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Got mandated reports?

By Jess Hopeman

Mandated by 2011 Minn. Laws First Spl. Sess. Chap. 6 Art. 4 Sec. 2 Subd. 5. Each year the Minnesota Legislature mandates reports and studies to be completed by state agencies or other governmental entities. The Legislative Reference Library diligently tracks these mandated reports, and for years has done so using an internal acquisitions database affectionately known as ‘ACQ’. Patrons could call us with questions about anticipated reports, or agencies could ask for custom lists of what they were expected to submit. Unfortunately, they needed to contact the library to get that information if they weren’t tracking it themselves. Not anymore! Library staff have been working for many months to make available a public mandated reports search. It is easily searchable using many different criteria: responsible agency, title, description, citation, topic, year and others.

While the library catalog is still the comprehensive place to look for any reports we acquired over time, the new mandates interface provides additional information about future expected reports, and includes notes indicating when a mandate didn’t actually result in a written report.

Tracking mandates is a complex process and we are always eager to update our information. If you know of any delays, repealed reports or have questions or concerns about what you find, please contact us. We will still be happy to provide custom lists for anyone that wants them.

Happy searching!