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December 18, 1996; Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
12/18/1996 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 28, 1996, PIPA received a letter dated October 24, 1996, from Thomas Casey. In his letter, Mr. Casey requested that the Commissioner issue an advisory opinion regarding his access to certain government data maintained by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, hereinafter MPCA. In response to Mr. Casey's request, PIPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Peder Larson, Acting Commissioner of the MPCA. The purposes of this letter dated November 1, 1996, were to inform Mr. Larson of Mr. Casey's request, and to ask him or the MPCA's attorney to provide information or support for the MPCA's position. On November 13, 1996, PIPA received a response dated November 8, 1996, from Mr. Larson. A summary of the facts surrounding this matter is as follows. In a letter dated August 15, 1996, addressed to Ronald Massey of the MPCA, Mr. Casey requested a copy of all public data'in the possession of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency that pertains to the [proposed Lost Lake wetland dredge City of Mound, MN]. In his letter, Mr. Casey also included some of the specific data items to which he was seeking access. In addition, Mr. Casey wrote, This request is deemed continuing. I would appreciate your courtesy in sending me a copy of all subsequent data at the time the data is generated.In a letter dated October 7, 1996, Mr. Casey wrote again to Mr. Massey and stated, It has been over 45 daysand the Pollution Control Agency has still not responded to my request. Also in a letter dated October 7, 1996, Mr. Casey wrote to Mary DeZurik of the MPCA. The content of this letter was similar to that of the letter addressed to Mr. Massey with the following addition: I have been informed that you are the person who is designated to receive formal requests pursuant to Minn. Stat. 13.03. In a letter dated October 24, 1996, Mr. Casey again wrote to Ms. DeZurik and noted that he had not received any response to his October 7, 1996, request.
In his November 8, 1996, response to Mr. Casey's opinion request, Mr. Larson wrote:
Issue:
In his request for an opinion, Mr. Casey asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:
Discussion:
Because there is no dispute that the data in question are public, the statutory language which addresses the issue raised by Mr. Casey can be found in Minnesota Statutes Section 13.03. This provision sets forth the requirements imposed upon government entities in responding to requests for access to public government data. In part, Section 13.03, subdivision 2, states that the responsible authority shall establish procedures to ensure that requests for public government data are received and complied with in an appropriate and prompt manner. Further, Section 13.03, subdivision 3, in part, states, Upon request to a responsible authority or designee, a person shall be permitted to inspect and copy government data at reasonable times and places...The responsible authority or designee shall provide copies of public data upon request....If the responsible authority or designee is not able to provide copies at the time a request is made, copies shall be supplied as soon as
reasonably
possible. (Emphasis added.)
Mr. Casey made his first request to the MPCA in a letter dated August 15, 1996. He received no response to that request. Mr. Casey made a second request, apparently to the responsible authority's designee, on October 7, 1996. It appears he received no response to that request until after he requested an advisory opinion from the Commissioner. The opinion request was dated October 24, 1996. Based on the fact that Section 13.03 requires responses to be made in a prompt manner and copies of data to be supplied as soon as reasonably possible, the MPCA did not comply with Section 13.03 given that at least 2 months passed before Mr. Casey received any response from the agency. Further, Mr. Larson acknowledged the error when he stated, Simply stated, our system for handling these types of requests broke down. Although the MPCA has made a response to Mr. Casey's original request for copies of public data, it is still not entirely clear whether the MPCA has supplied to Mr. Casey copies of all the public data he wishes to obtain. Mr. Casey reported to PIPA staff that he has not received access to all the data he originally requested. Mr. Larson noted that the MPCA was not sure that it had satisfied all of [Mr. Casey's] concerns pertaining to this project. However, he did note that his staff are maintaining a continued dialogue with Mr. Casey and are committed to assist him in obtaining any reasonable requests for information or work products which may not have been established or completed. Pursuant to Section 13.03, subdivision 3, it is Mr. Casey's right to request and be provided with copies of public data. Therefore, if the MPCA has not provided Mr. Casey with copies of the data he has requested, pursuant to Section 13.03, the MPCA should promptly do so. Opinion:Based on the correspondence in this matter, my opinion on the issue raised by Mr. Casey is as follows:
Signed:
Elaine S. Hansen
Dated: December 18, 1996
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