Minnesota Statutes

Minn. Stat. § 13D.01 (2026)

Meetings Must Be Open To The Public; Exceptions

✓ current as of May 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section MN-REVrevisor.mn.gov (official) Justiaon Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

Subdivision 1.In executive branch, local government.

All meetings, including executive sessions, must be open to the public

(a) of a state

(1) agency,

(2) board,

(3) commission, or

(4) department,

when required or permitted by law to transact public business in a meeting;

(b) of the governing body of a

(1) school district however organized,

(2) unorganized territory,

(3) county,

(4) statutory or home rule charter city,

(5) town, or

(6) other public body;

(1) committee,

(2) subcommittee,

(3) board,

(4) department, or

(5) commission,

of a public body; and

(d) of the governing body or a committee of:

(1) a statewide public pension plan defined in section 356A.01, subdivision 24; or

(2) a local public pension plan governed by sections 424A.091 to 424A.096, or chapter 354A, or Laws 2013, chapter 111, article 5, sections 31 to 42.

Subd. 2.Exceptions.

This chapter does not apply

(1) to meetings of the commissioner of corrections;

(2) to a state agency, board, or commission when it is exercising quasi-judicial functions involving disciplinary proceedings; or

(3) as otherwise expressly provided by statute.

Subd. 3.Subject of and grounds for closed meeting.

Before closing a meeting, a public body shall state on the record the specific grounds permitting the meeting to be closed and describe the subject to be discussed.

Subd. 4.Votes to be kept in journal or minutes.

(a) The votes of the members of the state agency, board, commission, or department; or of the governing body, committee, subcommittee, board, department, or commission on an action taken in a meeting required by this section to be open to the public must be recorded in a journal or minutes.

(b) The vote of each member must be recorded on each appropriation of money, except for payments of judgments, claims, and amounts fixed by statute.

Subd. 5.Public access to journal and minutes.

The journal or any minutes used to record votes of a meeting subject to this chapter must be open to the public during all normal business hours where records of the public body are kept.

Subd. 6.Public copy of members' materials.

(a) In any meeting which under subdivisions 1, 2, 4, and 5, and section 13D.02 must be open to the public, at least one copy of any printed materials relating to the agenda items of the meeting prepared or distributed by or at the direction of the governing body or its employees and:

(1) distributed at the meeting to all members of the governing body;

(2) distributed before the meeting to all members; or

(3) available in the meeting room to all members;

shall be available in the meeting room for inspection by the public while the governing body considers their subject matter.

(b) This subdivision does not apply to materials classified by law as other than public as defined in chapter 13, or to materials relating to the agenda items of a closed meeting held in accordance with the procedures in section 13D.03 or other law permitting the closing of meetings.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 15 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 2001–2026 · leading case: Star Tribune Co. v. Univ. of Minnesota Bd. of Regents, 683 N.W.2d 274 (Minn. 2004).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Star Tribune Co. v. Univ. of Minnesota Bd. of Regents, 683 N.W.2d 274 (Minn. 2004). · cites it 12× “Minn.Stat. § 13D.01. Unlike the Data Practices Act, the Open Meeting Law does not expressly mention the University or the Regents.”

Free Press v. Cnty. of Blue Earth, 677 N.W.2d 471 (Minn. Ct. App. 2004). · cites it 27× “Free Press’s requests for information under the MGDPA; (b) granting summary judgment for the Free Press on its claim for information in the EEOC charge, except for information specifically identifying the EEOC claimant; (c) granting summary judgment for the Free Press on its…”

Prior Lake Am. v. Mader, 642 N.W.2d 729 (Minn. 2002). · cites it 4× “" Minn.Stat. § 13D.01, subd. 1(b)(4) (2000).”

Brainerd Daily Dispatch v. Dehen, 693 N.W.2d 435 (Minn. Ct. App. 2005). · cites it 4× “Minn.Stat. § 13D.01, subd. 1(b)(4) (2002).”

Franzwa v. City of Hackensack, 567 F. Supp. 2d 1097 (D. Minnesota 2008). · cites it 4× “Finally, the Defendants argue that the Plaintiffs claims, under the Open Meeting Law, Minnesota Statutes Section 13D.01 et seq., should be subject to summary adjudication, as the Defendants’ actions did not violate that Statute.”

Abrahamson v. St. Louis Cnty. Sch. Dist., 819 N.W.2d 129 (Minn. 2012). · cites it 2× “Minn.Stat. § 13D.01, subd. 1(b)(1) (2010) (mandating that all meetings of the governing body of a school district “must be *141 open to the public”); Minn.”

Unitarian Universalist Church v. City of Wayzata, 890 F. Supp. 2d 1119 (D. Minnesota 2012). · cites it 2× “To be sure, many actions by municipalities are required to be undertaken in public under Minnesota’s Open Meeting Law, Minn.Stat. § 13D.01. Yet, the Minnesota Supreme Court has indicated that this statute yields to the judiciary’s inherent power to “order[] a litigating public…”

Star Tribune Co. v. Univ. of Minnesota Bd. of Regents, 667 N.W.2d 447 (Minn. Ct. App. 2003). · cites it 4× “Application of the OML All meetings, including executive sessions, must be open to the public (a) of a state (1) agency * * * when required or permitted by law to transact public business in a meeting; * * ⅜ (c) of any * * ⅜ (3) board * * * of a public body [[Image here]]…”

Berglund v. City of Maplewood, MN, 173 F. Supp. 2d 935 (D. Minnesota 2001). · cites it 2× “See generally Minn.Stat. § 13D.01. To determine if a meeting must be open under the OML, the public’s right to be informed must be balanced against the public’s right to the effective and efficient administration of public bodies.”

Christina Berrier v. Minnesota State Patrol, 9 N.W.3d 368 (Minn. 2024). · cites it 2× “Ultimately, given the broad language of the Open Meeting Law, the opinions of our court recognizing the University as a public institution, the University’s absence among the law’s express exceptions, and our practice of construing the Open Meeting Law in favor of public access,…”

In the Matter of the Petition of N. States Power Co., d/b/a Xcel Energy, for Approval of Its Proposed Cmty. Solar Garden Prog.. (Minn. Ct. App. 2016). · cites it 2× “Minn. Stat. § 13D.01, subd. 1(a)(3) (2014).”

Tony Thiel, Relator v. Indep. Sch. Dist. No. 803 (Minn. Ct. App. 2017). · cites it 2× “Minn. Stat. § 13D.01, subd. 1(b)(1) (2016).”

Show all 15 citing cases →

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.