Requesting Government Information

Right to Access Public Data

Chapter 13 of Minnesota Statutes (Minnesota Government Data Practices Act) presumes that all government data are public unless a state or federal law says that the data are not public.  Government data is a term that means all recorded information a government entity has, including paper, email, CD-ROMS, photographs, etc.

The Data Practices Act provides that Minnesota Management & Budget must keep all government data in a way that makes it easy for you, as a member of the public to access public data that it holds.  You have the right to look at (inspect), free of charge, all public data that we keep.  You also have the right to obtain copies of public data. The Data Practices Act allows us to charge for copies.  You have the right to inspect data, free of charge, before deciding to request copies.

Data about You

The Data Practices Act also says that data subjects have certain rights related to a government entity collecting, creating, and keeping government data about them.  You are the subject of data when you can be identified from the data. 

Below are documents that outline the process for requesting public data. Note that there are two different documents; one to use if you are the subject of the data and another to use if you are requesting public data for which you are not the subject.

Each document contains the specific process and methods for requesting data.

Procedures & Forms