OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sSB-431
AN ACT CONCERNING FEES FOR COPYING, REVIEWING AND
REDACTING RECORDS CREATED BY POLICE BODY -WORN
RECORDING EQUIPMENT AND DASHBOARD CAMERAS.
Primary Analyst: RP 4/9/24
Contributing Analyst(s):
Reviewer: PR
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 25 $ FY 26 $
Department of Emergency
Services and Public Protection
GF - Cost 58,000 73,000
State Comptroller - Fringe
Benefits
1
GF - Cost 23,000 30,000
Various State Agencies Various -
Potential
Cost/Potential
Revenue Gain
See Below See Below
Note: GF=General Fund; Various=Various
Municipal Impact:
Municipalities Effect FY 25 $ FY 26 $
Municipal Police Departments STATE
MANDATE
2
- Potential
Cost
See Below See Below
Municipal Police Departments Potential
Revenue
Gain
See Below See Below
1
The fringe benefit costs for most state employees are budgeted centrally in accounts
administered by the Comptroller. The estimated active employee fringe benefit cost
associated with most personnel changes is 41.25% of payroll in FY 25.
2
State mandate is defined in Sec. 2-32b(2) of the Connecticut General Statutes, "state
mandate" means any state initiated constitutional, statutory or executive action that
requires a local government to establish, expand or modify its activities in such a way
as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenues. 2024SB-00431-R000396-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 3
Explanation
The bill expands the types of body and dashboard camera recordings
that must be redacted prior to disclosure under the Freedom of
Information (FOI) Act, and allows public agencies to charge requestors
fees for time spent redacting a record, resulting in (1) a cost to the
Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) and
the State Comptroller, (2) a potential cost to various state agencies and
municipal police departments, and (3) a potential revenue gain to the
state and municipalities.
To meet the bill's redaction requirements, DESPP will need to hire
one paralegal specialist for a salary and other expenses cost of $58,000
in FY 25
3
and $73,000 in FY 26, along with associated fringe benefits costs
of $23,000 in FY 25 and $30,000 in FY 26.
Any state agency with law enforcement units that use body and
dashboard cameras will face potential costs to the extent that the agency
receives FOI requests for recordings that are subject to the bill's
redaction requirements. These potential costs will depend on the
number of FOI requests that the agency receives for such recordings, the
size of each recording, and the capacity of existing staff to field such
requests.
Similarly, the potential cost to any given municipal law enforcement
unit will depend on the same factors. Some police departments may
require additional staff or incur overtime expenses to meet the bill's
requirements upon receiving a request.
The bill also allows public agencies to charge a fee for redacting body
and dashboard camera recordings and sets requirements for calculating
the fee, resulting in a potential revenue gain to the state and municipal
police departments, depending on how many requests an agency
3
FY 25 costs reflect 9 months of salary due to the bill's October 1, 2024 effective date. 2024SB-00431-R000396-FN.DOCX Page 3 of 3
receives and whether the request is eligible for fees.
4
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to the number of FOI requests an agency
receives that are subject to the bill's provisions.
Sources: Department of Administrative Services website
4
Generally, an agency may charge a rate up to the hourly salary of the lowest-paid
employee qualified to redact the record but may not charge more than $100 per hour
of the actual length of time of the requested record. Additionally, an agency may not
charge a fee for the first two hours of labor or in some cases, the first four hours, and
certain recordings are not subject to fees.