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Advisory Opinion 96-036

August 8, 1996; Carver/Scott County

8/8/1996 10:14:43 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 is presented in summary form. Copies of the complete submission 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 June 10, 1996, PIPA received a letter requesting this opinion from Pamela J. Finamore. In that letter, Ms. Finamore asked about her rights to gain access to data created by the Carver/Scott Humane Society. Ms. Finamore's request required clarification with PIPA staff with regard to the issue the Commissioner would address in this opinion.

In response to Ms. Finamore's request, PIPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Marlys Palmer, President of the Board, Minnesota Federated Humane Societies (an umbrella organization of Minnesota humane societies). The purposes of this letter, dated June 21, 1996, were to inform Ms. Palmer of Ms. Finamore's request, and to ask her or the Humane Society's attorney to provide information or support for its position.

PIPA did not receive a response from the Minnesota Federated Humane Societies. A summary of the detailed facts of this matter follows.

According to information provided by Ms. Finamore, including copies of sentencing orders, two individuals in Scott County are on probation, having pled guilty to charges of cruelty to animals. One of the terms of their probation is that the Carver/Scott Humane Society must be allowed to make twice-monthly inspections of the individuals' premises. According to Ms. Finamore, the Humane Society investigators write reports of their findings, which may include photographs or videotape. The individuals were sentenced in February 1995. Ms. Finamore initially received copies of the investigators' reports. However, in May 1996, she was told that an advisor to the Minnesota Federated Humane Societies told the Carver Scott Humane Society's executive director and one of the humane investigators that [they] could be held liable for 'public disclosure of private data', because the Humane Society investigators had given copies of their reports to me and had been in contact with me.

Issue:

In her request for an opinion, Ms. Finamore asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:

Are the Humane Society investigators' reports of farm inspections of two persons currently on probation, and subject to certain conditions of that probation, public data?

Discussion:

Minnesota Statutes Section 13.84, subdivision 1, provides:

As used in this section 'court services data' means data that are created, collected, used or maintained by a court services department, parole or probation authority, correctional agency, or by an agent designated by the court to perform studies or other dutiesand that are on individuals who are or were defendants, parolees or probationers of a municipal, district or county court, participants in diversion programs, petitioners or respondents to a family court, or juveniles adjudicated delinquent and committed, detained prior to a court hearing or hearings, or found to be dependent or neglected and placed under the supervision of the court. [Emphasis added.]

The Carver/Scott Humane Society is acting as an agent to perform other duties, i.e, to monitor the probationers' compliance with a condition of their probation. Therefore, the data in the reports of the Humane Society investigators are court services data.

Court services data may be classified as public, private or confidential. Section 13.84, subdivision 6, provides that the following court services data on adult individuals are public:

(a) name, age, sex, occupation and the fact that an individual is a parolee, probationer or participant in a diversion program, and if so, at what location;

(b) the offense for which the individual was placed under supervision;

(d) court services data which was public in a court or other agency which originated the data;

(e) arrest and detention orders, orders for parole or probation revocation and the reasons for revocation;

(f) the conditions of parole, probation or participation and the extent to which those conditions have been or are being met;

(g) identities of agencies, units within agencies and individuals providing supervision; and

(h) the legal basis for any change in supervision and the date, time and locations associated with the change. [Emphasis added.]

The reports of the Humane Society investigators are court services data, i.e., data which were created, collected, used or maintained by a probation authority, or by an agent designated by the court to perform studies or other duties. The data are described under Section 13.84, subdivision 6 (f), i.e., data which document the extent to which the conditions of probation have been or are being met. Therefore, pursuant to Section 13.84, subdivision 6, the reports are public, including photographs and videotapes, and Ms. Finamore is entitled to copies of them.

Presumably those reports are filed with the Court, and should be available for public access there. (See Rules of Public Access to Records of the Judicial Branch.) However, regardless where the data are maintained, they are public data, and must be made accessible by the public. (For further discussion of this point, see Commissioner's Advisory Opinion 94-035.)

Opinion:

Based on the correspondence in this matter, my opinion on the issue raised by Ms. Finamore is as follows:

Data in the Humane Society investigators' reports that document the extent to which the conditions of probation have been or are being met are public data, pursuant to Section 13.84, subdivision 6 (f).

Signed:

Elaine S. Hansen
Commissioner

Dated: August 8, 1996

Response to data requests

Court services data (13.84)

Humane Society investigation data