Requirements of the Local Public Health Act

Community health boards are statutory responsibilities under the Local Public Health Act. Compliance consists of two components: statutory requirements and performance-related accountability requirements.

Statutory requirements

Community health boards must meet all of the duties outlined in Minn. Stat. § 145A.03-04. 

Specifically, the statutory requirements are:

• Meet the composition requirements specified in Minn. Stat. § 145A.03
• Hold at least two community health board meetings per year
• Have, in place, written procedures for transacting business; and keep a public record of transactions, findings, and determinations, as required by Minn. Stat. § 145A.03, subd. 5
• Employ/contract with a CHS administrator who meets the qualification requirements of Minn. Rule 4736.0110 in accordance with Minn. Stat. § 145A.04, subd. 2.
• Employ/contract with a medical consultant in accordance with Minn. Stat. § 145A.04, subd. 2a
• Identify local public health priorities and implement activities to address those priorities and the areas of public health responsibility Minn. Stat. § 145A.04, subd. 1
• Submit health priorities (as a proxy for the community health assessment) and community health improvement plan (at least every five years) Minn. Stat. § 145A.04, subd. 1 See also Assessment and planning for local public health - MN Dept. of Health;
• Implement a performance management process Minn. Stat. § 145A.04, subd. 1
• Annually report on a set of performance measures Minn. Stat. § 145A.04, subd. 1 (done through Local Public Health Act annual reporting).

Performance-related accountability requirement  

The performance-related accountability requirement is a yearly "deep dive" into a single measure to support systemwide progress and improvement (MN Statute 145A.131 Local Public Health Grant ​Subd. 3. Accountability)

2025 measure

For 2025, community health boards will demonstrate their ability to meet the following national measure, as approved by SCHSAC and the Commissioner of Health in December 2024:

Measure 2.2.5 Maintain a risk communication plan and a process for urgent 24/7 communication with response partners.

What community health boards will report

Community health boards will demonstrate meeting the performance-related accountability requirement by:

• Attest to meeting the following elements:

1. The community health board has a risk communication plan dated within 5 years.  
2. The risk communication plan:  
   1. Describes the process used to develop accurate and timely messages.  
      Describes methods to communicate necessary information to the entire community, including subpopulations who are at higher risk.  
   2. Includes methods to address misconceptions or misinformation.  
   3. Describes the process to expedite approval of messages to the public during an emergency.  
   4. Describes how information will be disseminated in the case of communication technology disruption.  
   5. Describes the process for managing and responding to inquiries from the public during an emergency.  
   6. Describes the process to coordinate the communications and development of messages among partners during an emergency.  
   7. Contains a list with media contact information.  
   8. Describes the procedure for keeping the media contact list current and accurate.  

• Provide a brief narrative describing how your community health board implements elements 2b, 2c, and 2g. If your agency is accredited, you may submit relevant documents used in the accreditation process.  
• Share any opportunities and challenges related to your risk communication plan and processes (open ended response).
• Note: Community health boards will not be asked to submit the full communications plan. 

How and when community health boards report

Community health boards will submit this information via the Response Sustainability Grant reporting in REDCap in March 2026.  

The Center for Public Health Practice will work with the Center for Emergency Preparedness and Response to collect this information.  

Instructions for calendar year 2025 reporting are coming soon. View the 2024 instructions.

More information on the performance-related accountability requirement can be found online: Local Public Health Performance Measures and Performance-Related Accountability: Recommendations of the SCHSAC Performance Measurement Workgroup (PDF)

Stay tuned for webinar information and office hours. Please contact your system consultant with questions: Who is my public health system consultant? - MN Dept. of Health

2024 measure

Community health boards demonstrated their ability to meet Measure 1.3.3 Use data to recommend and inform public health actions. This was reported by March 31, 2025. 

Related

• SCHSAC Performance Measurement Workgroup
• Local Public Health Act Annual Reporting