How to Make a Data Request in Minnesota⌗

I am not a lawyer, this is info gathered from talking with lawyers, journalists, personal experience, and researchers

    Want to be the next Libor Jany, Bri Mannix, or Tony Webster? Knowing how to submit a Data Practices Act request to a government entity is a key tool while researching local Minnesota government. You can utilize it to to get incident reports from the Minneapolis Police Department, and how to get emails from the board of the University of Minnesota. So, where to start?

    What is a data request(also known as a data practices act request?) It is functionally similar to a Freedom of Information Act request (also known as FOIA). The main differences being that a FOIA request is meant for requesting data from a US Federal government agency. Whereas a data practices act request is specifically for requesting data from government agencies in the state of Minnesota. Similar to FOIA requests, there is data that is exempt from disclosure to people submitting data requests.

    First, the boring. Here’s the link to the Minnesota state statutes that define and regulate the dissemination of government data. These statutes have some important definitions that you’ll likely want to know when dealing with government agencies while submitting data requests. It’s not all inclusive, just the ones that have been relevant to the requests I’ve made.

Confidential data on individuals: are data made not public by statute or federal law applicable to the data and are inaccessible to the individual subject of those data.

Data not on individuals: are all government data that are not data on individuals. Data on individuals: means all government data in which any individual is or can be identified as the subject of that data, unless the appearance of the name or other identifying data can be clearly demonstrated to be only incidental to the data and the data are not accessed by the name or other identifying data of any individual.

Government data: means all data collected, created, received, maintained or disseminated by any government entity regardless of its physical form, storage media or conditions of use.

Not public data: are any government data classified by statute, federal law, or temporary classification as confidential, private, nonpublic, or protected nonpublic.

Nonpublic data: are data not on individuals made by statute or federal law applicable to the data: (a) not accessible to the public; and (b) accessible to the subject, if any, of the data.

Private data on individuals: are data made by statute or federal law applicable to the data: (a) not public; and (b) accessible to the individual subject of those data.

Protected nonpublic data: are data not on individuals made by statute or federal law applicable to the data (a) not public and (b) not accessible to the subject of the data.

Public data not on individuals: are data accessible to the public pursuant to section 13.03.

Public data on individuals: are data accessible to the public in accordance with the provisions of section 13.03.

Responsible Authority(long definition but please click and read it)

    There’s no test on these you need to pass to make data requests so if you don’t recall these right away, you can always look at the previously linked statutes.

    When requesting data from a government agency, you’re making a formal request for whatever data you’re looking for. In most cases, your data request is also ‘public data’ and the contents of of your request and communications with the Responsible Authorities can also be requested in a data request. Data on minors, police and incident reports involving victims of sexual assault, ‘Safe At Home’ participant data, and some others (this list is not exhaustive).

    So when submitting a data request, you’ll be submitting it to the Responsible Authority at the government agency you’re seeking the information from (Remember that definition from above?). How do we write what we’re asking from them? Thankfully, MinnPost has a really helpful template on GitHub. Start with the file named ‘dataset-request-letter-mn.md’

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# Dataset request

The following is an example letter for a request for data for an agency in Minnesota.

<hr>

[[YOUR NAME]], [[YOUR ORGANIZATION]]  
[[YOUR ADDRESS]]  
[[YOUR PHONE NUMBER]]  
[[YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS]]


[[TODAY'S DATE]]  


[[AGENCY NAME]]  
[[AGENCY ADDRESS]]  
[[AGENCY PHONE NUMBER]]  
  
    

To the Responsible Authority at [[AGENCY NAME]]:

Under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, Minn. Stat. § 13.01, et seq., I am requesting to inspect the following data:

[[BE SPECIFIC ABOUT THE DATASET YOU WANT]]  

I would like to inspect all data and records regarding this request, current and historical.  If the data is stored in electronic form, I would like to inspect the data in an electronic format.  I would like to obtain the records electronically either via email or download using my own equipment as permitted by Minn. Stat. § 13.03, subd. 3(b).

I authorize no costs at this time, but if necessary, please inform me of any fees or costs associated with this request with specifics as to the reason of these fees and costs. Note that this information is not being sought for commercial purposes.

[[Pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 13.03, subd. 2(b), I am a researcher and would greatly appreciate "full convenience and comprehensive accessibility."]]

I would request a prompt response to this request.  If you expect a significant delay in responding to or in fulfilling this request, please contact me with information about when I might expect to be able to inspect this data.

If this data cannot be provided in an electronic format, please cite specific technical reasons.  If this data cannot be provided in a format other than PDF, please cite specific technical reasons.

If you deny any or all of this request, please cite each specific exemption of the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act or relevant law or temporary classification you feel justifies the refusal to release the information and notify me of the appeal procedures available to me under the law.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
  
  
[[YOUR NAME]]  
[[YOUR ORGANIZATION]]  
[[YOUR PHONE NUMBER]]  
[[YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS]]

    You’ll want to replace all the double-bracketed portions. But you don’t need to include your address or phone number (unless sending your data request via mail or in person. You want them to have a way to give you your requested info). If sending the request online, I usually only give my name or a pseudonym, and my email address. I do also give a phone number that I acquired through a privacy service so it’s not my real and personal phone number. But where I can still be reached if they need to call to ask questions.

    Another crucial piece you need to change is the bracketed portion that says ‘BE SPECIFIC ABOUT THE DATASET YOU WANT.’ Which, you do really want to be as specific as possible. Records people are overworked, underpaid, and there aren’t enough of them. So you want to be specific to save their time, which potentially reduces the amount of time it takes for you to get the data you want(hopefully). Here’s an example of the specificity I used in a recent data request to the Minneapolis Police Department:

The full names, ranks, personnel records, and disciplinary records of the officer or officers that were assigned to squad #512 on November 3rd, 2021 at 1845 hours.

Which was a request that came about from this tweet:

The final part is submitting your request. Which can take a little looking. If you want to make a data request to a Minneapolis department or agency, you’ll need to create an account at their OpenCity Portal. Then you can submit your request digitally. Some other municipalities require you to do it in person.

One final note, your data request can cost money to retrieve your data. If you follow MinnPost’s template though, you’ll notice that it specifies that you don’t authorize any charges at this time. Which is good so you don’t get stuck with some random large bill in the event you are charged (I have yet to be charged by Minneapolis. St. Paul has charged me, however.)

Hopefully, this gets you off to a good start. Please feel free to reach out to me on twitter if you have questions via @Plant_Daddie.