Minnesota 2025-2026 Regular Session

Minnesota Senate Bill SF1988 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	1.1 A bill for an act
2	2	1.2 relating to data practices; defining correspondence in government record retention
3	3	1.3 law; providing minimum three-year retention period for correspondence; amending
4	4	1.4 Minnesota Statutes 2024, sections 15.17, subdivisions 1, 2; 138.17, subdivisions
5	5	1.5 1, 7.
6	6	1.6BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
7	7	1.7 Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 15.17, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
8	8	1.8 Subdivision 1.Must be kept.All officers and agencies of the state, counties, cities,
9	9	1.9towns, school districts, municipal subdivisions or corporations, or other public authorities
10	10	1.10or political entities within the state, hereinafter "public officer," shall make and preserve
11	11	1.11all government records necessary to a full and accurate knowledge of their official activities.
12	12	1.12Government records may be produced in the form of computerized records. All government
13	13	1.13records shall be made on a physical medium of a quality to insure permanent records. Every
14	14	1.14public officer is empowered to reproduce records if the records are not deemed to be of
15	15	1.15permanent or archival value by the commissioner of administration and the records
16	16	1.16disposition panel under section 138.17. The public officer is empowered to reproduce these
17	17	1.17records by any photographic, photostatic, microphotographic, optical disk imaging system,
18	18	1.18microfilming, or other reproduction method that clearly and accurately reproduces the
19	19	1.19records. Each public officer may order that those photographs, photostats, microphotographs,
20	20	1.20microfilms, optical images, or other reproductions, be substituted for the originals of them.
21	21	1.21The public officer may direct the destruction or sale for salvage or other disposition of the
22	22	1.22originals from which they were made, in accordance with the disposition requirements of
23	23	1.23section 138.17. Photographs, photostats, microphotographs, microfilms, optical images, or
24	24	1.24other reproductions are for all purposes deemed the original recording of the papers, books,
25	25	1Section 1.
26	26	25-01411 as introduced01/03/25 REVISOR VH/BM
27	27	SENATE
28	28	STATE OF MINNESOTA
29	29	S.F. No. 1988NINETY-FOURTH SESSION
30	30	(SENATE AUTHORS: KORAN and Limmer)
31	31	OFFICIAL STATUSD-PGDATE
32	32	Introduction and first reading02/27/2025
33	33	Referred to Judiciary and Public Safety 2.1documents, and records reproduced when so ordered by any public officer and are admissible
34	34	2.2as evidence in all courts and proceedings of every kind. A facsimile or exemplified or
35	35	2.3certified copy of a photograph, photostat, microphotograph, microfilm, optical image, or
36	36	2.4other reproduction, or an enlargement or reduction of it, has the same effect and weight as
37	37	2.5evidence as would a certified or exemplified copy of the original.
38	38	2.6 Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 15.17, subdivision 2, is amended to read:
39	39	2.7 Subd. 2.Responsibility for records.The chief administrative officer of each public
40	40	2.8agency shall be responsible for the preservation and care of the agency's government records,
41	41	2.9which shall include written or printed books, papers, letters, contracts, documents, maps,
42	42	2.10plans, computer-based data, and other records made or received pursuant to law or in
43	43	2.11connection with the transaction of public business. It shall be the duty of each agency, and
44	44	2.12of its chief administrative officer, to carefully protect and preserve government records
45	45	2.13from deterioration, mutilation, loss, or destruction. Records or record books may be repaired,
46	46	2.14renovated, or rebound when necessary to preserve them properly.
47	47	2.15 Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 138.17, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
48	48	2.16 Subdivision 1.Destruction, preservation, reproduction of records; prima facie
49	49	2.17evidence.(a) The attorney general, legislative auditor in the case of state records, state
50	50	2.18auditor in the case of local records, and director of the Minnesota Historical Society,
51	51	2.19hereinafter director, shall constitute the Records Disposition Panel. The members of the
52	52	2.20panel shall have power by majority vote to direct the destruction or sale for salvage of
53	53	2.21government records determined to be no longer of any value, or to direct the disposition by
54	54	2.22gift to the Minnesota Historical Society or otherwise of government records determined to
55	55	2.23be valuable for preservation. The Records Disposition Panel may by majority vote order
56	56	2.24any of those records to be reproduced by photographic or other means, and order that
57	57	2.25photographic or other reproductions be substituted for the originals of them. It may direct
58	58	2.26the destruction or sale for salvage or other disposition of the originals from which they were
59	59	2.27made. Photographic or other reproductions shall for all purposes be deemed the originals
60	60	2.28of the records reproduced when so ordered by the records disposition panel, and shall be
61	61	2.29admissible as evidence in all courts and in proceedings of every kind. A facsimile,
62	62	2.30exemplified or certified copy of a photographic, optical disk imaging, or other reproduction,
63	63	2.31or an enlargement or reduction of it, shall have the same effect and weight as evidence as
64	64	2.32would a certified or exemplified copy of the original. The Records Disposition Panel, by
65	65	2.33majority vote, may direct the storage of government records, except as herein provided, and
66	66	2.34direct the storage of photographic or other reproductions. Photographic or other reproductions
67	67	2Sec. 3.
