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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 5011
January Session, 2021
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E COPYING OF PUBLIC RECORDS UNDER
THE FREEDOM OF INFOR MATION ACT.
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repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 2
1, 2021): 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 and section 7-34a, as amended by this act, 11
the fee for any copy of a record other than a land record provided by a 12
public agency in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act [: 13
(A) By an executive, administrative or legislative office of the state, a 14
state agency or a department, institution, bureau, board, commission, 15
authority or official of the state, including a committee of, or created by, 16
such an office, agency, department, institution, bureau, board, 17
commission, authority or official, and also including any judicial office, 18 Substitute Bill No. 5011
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official or body or committee thereof but only in respect to its or their 19
administrative functions, shall not exceed twenty-five cents per page; 20
and 21
(B) By all other public agencies, as defined in section 1-200,] shall not 22
exceed [fifty] fifteen cents per page. If any copy provided in accordance 23
with [said] the Freedom of Information Act requires a transcription, or 24
if any person applies for a transcription of a public record, the fee for 25
such transcription shall not exceed the cost thereof to the public agency. 26
Sec. 2. Subsection (e) of section 1-212 of the general statutes is 27
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 28
1, 2021): 29
(e) Except as otherwise provided by law, the fee for any person who 30
has the custody of any public records or files for certifying any copy of 31
such records or files, or certifying to any fact appearing therefrom, shall 32
be for the first page of such certificate, or copy and certificate, one dollar; 33
and for each additional page, [fifty] fifteen cents. For the purpose of 34
computing such fee, such copy and certificate shall be deemed to be one 35
continuous instrument. 36
Sec. 3. Subsection (g) of section 1-212 of the general statutes is 37
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 38
1, 2021): 39
(g) Any individual may copy a public record through the use of a 40
hand-held scanner. A public agency [may establish a fee structure not 41
to exceed twenty dollars for an] shall not charge a fee to any individual 42
[to pay each time the individual] who copies records at the agency with 43
a hand-held scanner, except that a public agency may establish a fee 44
structure not to exceed twenty dollars per day for the copying of land 45
records using a hand-held scanner. As used in this section, "hand-held 46
scanner" means a battery operated electronic scanning device the use of 47
which (1) leaves no mark or impression on the public record, and (2) 48
does not unreasonably interfere with the operation of the public agency. 49 Substitute Bill No. 5011
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"Hand-held scanner" includes, but is not limited to, a mobile telephone 50
or camera. 51
Sec. 4. Subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of section 7-34a of the general 52
statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof 53
(Effective October 1, 2021): 54
(a) (1) Town clerks shall receive, for recording any document, ten 55
dollars for the first page and five dollars for each subsequent page or 56
fractional part thereof, a page being not more than eight and one-half by 57
fourteen inches. Town clerks shall receive, for recording the information 58
contained in a certificate of registration for the practice of any of the 59
healing arts, five dollars. Town clerks shall receive, for recording 60
documents conforming to, or substantially similar to, section 47-36c, 61
which are clearly entitled "statutory form" in the heading of such 62
documents, as follows: For the first page of a warranty deed, a quitclaim 63
deed, a mortgage deed, or an assignment of mortgage, ten dollars; for 64
each additional page of such documents, five dollars; and for each 65
assignment of mortgage, subsequent to the first two assignments, two 66
dollars. Town clerks shall receive, for recording any document with 67
respect to which certain data must be submitted by each town clerk to 68
the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management in accordance with 69
section 10-261b, two dollars in addition to the regular recording fee. Any 70
person who offers any written document for recording in the office of 71
any town clerk, which document fails to have legibly typed, printed or 72
stamped directly beneath the signatures the names of the persons who 73
executed such document, the names of any witnesses thereto and the 74
name of the officer before whom the same was acknowledged, shall pay 75
one dollar in addition to the regular recording fee. Town clerks shall 76
receive, for recording any deed, except a mortgage deed, conveying title 77
to real estate, which deed does not contain the current mailing address 78
of the grantee, five dollars in addition to the regular recording fee. Town 79
clerks shall receive, for filing any document, ten dollars; for receiving 80
and keeping a survey or map, legally filed in the town clerk's office, ten 81
dollars; and for indexing such survey or map, in accordance with section 82 Substitute Bill No. 5011
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7-32, ten dollars, except with respect to indexing any such survey or map 83
pertaining to a subdivision of land as defined in section 8-18, in which 84
event town clerks shall receive twenty dollars for each such indexing. 85
Town clerks shall receive, for a copy, in any format, of any document 86
either recorded or filed in their offices that constitutes a land record, one 87
dollar for each page or fractional part thereof, as the case may be; for 88
certifying any copy of the same, two dollars; for making a copy of any 89
survey or map, the actual cost thereof; and for certifying such copy of a 90
survey or map, two dollars. Town clerks shall receive, for recording the 91
commission and oath of a notary public, twenty dollars; and for 92
certifying under seal to the official character of a notary, five dollars. 93
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2021 1-212(a)
Sec. 2 October 1, 2021 1-212(e)
Sec. 3 October 1, 2021 1-212(g)
Sec. 4 October 1, 2021 7-34a(a)(1)
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 3, the second sentence was revised for conciseness.
GAE Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO