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Settlement info could become public

Published (4/20/2012)
By Erin Schmidtke
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The Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District 191 paid an employee more than a quarter-million dollars as part of a settlement package earlier this year. Due to legal restrictions, it was unable to provide the public with information about the agreement.

Rep. Pam Myhra (R-Burnsville) sponsors HF2647 that would allow that type of information to become public data. Though it wouldn’t retroactively impact the Burnsville agreement, the bill does seek to affect future agreements involving government entities paying out $10,000 or more of public money to employees. When a payment is made, specific reasons for the agreement would need to become available.

The House passed the bill 131-0 April 16. It now goes to the Senate, where Sen. Dan Hall (R-Burnsville) is the sponsor.

Myhra said the bill would lend further clarity and transparency to government.

While supporting the larger bill, Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul) raised concerns about an author’s amendment Myhra successfully offered, which would limit these transparency requirements to counties of 5,000 residents or more. His motion to strike that language failed following arguments that the bill could put undue stress on smaller counties.

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