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Legal topics: Related links: |
Summary of data practices proceduresMinnesota Government Data Practices Act and rulesThis Data Practices Section is a simplified version of the approximately 200-page that make up the Minnesota Data Practices Act and its corresponding rules. It describes the procedures for requesting access to government data gathered by the City of Bloomington and the rights of data subjects. Laws affecting data practices change and information provided here may not be the most recent information.
Responsible authorityMark Bernhardson, the Bloomington City Manager, has been designated by the City Council as the City's responsible authority under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. The responsible authority is accountable for the collection, use and dissemination of any set of data on individuals, government data or summary data, unless otherwise provided by state law. All further reference to the responsible authority in this section refers to the individual in the above named position. If a question exists regarding a request for access to government data, inquiries may be directed to the responsible authority. Public data not on individuals and public data on individualsHow to obtain dataIndividuals may obtain public data by either calling, e-mailing or writing to the appropriate City departments or divisions. If any individual wishes to inspect certain public data, the City of Bloomington recommends that this be done between the normal business hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. A written request (see General Data Access Request form) will be required where the request may require clarification or where it is not clear that the data is public. Copying, certifying and compiling feesIf an individual desires to have certain public data copied, whether it be before or after inspection, the City of Bloomington will charge the individual reasonable costs for: 1. Materials, including paper used to provide the copies; 2. Mailing of the copies; and 3. Other production expenses if microfilm, machine based recording systems or computers are involved. If the request is for 100 pages or less, the charge is $.25 per side of a regular sized, black and white copy. If a request involves any person's receipt of copies of public governmental data that has commercial value and is a substantial or discreet portion of an entire formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, process, data base or system developed with the significant expenditure of public funds by the City, the City shall charge a reasonable fee for the information along with the costs of making, certifying or compiling the copies. The City, upon the request of any person, shall provide sufficient documentation to explain and justify the fee being charged. The Bloomington Police Department may charge a fee to commercial users who request access to response or incident data relating to accidents under Section 13.82 of the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. Response timeThe City of Bloomington will attempt to respond to all requests for public data promptly. If the government data requested is classified as nonpublic, protected-nonpublic, private or confidential, the City of Bloomington will attempt to inform the individual orally at the time of the request, or in writing as soon thereafter as possible, citing the relevant statute or regulation that prohibits the City of Bloomington from releasing such classified government data. DisputesAny complaint or dispute with the processing of public data by the City of Bloomington should be directed, in writing, to the responsible authority. Private data on individuals and non-public dataHow to obtain dataPrivate data on individuals and nonpublic data are data that, pursuant to State or Federal law, is not public and is accessible only to the individual subject of the data, if any. Access is also available to: • Employees of the City of Bloomington whose work assignments reasonably require access; • Other entities or agencies as determined by the responsible authority who are authorized by statute to gain access to that specific data; and • Entities or individuals who are given access by the express written direction of the subject of the data provided the Informed Consent to Release form is completed. Individuals who seek access from the City of Bloomington to private data on individuals or nonpublic data may request such government data by completing a Classified Data Access Request. Download this form or request one from the department in custody of the information. The completed form and a Non-disclosure Agreement form should be sent to the appropriate department official. Response timeIf immediate compliance with the request is not possible when it is received, within ten (10) working days of the date of the request for the inspection of private or non-public data, the City of Bloomington will schedule a convenient time for the individual to visit the City of Bloomington so the individual may review such government data. The City of Bloomington shall require reasonable identification from the individual who seeks review of private data on individuals or nonpublic data to make sure that the individual is, in fact, the subject of private data on individuals or nonpublic data. After an individual has been shown private data and informed of its meaning, such data need not be disclosed to the individual for six months thereafter unless a dispute or action pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, Section 13.04, is pending or additional data on the individual has been collected or created. Fee chargesIf an individual desires to have copies of certain private data on individuals or non-public data, the City of Bloomington will charge the individual the statutorily authorized fee. Parental access for minorsPursuant to Minnesota Statutes Section 13.02, subd. 8, and Minnesota Rules, part 1205.0500, the parents of a minor data subject have access to private data on individuals and non-public data concerning the minor, but minors from whom the City of Bloomington collects such government data are provided with a notification that the minor individual has the right to request, in writing to the responsible authority, that such parental access be denied. The written Denial of Parental Access to Data Request form of the minor must also set forth the reasons for requesting the denial of parental access. Upon receipt of such a request from a minor, the responsible authority shall determine if honoring the request of the minor to deny such parental access would be in the best interest of the minor. In making this determination, the responsible authority shall be guided by at least the following: 1. Whether the minor is of sufficient age and maturity to be able to explain the reasons for and to understand the