated December 8, 2000, Ms. Watson wrote to Ms. Graham. She stated, You have requested all public data about a long list of people. We have begun to collect that data but anticipate that it will take some time to do so. We hope to have it ready shortly after the first of the year. We will notify you when we have it available. In her opinion request, Ms. Graham wrote, A month after I had made the initial request, I again contacted [Ms. Watson] and told her that I needed the information in the timely manner outlined in the statute. In a letter dated January 4, 2001, Ms. Watson wrote to Ms. Graham and advised her that the data she requested were available for her to inspect. Finally, Ms. Graham wrote she repeatedly asked where written protocols were kept or posted with no response. She noted that section 13.03, subdivision 2 (b), requires government entities to make copies of the written public access procedures easily available to the public. Issues:In her request for an opinion, Ms. Graham asked the Commissioner to address the following issues:
Discussion:Issue 1Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.03, did the Minnesota Department of Human Services respond appropriately to a request for access to data made on November 15, 2000? Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.03, subdivision 2, when an individual requests public data of which s/he is not the subject, government entities are required to respond in a prompt and reasonable manner. Minnesota Rules, part 1205.0300, provides further guidance stating that entities must respond within a reasonable time. Although the Legislature did not define reasonable time, the Commissioner has stated in many previous opinions that it is relative to the amount of data requested. In this case, Ms. Graham requested data on November 15, 2000. Approximately three weeks later, Ms. Watson sent a letter to Ms. Graham advising her that DHS had received her request, that they had begun to collect the data, and that they hoped to have the response ready shortly after January 1, 2001. In a letter dated January 4, 2001, Ms. Watson informed Ms. Graham that the data had been compiled and suggested several possible inspection times. In this case, although it took DHS approximately three weeks to acknowledge Ms. Graham's request, Ms. Watson did make an acknowledgment, gave Ms. Graham an accurate estimation as to how long DHS needed to gather the data, and made the data available. The Commissioner's opinion is that DHS' response was timely. Issue 2Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.03, did the Minnesota Department of Human Services respond appropriately to requests for access to the Department's public access procedures provided for in section 13.03, subdivision 2(b)? The 1999 Minnesota Legislature enacted section 13.03, subdivision 2(b). It became effective on January 1, 2001, and provides: The responsible authority shall prepare public access procedures in written form and update them no later than August 1 of each year as necessary to reflect any changes in personnel or circumstances that might affect public access to government data. The responsible authority shall make copies of the written public access procedures easily available to the public by distributing free copies of the procedures to the public or by posting a copy of the procedures in a conspicuous place within the government entity that is easily accessible to the public. In her response, Ms. Watson wrote: It was my belief that Ms. Graham did not request this information until a letter to us dated January 2, 2001, and received by us on January 3, 2001. However, a review of...Ms. Graham's correspondence to us shows that she did, in fact, request this information...[on] July 13, 2000. Unfortunately, we missed that when we responded and she has not raised the question again until the most recent letter. We will, of course, be responding to her and letting her know that the requested data is available on the DHS Internet site...If she does not have access to the Internet, DHS will make a hard copy available for her review. Although Ms. Graham did not provide the Commissioner with specific dates as to when she requested the public data access procedures, Ms. Watson noted that DHS did receive such a request on July 13, 2000. Given that DHS did not respond until sometime after January 8, 2001, the response was not timely. Opinion:Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issues raised by Ms. Graham is as follows:
Signed:
David F. Fisher
Dated: February 7, 2001
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Response to data requests
Policies and Procedures
Public access procedures
