Subdivision 1. Access to government data not public. Notwithstanding chapter 13 or any other state law classifying or restricting access to government data, upon request from the commissioner or the attorney general, state agencies, political subdivisions, and statewide systems shall disseminate not public data to the commissioner or the attorney general for the sole purpose of collecting debt. Not public data disseminated under this subdivision is limited to financial data of the debtor or data related to the location of the debtor or the assets of the debtor.

Subd. 2. Disclosure of data. Data received, collected, created, or maintained by the commissioner or the attorney general to collect debts are classified as private data on individuals under section 13.02, subdivision 12, or nonpublic data under section 13.02, subdivision 9. The commissioner or the attorney general may disclose not public data:

(1) under section 13.05;

(2) under court order;

(3) under a statute specifically authorizing access to the not public data;

(4) to provide notices required or permitted by statute;

(5) to an agent of the commissioner or the attorney general, including a law enforcement person, attorney, or investigator acting for the commissioner or the attorney general in the investigation or prosecution of a criminal or civil proceeding relating to collection of a debt;

(6) to report names of debtors, amount of debt, date of debt, and the agency to whom debt is owed to credit bureaus;

(7) to locate the debtor, locate the assets of the debtor, or to enforce or implement the collection of a debt, provided that the commissioner or the attorney general may disclose only the data that are necessary to enforce or implement collection of the debt; and

(8) to the commissioner of revenue for tax administration purposes.

The commissioner and the attorney general may not disclose data that is not public to a private collection agency or other entity with whom the commissioner has contracted under section 16D.04, subdivision 4, unless disclosure is otherwise authorized by law.

History: 1994 c 632 art 3 s 40; 1995 c 254 art 5 s 7; 1996 c 390 s 20; 1998 c 366 s 33