68	68	25-01411 as introduced01/03/25 REVISOR VH/BM 3.1substituted for original records shall be disposed of in accordance with the procedures
69	69	3.2provided for the original records.
70	70	3.3 (b) For the purposes of this chapter:
71	71	3.4 (1) the term "government records" means state and local records, including all cards,
72	72	3.5correspondence, discs, maps, memoranda, microfilms, papers, photographs, recordings,
73	73	3.6reports, tapes, writings, optical disks, and other data, information, or documentary material,
74	74	3.7regardless of physical form or characteristics, storage media or conditions of use, made or
75	75	3.8received by an officer or agency of the state and an officer or agency of a county, city, town,
76	76	3.9school district, municipal subdivision or corporation or other public authority or political
77	77	3.10entity within the state pursuant to state law or in connection with the transaction of public
78	78	3.11business by an officer or agency;
79	79	3.12 (2) the term "state record" means a record of a department, office, officer, commission,
80	80	3.13commissioner, board or any other agency, however styled or designated, of the executive
81	81	3.14branch of state government; a record of the state legislature; a record of any court, whether
82	82	3.15of statewide or local jurisdiction; and any other record designated or treated as a state record
83	83	3.16under state law;
84	84	3.17 (3) the term "local record" means a record of an agency of a county, city, town, school
85	85	3.18district, municipal subdivision or corporation or other public authority or political entity;
86	86	3.19 (4) the term "records" excludes data and information that does not become part of an
87	87	3.20official transaction, library and museum material made or acquired and kept solely for
88	88	3.21reference or exhibit purposes,; extra copies of documents kept only for convenience of
89	89	3.22reference, including extra copies of newsletters and periodical publications; and stock of
90	90	3.23publications and processed documents, and bonds, coupons, or other obligations or evidences
91	91	3.24of indebtedness, the destruction or other disposition of which is governed by other laws;
92	92	3.25 (5) the term "state archives" means those records preserved or appropriate for preservation
93	93	3.26as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations or
94	94	3.27other activities of government or because of the value of the information contained in them,
95	95	3.28when determined to have sufficient historical or other value to warrant continued preservation
96	96	3.29by the state of Minnesota and accepted for inclusion in the collections of the Minnesota
97	97	3.30Historical Society.; and
98	98	3.31 (6) the term "correspondence" includes any written or electronic text-based
99	99	3.32communication to or from officers, elected officials, administrators, managers, professionals,
100	100	3.33and all other staff that documents events, decisions, business, and functions of the agency,
101	101	3.34public authority, or political entity. Correspondence excludes purely personal
102	102	3Sec. 3.
103	103	25-01411 as introduced01/03/25 REVISOR VH/BM 4.1communications, announcements of social events, and unsolicited advertising or promotional
104	104	4.2material that bears no substantive relationship to the events, decisions, business, or functions
105	105	4.3of the agency, public authority, or political entity.
106	106	4.4 (c) If the decision is made to dispose of records by majority vote, the Minnesota Historical
107	107	4.5Society may acquire and retain whatever they determine to be of potential historical value.
108	108	4.6 Sec. 4. Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 138.17, subdivision 7, is amended to read:
109	109	4.7 Subd. 7.Records management.It shall be the duty of the head of each state agency
110	110	4.8and the governing body of each county, municipality, and other subdivision of government
111	111	4.9to establish and maintain an active, continuing program for the economical and efficient
112	112	4.10management of the records of each agency, county, municipality, or other subdivision of
113	113	4.11government. Public officials shall prepare an inclusive inventory of records in their custody,
114	114	4.12to which shall be attached a schedule, approved by the head of the governmental unit or
115	115	4.13agency having custody of the records, establishing a time period for the retention or disposal
116	116	4.14of each series of records. In the case of correspondence, the time period for retention of a
117	117	4.15record shall be no less than three years from the date of creation or receipt. When the schedule
118	118	4.16is unanimously approved by the records disposition panel, the head of the governmental
119	119	4.17unit or agency having custody of the records may dispose of the type of records listed in
120	120	4.18the schedule at a time and in a manner prescribed in the schedule for particular records
121	121	4.19which were created after the approval. A list of records disposed of pursuant to this
122	122	4.20subdivision shall be maintained by the governmental unit or agency. When records containing
123	123	4.21not public data as defined in section 13.02, subdivision 8a, are being disposed of under this
124	124	4.22subdivision, the records must be destroyed in a way that prevents their contents from being
125	125	4.23determined.
126	126	4Sec. 4.
127	127	25-01411 as introduced01/03/25 REVISOR VH/BM