OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
HB-6236
AN ACT EXEMPTING CERTAIN INFORMATION CONCERNING
CONCRETE FOUNDATIONS FROM PUBLIC DISCLOSURE UNDER
THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.
Primary Analyst: JS 4/7/21
Contributing Analyst(s): CP
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 22 $ FY 23 $
UConn Research -
Potential Revenue
Gain
See Below See Below
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
The bill extends the existing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
exemption regarding failing concrete foundation records, to include
such records maintained, kept, or prepared by a public institution of
higher education. The bill results in a potential revenue gain in federal
research funding to the University of Connecticut (UConn), associated
with its research into failing concrete foundations.
The bill allows UConn (or other public colleges and universities) to
access records held by other state agencies regarding concrete
foundations and enables UConn to keep confidential the related data it
is collecting. UConn currently has a federal grant for approximately
$768,000 regarding concrete foundations research, with a grant term of
September 2020 through August 2022. It is possible that the bill's
provisions will expand the scope of UConn's research, which could
improve prospects for receiving further federal grants (revenue) in this
area. The extent of the potential revenue gain is dependent on the 2021HB-06236-R000337-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 2
amount of future federal grant revenue available, which is unknown.
The bill is not anticipated to result in a fiscal impact to the Freedom
of Information Commission.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to inflation.