Minnesota Rules was first published in 1983 and the State Register in 1976. Prior versions of Minnesota Rules are available in an online archive. The entire State Register from Volume 1 to the current volume is also available online. These materials are available in print at the State Law Library.
Rules Before 1983
Before 1983, the publication of rules varied. Each agency originally published its own rules. Rules filed with the Secretary of State or Department of Administration were published in pamphlet form. Between 1970 and 1983, there were several resources that attempted to collect all these rules together. The first was Minnesota State Regulations (1970-1977), which was later re-titled Manual of State Agency Rules (1976-1977). The Minnesota Code of Agency Rules (MCAR), published from 1977 to 1982, was a more ambitious attempt at a uniform system of publication, but it never succeeded in creating a unified numbering system. The Minnesota Code of Agency Rules Reprint (1982), collected all rules in effect on September 15, 1982, to serve as a standard resource during the transition to Minnesota Rules.
Until the Reprint, rules were updated by removing pages from the binder and replacing them with new pages. As a result, it was not always clear what the date of a specific part of the publication was or when a particular regulation became effective. In addition, since no specific library was charged with the responsibility for collecting these individual publications, much of the historical record has been lost.
Historically, the individual agency that made the rules kept copies of them. Rules that had to be filed with the Secretary of State were also kept in that office. After 1983, the Secretary of State's office transferred its archives to the Minnesota Historical Society.
Today, pre-1983 rules that still exist may be found in the Minnesota Digital Law Library and in print publications held by the State Law Library and the Minnesota Historical Society.
Research Aids
The Secretary of State's Office kept cards on which they recorded the dates when changes to rules were made. These cards can sometimes be useful in tracking the timing of various rule amendments.
The Historical Society has cataloged its rules collections. Click here for a detailed description of these holdings.
