Connecticut SB 485: AN ACT EXPANDING THE ADDRESS CONFIDENTIALITY PROGRAM TO SHIELD LAND RECORDS AND INCLUDE PRIVATE ENTITIES.

Bill Text

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General Assembly  
Substitute Bill No. 485  
February Session, 2026 
 
 
 
 
 
AN ACT EXPANDING THE ADDRESS CONFIDENTIALITY PROGRAM 
TO SHIELD LAND RECORDS AND INCLUDE PRIVATE ENTITIES.  
Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and House  of  Representatives  in  General 
Assembly convened: 
 
Section  1.  Section  54-240  of  the  general  statutes  is  repealed  and  the 1 
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2026): 2 
As used in this chapter and section 4 of this act: 3 
(1) "Address   confidentiality   program"   or   "program"   means   the 4 
program established pursuant to this chapter; 5 
(2) "Agency" has the same meaning as "public agency" or "agency", as 6 
provided in section 1-200; 7 
(3) "Application   assistant"   means   a   person   authorized   by   the 8 
Secretary   of   the   State   to   assist   applicants   in   the   completion   of 9 
applications for program participation; 10 
(4) "Authorized  personnel"  means  an  employee  in  the  office  of  the 11 
Secretary of the State who has been designated by the Secretary of the 12 
State, or an employee of an agency who has been designated by the chief 13 
executive officer of such agency, to process and have access to records 14 
pertaining to a program participant, including, but not limited to, voter 15 
registration applications, voting records and marriage records; 16 

Substitute Bill No. 485 
 
 
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(5) "Certification  card"  means  a  card  issued  by  the  Secretary  of  the 17 
State pursuant to section 54-240d; 18 
(6) "Confidential address" means a program participant's address or 19 
addresses   as   listed   on   such   participant's   application   for   program 20 
participation  that  are  not  to  be  disclosed,  including  such  participant's 21 
residential address in this state and work and school addresses in this 22 
state, if any; 23 
(7) "Family  violence"  has  the  same  meaning  as  provided  in  section 24 
46b-38a; 25 
(8)  "Financial  institution"  has  the  same  meaning  as  provided  in 26 
section 36a-2; 27 
[(8)] (9) "Injury or risk of injury to a child" means any act or conduct 28 
that constitutes a violation of section 53-21; 29 
[(9)] (10) "Kidnapping" means any act that constitutes a violation of 30 
section 53a-92, 53a-92a, 53a-94 or 53a-94a; 31 
[(10)] (11) "Law enforcement agency" means the office of the Attorney 32 
General,  the  office  of  the  Chief  State's  Attorney,  the  Division  of  State 33 
Police   within   the   Department   of   Emergency   Services   and   Public 34 
Protection or any municipal police department; 35 
[(11)] (12) "Marriage  records"  means  an  application  for  a  marriage 36 
license,   an   issued   marriage   license,   a   license   certificate   or   other 37 
documents related thereto; 38 
[(12)] (13) "Program address" means the post office box number and 39 
fictitious  street  address  assigned  to  a  program  participant  by  the 40 
Secretary of the State; 41 
[(13)] (14) "Program  participant"  or  "participant"  means  any  person 42 
certified  by  the  Secretary  of  the  State  to  participate  in  the  address 43 
confidentiality program; 44 

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(15) "Real property address confidentiality program notice" means a 45 
completed  form,  prescribed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  State  pursuant  to 46 
section 4 of this act; 47 
(16) "Real property record" means any record or data maintained by 48 
a town clerk as part of the municipal land records or by a tax assessor 49 
as part of the municipal tax records; 50 
[(14)] (17) "Record" has the same meaning as "public records or files" 51 
as provided in section 1-200; 52 
[(15)] (18) "Sexual assault" means any act that constitutes a violation 53 
of  section  53a-70b  of  the  general  statutes,  revision  of  1958,  revised  to 54 
January  1,  2019,  or  section  53a-70,  53a-70a,  53a-71,  53a-72a,  53a-72b  or 55 
53a-73a; 56 
(19)  "Shield"  or  "shielding"  means  to  remove a  real  property record 57 
from public inspection to a separate secure area to which persons who 58 
do not have a legitimate reason for access are denied access; 59 
[(16)] (20) "Stalking"  means  any  act  that  constitutes  a  violation  of 60 
section 53a-181c, 53a-181d or 53a-181e; and 61 
[(17)] (21) "Trafficking  in  persons"  means  any  act  that  constitutes  a 62 
violation of section 53a-192a. 63 
Sec.  2.  Section  54-240h  of  the  general  statutes  is  repealed  and  the 64 
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2026): 65 
(a) A program participant may request, on a form prescribed by the 66 
Secretary  of  the  State, that  an  agency or  a  person use  the  program 67 
address  as  the  participant's  residential,  work  or  school  address  for  all 68 
purposes  for  which  the  agency or  person requires  or  requests  such 69 
residential, work or school address. A program