Connecticut HB 5250: AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION FOR REVISIONS TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.

Bill Text

LCO 1400 
 
1 of 11 
  
General Assembly  
Raised Bill No. 5250  
February Session, 2026 
 
LCO No. 1400 
 
 
Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT  
 
 
Introduced by:  
(GOS)  
 
 
 
AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE 
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION FOR REVISIONS TO THE 
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.  
Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  in  General 
Assembly convened: 
 
Section  1.  Subsection  (e)  of  section  1-205  of  the  general  statutes  is 1 
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 2 
1, 2026): 3 
(e) The Freedom of Information Commission shall  conduct training 4 
sessions,  at  least  annually,  for  members  of  public  agencies  for  the 5 
purpose  of  educating  such  members  as  to  the  requirements  of this 6 
section and sections [1-7 to 1-14, inclusive, 1-16 to 1-18, inclusive,] 1-200 7 
to 1-202, inclusive, as amended by this act, [1-205,] 1-205a, 1-206, 1-210 8 
to [1-217] 1-219,  inclusive, as  amended  by  this  act, 1-225  to  1-232, 9 
inclusive, as amended by this act, and 1-240 [, 1-241 and 19a-342] to 1-10 
242, inclusive. 11 
Sec. 2. Subsection (d) of section 1-210 of the 2026 supplement to the 12 
general  statutes  is  repealed  and  the  following  is  substituted  in  lieu 13 
thereof (Effective October 1, 2026): 14 

Raised Bill No. 5250 
 
 
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(d) Whenever  a  public  agency,  except  the  Judicial  Department  or 15 
Legislative   Department,   receives   a   request   from   any   person   for 16 
disclosure of any records described in subdivision (19) of subsection (b) 17 
of this section under the Freedom of Information Act, the public agency 18 
shall promptly notify the Commissioner of Administrative Services or 19 
the  Commissioner  of  Emergency  Services  and  Public  Protection,  as 20 
applicable,   of   such   request,   in   the   manner   prescribed   by   such 21 
commissioner,  before  complying  with  the  request  as  required  by  the 22 
Freedom  of  Information  Act.  If  the  commissioner,  after  consultation 23 
with  the  chief  executive  officer  of  the  applicable  agency,  believes  the 24 
requested record is exempt from disclosure pursuant to subdivision (19) 25 
of subsection (b) of this section, the commissioner may direct the agency 26 
to withhold such record from such person. In any appeal brought under 27 
the  provisions  of  section  1-206  of  the  Freedom  of  Information  Act  for 28 
denial   of   access   to   records   for   any   of   the   reasons   described   in 29 
subdivision  (19)  of  subsection  (b)  of  this  section,  such  appeal  shall  be 30 
against (1) the  chief  executive  officer  of  the  executive  branch  state 31 
agency  or  the  municipal,  district  or  regional  agency  that maintains  or 32 
has  custody  of  the  requested  record,  and  (2)  the  commissioner  who 33 
issued the directive to the public agency that maintains or has custody 34 
of such record to withhold such record pursuant to subdivision (19) of 35 
subsection  (b)  of  this  section, [exclusively,  or,] except in  the  case  of 36 
records concerning Judicial Department facilities, such appeal shall be 37 
against the  Chief  Court  Administrator [or,] and in  the  case  of  records 38 
concerning the Legislative Department, such appeal shall be against the 39 
executive director of the Joint Committee on Legislative Management. 40 
Sec.  3.  Subsection  (g)  of  section  1-212  of  the  general  statutes  is 41 
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 42 
1, 2026): 43 
(g) Any  individual  may  copy  a  public  record  through  the  use  of  a 44 
hand-held scanner. A public agency may establish a fee structure not to 45 
exceed twenty dollars for an individual to pay each time the individual 46 
copies records at the agency with a hand-held scanner. As used in this 47 
section,   "hand-held   scanner"   means   a   battery   operated   electronic 48 

Raised Bill No. 5250 
 
 
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scanning device the use of which (1) leaves no mark or impression on 49 
the  public  record,  and  (2)  does  not  unreasonably  interfere  with  the 50 
operation of the public agency. "Hand-held scanner" includes, but is not 51 
limited  to,  a  mobile  telephone,  a  camera  or  any  other  portable  device 52 
capable of capturing an image of a public record. 53 
Sec.  4.  Section  1-200  of  the  general  statutes  is  repealed  and  the 54 
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2026): 55 
As  used  in  this  chapter,  the  following  words  and  phrases  have  the 56 
following  meanings,  except  where  such  terms  are  used  in  a  context 57 
which clearly indicates the contrary: 58 
(1) "Public agency" or "agency" means: 59 
(A) Any executive, administrative or legislative office of the state or 60 
any political subdivision of the state and a