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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 6212
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 4424
Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION
AND ELECTIONS
Introduced by:
(GAE)
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E CONFIDENTIALITY OF THE
RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS OF CERTAIN PROTECTED PERSONS IN
ONLINE MUNICIPAL REC ORDS.
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 Section 54-240 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1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, 2021): 2
As used in this chapter and section 3 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
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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
(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) "Injury or risk of injury to a child" means any act or conduct that 26
constitutes a violation of section 53-21; 27
(9) "Law enforcement agency" means the office of the Attorney 28
General, the office of the Chief State's Attorney, the Division of State 29
Police within the Department of Emergency Services and Public 30
Protection or any municipal police department; 31
(10) "Marriage records" means an application for a marriage license, 32
an issued marriage license, a license certificate or other documents 33
related thereto; 34
(11) "Program address" means the post office box number and 35
fictitious street address assigned to a program participant by the 36
Secretary of the State; 37
(12) "Program participant" or "participant" means any person 38
certified by the Secretary of the State to participate in the address 39
confidentiality program; 40
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(13) "Protected person" means a person named as a protected person 41
in a protective or restraining order issued by a court of this state, 42
including, but not limited to, an order issued pursuant to sections 46b-43
15, 46b-16a, 46b-38c, 53a-40e and 54-1k; 44
[(13)] (14) "Record" has the same meaning as "public records or files" 45
as provided in section 1-200; 46
[(14)] (15) "Sexual assault" means any act that constitutes a violation 47
of section 53a-70b of the general statutes, revision of 1958, revised to 48
January 1, 2019, or section 53a-70, 53a-70a, 53a-71, 53a-72a, 53a-72b or 49
53a-73a; and 50
[(15)] (16) "Stalking" means any act that constitutes a violation of 51
section 53a-181c, 53a-181d or 53a-181e. 52
Sec. 2. Section 54-240c of the general statutes is repealed and the 53
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2021): 54
The Secretary of the State shall certify an applicant or the person on 55
whose behalf an application is made as a program participant if the 56
application is filed in the manner and on the application form prescribed 57
by the Secretary of the State and includes: 58
(1) A statement made under penalty of false statement, as provided 59
in section 53a-157b, that (A) the applicant or the person on whose behalf 60
the application is made is a victim of family violence, injury or risk of 61
injury to a minor, sexual assault or stalking or is a protected person, and 62
(B) the applicant fears for the applicant's safety, for the safety of the 63
applicant's children, for the safety of the person on whose behalf the 64
application is made, or for the safety of the children of the person on 65
whose behalf the application is made; 66
(2) Documentation supporting the statement made pursuant to 67
subdivision (1) of this section; 68
(3) A designation of the Secretary of the State as the agent of the 69
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applicant or the person on whose behalf the application is made for 70
service of process and for receipt of first class mail; 71
(4) The residential address in this state, the work and school 72
addresses in this state, if any, and the phone number or numbers, if 73
available, that are to remain confidential, but which may be used by the 74
Secretary of the State or authorized personnel to contact the applicant 75
or the person on whose behalf the application is made; and 76
(5) The application preparation date, the applicant's signature and the 77
signature of the application assistant who assisted the applicant in 78
completing the application. 79
Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2021) (a) A program participant 80
who is a protected person may request a municipality to either use such 81
person's program address in lieu of the participant's residential address 82
or to leave the address blank on any online version of a municipal record 83
concerning the program participant by appearing in person and 84
presenting the participant's certification card to the town clerk. Upon 85
receiving such request, the town clerk shall (1) list the program 86
participant's program address or list the participant by name only in all 87
online records that the town clerk has custody or supervision over, and 88
(2) transmit such request to any other applicable municipal official or 89
employee to ensure that all other online municipal records, other than 90
those described in subsection (d) of this section, are so redacted. Such 91
online records shall remain redacted until the expiration of the program 92
participant's certification, provided it is not renewed under section 54-93
240j of the general statutes, or until the municipal official receives notice 94
from the Secretary of the State that the certification has been cancelled 95
under section 54-240k of the general statutes, as amended by this act, 96
whichever is earlier. The town clerk and other applicable officials may 97
make the original records or physical copies of such records that are not 98
online available for inspection or copying. 99
(b) Each town clerk shall establish procedures for the posting of land 100
records online to comply with the provisions of this section. Such 101
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procedures shall provide public notice of the existence of online land 102
records that may have been redacted in accordance with the provisions 103
of this section. 104
(c) The town clerk may notify the Secretary of the State of a request 105
for address confidentiality made under this section and request the 106
Secretary to inform the town clerk of any subsequent cancellation of the 107
certification under section 54-240k of the general statutes, as amended 108
by this act. 109
(d) The provisions of this section shall not apply to marriage records 110
or voter registry lists, which shall be subject to the provisions of sections 111
54-240f and 54-240g of the general statutes. 112
Sec. 4. Subdivision (1) of subsection (d) of section 54-240k of the 113
general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 114
thereof (Effective October 1, 2021): 115
(d) (1) The Secretary of the State shall notify in writing the authorized 116
personnel of the appropriate agency when a participant's certification in 117
the program has been cancelled, including, but not limited to, a town 118
clerk who has requested such notice under section 3 of this act. After 119
receipt of such notice, the agency shall not be responsible for 120
maintaining the confidentiality of the record or address of a program 121
participant whose certification has been cancelled. 122
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2021 54-240
Sec. 2 October 1, 2021 54-240c
Sec. 3 October 1, 2021 New section
Sec. 4 October 1, 2021 54-240k(d)(1)
Statement of Purpose:
To require municipalities to redact the residential address of program
participants from any online version of municipal records.
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[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]
Co-Sponsors: REP. LINEHAN, 103rd Dist.; SEN. DAUGHERTY ABRAMS,
13th Dist.
H.B. 6212