Agenda - Council - 02/08/2021 - Laserfiche WebLink

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0 Providing funding and authority to the Data Practices Office to engage in the rulemaking process to establish standards and procedures related to requests and responses to data practices requests that impose significant burdens on government entities. Amending the MGDPA to limit what is considered public applicant data to better balance the value of public data with the cost related to data practices compliance. h) Allowing political subdivisions to charge the same amount for copies of motor vehicle incident reports issued by local police and fire departments as the commissioner of public safety. g) The League of Minnesota Cities opposes: a) Further increasing the maximum exemplary damages that courts may impose against government entities, including cities, found to have violated the MGDPA; further increasing the maximum civil penalty that may be imposed when a court order is issued to compel a government entity to comply with MGDPA; or any statutory change that would make it a mandatory civil penalty to compel compliance under the MGDPA. b) Repealing of the administrative remedies provisions adopted by the 2010 Legislature to address disputes regarding MGDPA compliance issues. DP-2. Records Retention Compliance Costs Issue: The Official Records Act requires government entities to "make and preserve all records necessary to a full and accurate knowledge of their official activities." In accordance, cities must establish a records 119 retention schedule, and maintain and destroy official records according to this schedule. There are rigorous requirements for any changes to a city's records retention schedule, including getting approval from the statutorily -created Records Disposition Panel, which strikes an appropriate balance between the government entity's decision - making role in determining retention and disposition of official records with the public's right to know the government entity's official activities. Response: As the cost of complying with the records management laws increases, the League supports providing additional state funding to assist political subdivisions with meeting the increasing complexity of managing government records. The League of Minnesota Cities opposes changing the current record management requirements and statutory definitions. If changes are needed, subject matter experts should make recommendations through the records retention schedule process. DP-3. Updating the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act Issue: The Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (MGDPA) was first enacted in 1979. Almost 40 years later, times have changed dramatically. In particular, there has been exponential change in technology. In 1979, cities were largely maintaining data in paper form, computers had just become viable for home users, word processing had just become a reality, the first point -and - shoot, autofocus camera came on the market, and the internet was still about a decade on the horizon. While the MGDPA was originally drafted to be future thinking by contemplating the