The state of Minnesota has a potential pool of revenue at its disposal that many lawmakers may not know about. Over the last decade, the value of assets held by the state as unclaimed personal property has more than tripled.

While legislative leaders haggled in private regarding the 2012 session’s marquee legislation, rank-and-file legislators spent long hours on the floors of the House and Senate processing members’ pet bills.

Pressed in part by budget cuts that augur for a streamlining of government operations, the Department of Administration has been publicly floating a document containing around 30 proposals for a 2012 Minnesota Data Practices Act policy bill.