consequences of the request to deny access; 2. Whether the personal situation of the minor is such that denied parental access may protect the minor data subject to a physical or emotional harm; 3. Whether there is ground for believing that the minor data subject's reasons for precluding parental access are reasonably accurate; 4. Whether the data in question is of such a nature that disclosure of it to the parent could lead to physical or emotional harm to the minor data subject; 5. Whether the data concerns medical, dental, or other health services provided pursuant to Minnesota Statutes Sections 144.341 to 144.347. If so, the data may be released only if failure to inform the parent would seriously jeopardize the health of the minor. Without a request from a minor, the responsible authority may deny parental access to private data on a minor pursuant to the provisions of Minnesota Statutes Section 144.335, or any other State or Federal statute that allows or requires the responsible authority to do so, if such State statute or Federal law provides standards that limit the exercise of discretion of the responsible party. DisputesAny complaint or dispute with the processing or private data on individuals or non-public data by the City of Bloomington should be directed, in writing, to the responsible authority. Confidential data on individuals and protected non-public dataConfidential data on individuals and protected-nonpublic data are data that, pursuant to State or Federal law, is not public and not accessible to the subject of such data. Such data is only available to the employees of the City of Bloomington whose work assignments reasonably require access and to other entities or agencies authorized by statute to gain access to such data. An individual may make an inquiry whether or not any confidential data on individuals concerning that individual is maintained by the City of Bloomington. If immediate compliance with the inquiry is not possible when it is received, within ten working days of the date of request from the individual concerning the existence of confidential data on that individual, the City of Bloomington will inform the individual if such confidential data on that individual exists. DisputesAny complaint or dispute with the processing of confidential data on individuals or protected nonpublic data by the City of Bloomington should be directed, in writing, to the responsible authority. Summary dataSummary data means statistical records and reports. The preparation and use of summary data derived from private data on individuals or confidential data on individuals is permitted provided that the individuals are not identified in the summary data and neither their identities nor any other characteristic that could uniquely identify such individuals are ascertainable from the summary data. How to obtain dataThe responsible authority shall prepare summary data from private or confidential data on individuals upon the request of any person if the request is in writing (see Summary Data Request form) and the cost of preparing the summary data is borne by the requesting person. The responsible authority may delegate the power to prepare summary data: (1) to the person responsible for any central repository of summary data; or (2) to a person outside of its agency if the person's purpose is set forth, in writing, and the person agrees not to disclose, and the City reasonably determines that the access will not compromise private or confidential data on individuals. Fee chargesIf a person requests the preparation of summary data from private data on individuals or confidential data on individuals, the City of Bloomington will charge the person the actual cost for: 1. Materials used to research and prepare summary data including paper and copying costs; 2. Labor required to research and prepare the summary data; 3. Mailing of the summary data; and 4. Other unique expenses directly related to research and preparation of summary data, including but not limited to the cost of computer time. An estimate of the charges and the amount of time required to prepare the summary data will be furnished in writing by the responsible authority to the person making the request within ten days of the receipt of the request by the responsible authority. The City of Bloomington must be reimbursed for the cost of preparation of the summary data before the summary data will be prepared for the requesting person. DisputesAny complaint or dispute with the processing of summary data by the City of Bloomington should be directed, in writing, to the responsible authority. Accuracy or completeness of public or private dataSubject of dataAn individual may contest the accuracy or completeness of public or private data. To do this, the individual shall notify, in writing, the responsible authority and describe the nature of the disagreement. Within 30 days the responsible authority will then either: A. Correct the data found to be inaccurate or incomplete and attempt to notify the past recipients of inaccurate or incomplete data, including recipients named by the individual; or B. Notify the individual that the responsible authority believes the data to be correct. Data in disputeAny data in dispute shall be disclosed only if the individual's statement of data in dispute disagreement is then included with the disclosed data. The determination of the responsible authority may be appealed pursuant to the provisions of the Minnesota Administrative Procedure Act relating to contested cases. Data on individuals that have been successfully challenged by the individual must be completed, corrected or destroyed by the City of Bloomington without regard to the requirement of the state statute on document retention. After completing, correcting or destroying successfully challenged data, the City of Bloomington may retain a copy of the Commissioner of Administration's Order issued under the state Administrative Procedures Act or, if no order were issued, a summary of the dispute between the parties that does not contain any particulars of the successfully challenged data. Rights of individuals supplying private or confidential dataAn individual asked to supply private or confidential data CONCERNING THE INDIVIDUAL shall be informed of: A. The purpose and intended use of the requested data within the City of Bloomington; B. Whether the individual may refuse or is legally required to supply the requested data; C. Any known consequence arising from the individuals supplying or refusing to supply private or confidential data; D. The identity of other persons or entities authorized State or Federal law to receive the data. But this information requirement does not apply when an individual is asked to supply investigative data to a law enforcement officer.
For more information, contact:
Bloomington City Attorney's Office
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