Seventh Judicial District Court, Stearns County

The Minnesota Data Practices Act is a series of laws designed to guarantee that the public has access to public records of government bodies at all levels. Public records are defined as all data collected, created, received, maintained or disseminated by any government entity regardless of its physical form, storage media or conditions of use.

Anyone may request public records and they are also entitled to have the data explained to them if they don’t understand it. No statement of purpose is required and the only restriction of the use of records is that if a commercial use is intended the government agency may charge an additional fee. There is no response time specified in the Minnesota Data Practices Act.