Purpose

This bill changes who is considered a “judicial official” in Minnesota and clarifies how personal information about those officials is treated. Specifically, it designates unemployment insurance judges and paid leave judges as judicial officials for purposes of related statutes, and updates definitions of personal information, publicly available information, and certain related terms. The goal is to adjust privacy and access rules around information about this expanded group of judicial officials.

Main Provisions

• Expanded definition of “Judicial official”:
  • Includes every Minnesota district court judge (including senior, retired, and recalled judges), every judge of the Minnesota Court of Appeals, active or retired federal judges residing in Minnesota, current or retired justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court, and all employees of the Minnesota judicial branch.
  • Adds judicial referees and magistrate judges.
  • Adds current and retired judges and current employees of the Office of Administrative Hearings in the Department of Employment and Economic Development (Unemployment Insurance and Paid Leave Divisions), the Department of Human Services Appeals Division, the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals, and the Tax Court.
• Personal information rules:
  • Personal information does not include publicly available information.
  • Personal information includes:
  • Residential addresses of a judicial official and of the official’s spouse, domestic partner, or children.
  • Nonjudicial branch telephone numbers or email addresses for a judicial official.
  • Names of a judicial official’s children.
  • Names of any child care facility or school attended by a child of a judicial official, if shared with the assertion that the child attends that facility or school.
• Publicly available information:
  • Defined as information lawfully made available through government records or information that a business reasonably believes is lawfully made available to the general public through widely distributed media by a judicial official or someone the official has disclosed it to, unless the official has restricted it to a specific audience.
• Additional definitional clarifications:
  • Real property records are defined as in another Minnesota statute (section 480.50, subdivision 1, paragraph f).
  • Law enforcement support organizations are not to be considered charitable organizations (clarifying who fits in that category).

Significant Changes to Existing Law

• Broadens who is treated as a judicial official by adding unemployment insurance and paid leave judges (and related offices) to the list of covered individuals.
• Tightens and clarifies what counts as personal information versus publicly available information for judicial officials, affecting privacy and information access.
• Introduces and clarifies specific categories of information (e.g., child-related information, school/child care details) that are treated as personal information when connected to a judicial official.
• Adds definitional distinctions related to real property records and law enforcement support organizations, which could influence how certain data is handled or disclosed.

Relevant Terms - Judicial official - Unemployment Insurance (UI) judges - Paid Leave judges - Minnesota judicial branch - Office of Administrative Hearings - Department of Employment and Economic Development - Unemployment Insurance Division - Paid Leave Division - Department of Human Services Appeals Division - Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals - Tax Court - Personal information - Publicly available information - Residential address - Spouse / Domestic partner - Children - Child care facility / School - Real property records - Law enforcement support organizations - Charitable organizations