Tennessen Warning

A notice that a Minnesota government agency must give you before collecting private information about you, explaining why the data is being collected, how it will be used, and who will have access to it.

A Tennessen Warning is a required notice under Minnesota law. Before a government agency collects private or confidential information about you, it must tell you several things: why it is collecting the data, how the data will be used, whether you are required or allowed to provide it, and who else will be able to see it. The warning is named after Roger Tennessen, the Minnesota state senator who authored this part of the law.

You might encounter a Tennessen Warning when you fill out paperwork at a county office, enroll a child in a public school, apply for state benefits, or speak with a government investigator. The agency is supposed to give you this notice before you hand over your personal information, not after. It is similar in spirit to Miranda rights, but instead of protecting you during a police interrogation, it protects your personal data whenever the government asks for it.

This requirement is unique to Minnesota. Most other states do not have an equivalent rule. It comes from Minnesota Statutes section 13.04, which is part of the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. The Tennessen Warning is one of the strongest data privacy protections for residents anywhere in the country.

Why it matters: If a government agency asks you for personal information without first explaining why they need it and how it will be used, they may be violating Minnesota law. Knowing about the Tennessen Warning helps you recognize when your rights are being respected and when they are not.

Example: You visit a county social services office to apply for childcare assistance. Before you fill out the application, the intake worker hands you a written notice explaining that your income and family information will be used to determine eligibility, that providing the information is voluntary but required to process your application, and that the data may be shared with the state Department of Human Services. That notice is a Tennessen Warning.