we were at the Itasca County courthouse to get a data request that jake has put in by email and was told that "Portal" was the only way
We need to clear up some misinformation coming from Sheriff Joe Dasovich about Minnesota’s data-request laws. He’s been telling people that Chapter 13 requires you to use the county’s online portal to submit a data request. That is false and the statute proves it. Under Minn. Stat. § 13.03, subd. 3(a), a valid data request only needs to be in writing. It does not say you must use a portal. Email, letter, fax, or even a hand-delivered written request are all legally valid.Minn. Stat. § 13.03, subd. 2(a) requires government data to be “easily accessible.” Forcing the public to use a specific portal and rejecting all other written methods violates that requirement.Minn. Stat. § 13.05, subd. 5 also makes it clear that agencies cannot create extra rules that don’t exist in the statute. Saying “you must use the portal” is an invented rule, not the law.Multiple Minnesota Commissioner of Administration opinions (including 95-018, 14-029, and 21-003) confirm this: A government entity must accept written requests by email or letter.They cannot reject a request simply because it did not go through their preferred system.
