November 24, 2003; City of Thief River Falls
11/24/2003 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:On October 10, 2003, IPAD received a letter dated October 7, 2003, from Barry Froiland, Director of the Management of Information Systems Department of the City of Thief River Falls. Mr. Froiland asked the Commissioner to issue an advisory opinion regarding the classification of certain data the City maintains. IPAD requested clarification, which Mr. Froiland provided in a revised opinion request dated October 29, 2003. A summary of the facts is as follows. Mr. Froiland wrote: The City of Thief River Falls provides electric, water, sewer, and sanitation services to our customers. We understand that electric customer data is considered private, which also makes the water and sewer data for that customer private. Issues:In her request for an opinion, Mr. Froiland asked the Commissioner to address the following issues:
Discussion:Issue 1:Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.685, is it appropriate for the City of Thief River Falls to release electric utility customer data about the tenant of a rental property to the building's owner? Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.685, data on customers of municipal electric utilities are private (data on individuals) and nonpublic (data not on individuals). Section 13.685 does provide that the data may be released to:
(1) a law enforcement agency that requests access to the data in connection with an investigation;
The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1985, defines customer as, A person who buys goods or services, esp. on a regular basis. It is the Commissioner's opinion that in the case of a rental property, the tenant of the rental unit, not the owner of the building, is the customer for purposes of Chapter 13. Thus, because electric utility data about a tenant are private, those data cannot be released to the building owner without the tenant's consent. Issue 2:Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.685, is the City of Thief River Falls required to obtain consent before releasing electric utility customer data to a government fuel assistance agency? Pursuant to section 13.05, subdivision 3, the dissemination of private data shall be limited to that necessary for the administration and management of programs specifically authorized by the legislature or local governing body or mandated by the federal government. Thus, for the City to disclose private electric utility data about a customer without first obtaining consent, there should be specific authority in federal, state, or local law for the government fuel assistance agency to obtain the data and for the City to release the data. In addition, pursuant to section 13.04, subdivision 2, the City, in its Tennessen Warning notice to the customer, should have included the fact that the data would be would disclosed to the fuel assistance agency. The Commissioner does not know if these conditions have been met. It appears, though, that section 13.865 does not give the City authority to disclose data to the fuel assistance agency. Issue 3:Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.685, is it appropriate for the City to publicly release addresses of new electric utility customers from the City's Utilities Billing Office? The customers are not identified as utility customers but the information originates from the Billing Office. In presenting his question to the Commissioner, Mr. Froiland stated that although the data in question are not identified as relating to utility customers, the data originate from the City's Utility Billing Office. Pursuant to section 13.685, customer data about electric utility customers are private. Therefore, the City may not release to the public the addresses of any of its electric utility customers, new or old. Issue 4:Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13, what is the classification of electric utility customer data when the customer is a city, county, state, or federal agency? In his final question, Mr. Froiland presented a situation in which the customer is a government entity. As provided in section 13.685, electric utility customer data are private (data on individuals) and nonpublic (data not on individuals). Therefore, the Commissioner concludes that the customer data the City collects and maintains about government entities are nonpublic. As a final note, the Commissioner adds the following. Only certain municipalities in Minnesota operate electric utilities. Thus, the practical result of the Legislature having classified electric utility customer data as private/nonpublic is that certain customer utility data in some cities are not public while all customer utility data in other cities are public. The Commissioner urges the Legislature to revisit its decision and create a policy whereby all utility data are classified in the same manner. Opinion:Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issues that Mr. Froiland raised is as follows:
Signed:
Brian J. Lamb
Dated: November 24, 2003 |
Data subjects
Educational data
Tennessen warning
Municipal utility customer data (13.685 / 13.612)
Necessary to administer a program authorized by law (13.05, subd. 3)
Entities authorized to receive data
