SF4769

Purpose

• Clarify the responsibilities of Minnesota’s attorney general when pursuing civil law enforcement actions on behalf of the state.
• Establish that the attorney general acts in the public interest and not as the legal representative of any specific department, agency, board, commission, or other state instrumentality.
• Set rules about who participates in such actions, how records are handled, and how party status and discovery work in these cases.

Main Provisions

• Subd.5 – Roles and parties in a civil law enforcement action

  • When the attorney general brings a civil law enforcement action on behalf of the state, the AG acts in the public interest, not as the representative for any department or other state instrumentality.
  • Unless a department/agency/board/commission is specifically named in the action, other state entities are not parties to the litigation.
  • Records, documents, data, knowledge, and information of other state agencies are not subject to party discovery served on the attorney general.
  • The records and information of other state agencies are not in the possession, custody, or control of the attorney general for the purposes of the action.

• Subd.6 – Custodianship of records

  • Each agency is the sole custodian of its own records.
  • Each department, agency, board, commission, or other entity within the legislative, executive, and judicial branches is the only entity authorized to be the custodian of its own records and to possess, custody, or control of them.

• Subd.7 – Attorney-client records and access

  • Records and information maintained by an AG division because of an attorney-client relationship with a department/agency/board/commission or other instrumentality are not accessible to the AG divisions that prosecute civil actions on behalf of the state.
  • Nothing in this subdivision prevents sharing such records with the Office of the Attorney General in accordance with applicable law or lawful requests.

• Subd.8 – Party status and discovery

  • No public officer or state entity shall be considered a party or subjected to party discovery in litigation under subdivision 2.5 unless expressly named as a party.
  • A civil law enforcement action initiated by the AG on behalf of the state does not by itself satisfy the requirements to be treated as a party under this subdivision.

Significant Changes to Existing Law

• Reframes how civil law enforcement actions by the attorney general relate to state agencies, limiting automatic party status for agencies unless named.
• Establishes each agency as the sole custodian of its own records, reducing cross-agency access in AG-led actions.
• Restricts access by AG divisions to certain attorney-client related records, while allowing permissible sharing under law.
• Introduces explicit rules on party status and discovery, potentially reducing discovery leverage against agencies in AG-led actions.

Practical Implications

• Could reduce the involvement of other state agencies as formal parties in AG-led civil actions.
• May limit cross-agency discovery and access to records during enforcement actions.
• Places clearer responsibility for record-keeping and custodianship with each agency.
• Aims to protect agency-level record privacy tied to attorney-client relationships, while allowing lawful information sharing.

Relevant Terms - attorney general - civil law enforcement action - state - public interest - department - agency - board - commission - instrumentality of state government - records - documents - data - knowledge - information - custodian - possession - custody - control - party discovery - attorney-client relationship - Office of the Attorney General - Minnesota Statutes 2024 section 15.17 - subdivision 5 - subdivision 6 - subdivision 7 - subdivision 8 - litigation - public officer