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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 6876
January Session, 2019
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E COPYING OF PUBLIC RECORDS BY
USING A HAND-HELD SCANNER.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 1-212 of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective 2
October 1, 2019): 3
(a) Any person applying in writing shall receive, promptly upon 4
request, a plain, facsimile, electronic or certified copy of any public 5
record. The type of copy provided shall be within the discretion of the 6
public agency, except (1) the agency shall provide a certified copy 7
whenever requested, and (2) if the applicant does not have access to a 8
computer or facsimile machine, the public agency shall not send the 9
applicant an electronic or facsimile copy. [The] Except as provided in 10
subsection (g) of this section, the fee for any copy provided in 11
accordance with the Freedom of Information Act: 12
(A) By an executive, administrative or legislative office of the state, a 13
state agency or a department, institution, bureau, board, commission, 14
authority or official of the state, including a committee of, or created 15
by, such an office, agency, department, institution, bureau, board, 16
commission, authority or official, and also including any judicial office, 17
official or body or committee thereof but only in respect to its or their 18 Substitute Bill No. 6876
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administrative functions, shall not exceed twenty-five cents per page; 19
and 20
(B) By all other public agencies, as defined in section 1-200, shall not 21
exceed fifty cents per page. If any copy provided in accordance with 22
said Freedom of Information Act requires a transcription, or if any 23
person applies for a transcription of a public record, the fee for such 24
transcription shall not exceed the cost thereof to the public agency. 25
Sec. 2. Subsection (g) of section 1-212 of the general statutes is 26
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective 27
October 1, 2019): 28
(g) Any individual may copy a public record through the use of a 29
hand-held scanner. A public agency [may establish a fee structure not 30
to exceed twenty dollars for an] shall not charge a fee to any individual 31
[to pay each time the individual] who copies records at the agency 32
with a hand-held scanner. As used in this section, "hand-held scanner" 33
means a battery operated electronic scanning device the use of which 34
(1) leaves no mark or impression on the public record, and (2) does not 35
unreasonably interfere with the operation of the public agency. "Hand-36
held scanner" includes, but is not limited to, a mobile telephone or 37
camera. 38
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2019 1-212(a)
Sec. 2 October 1, 2019 1-212(g)
GAE Joint Favorable Subst.