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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 6850
January Session, 2025
AN ACT CONCERNING REVISIONS TO THE FREEDOM OF
INFORMATION ACT CONCERNING THE NONDISCLOSURE OF THE
ADDRESSES OF CERTAIN PUBLIC AGENCY EMPLOYEES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 1-217 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2025): 2
(a) No public agency may disclose, under the Freedom of Information 3
Act, from its personnel, medical or similar files, the residential address 4
of any of the following persons: [employed by such public agency:] 5
(1) A federal court judge, federal court magistrate, judge of the 6
Superior Court, Appellate Court or Supreme Court of the state, or 7
family support magistrate; 8
(2) A sworn member of a municipal police department, a sworn 9
member of the Division of State Police within the Department of 10
Emergency Services and Public Protection or a sworn law enforcement 11
officer within the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection; 12
(3) An employee of the Department of Correction; 13
(4) An attorney-at-law who represents or has represented the state in 14
a criminal prosecution; 15 Substitute Bill No. 6850
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(5) An attorney-at-law who is or has been employed by the Division 16
of Public Defender Services or a social worker who is employed by the 17
Division of Public Defender Services; 18
(6) An inspector employed by the Division of Criminal Justice; 19
(7) A firefighter; 20
(8) An employee of the Department of Children and Families; 21
(9) A member or employee of the Board of Pardons and Paroles; 22
(10) An employee of the judicial branch; 23
(11) An employee of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction 24
Services who provides direct care to patients; 25
(12) A member or employee of the Commission on Human Rights 26
and Opportunities; [or] 27
(13) A state marshal appointed by the State Marshal Commission 28
pursuant to section 6-38b; or 29
(14) Any other employee of a public agency, except when residency 30
is a condition or term of such person's employment. 31
(b) The business address of any person described in this section, and 32
the address of each town hall, city hall or other municipal building in 33
which the office of the registrars of voters of a municipality is located, 34
shall be subject to disclosure under section 1-210. The provisions of this 35
section shall not apply to Department of Motor Vehicles records 36
described in section 14-10. 37
(c) (1) Except as provided in subsections (a), (b) and (e) of this section, 38
no public agency may disclose the residential address of any person 39
listed in subsection (a) of this section from any record described in 40
subdivision (2) of this subsection that is requested in accordance with 41
the provisions of said subdivision, regardless of whether such person is 42
an employee of the public agency, provided such person has (A) 43 Substitute Bill No. 6850
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submitted a written request for the nondisclosure of the person's 44
residential address to the public agency, and (B) furnished his or her 45
business address to the public agency. 46
(2) Any public agency that receives a request for a record subject to 47
disclosure under this chapter where such request (A) specifically names 48
a person who has requested that his or her address be kept confidential 49
under subdivision (1) of this subsection, shall make a copy of the record 50
requested to be disclosed and shall redact the copy to remove such 51
person's residential address prior to disclosing such record, (B) is for an 52
existing list that is derived from a readily accessible electronic database, 53
shall make a reasonable effort to redact the residential address of any 54
person who has requested that his or her address be kept confidential 55
under subdivision (1) of this subsection prior to the release of such list, 56
or (C) is for any list that the public agency voluntarily creates in 57
response to a request for disclosure, shall make a reasonable effort to 58
redact the residential address of any person who has requested that his 59
or her address be kept confidential under subdivision (1) of this 60
subsection prior to the release of such list. 61
(3) Except as provided in subsection (a) of this section, an agency shall 62
not be prohibited from disclosing the residential address of any person 63
listed in subsection (a) of this section from any record other than the 64
records described in subparagraphs (A) to (C), inclusive, of subdivision 65
(2) of this subsection. 66
(d) (1) Except as provided in subsections (a), (b) and (e) of this section 67
and subject to the provisions of subdivisions (2) and (3) of this 68
subsection, no public agency of a municipality may disclose, under the 69
Freedom of Information Act, from a public record, including any record 70
described in subdivision (2) of subsection (c) of this section, the 71
residential address of any person who is a municipal clerk, registrar of 72
voters, deputy registrar of voters, election official described in section 9-73
258, primary official described in section 9-436 or audit official described 74
in section 9-320f, regardless of whether such person is an employee of 75
the public agency, provided such person has (A) submitted to the 76 Substitute Bill No. 6850
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municipality a written request for the nondisclosure of the person's 77
residential address, and (B) furnished to the municipality (i) his or her 78
business address, or (ii) if such person does not have a business address, 79
the address of the town hall, city hall or other municipal building in 80
which the office of the registrars of voters of such municipality is 81
located. 82
(2) (A) If a person submits a written request described in subdivision 83
(1) of this subsection prior to the ninetieth day preceding an election, the 84
prohibition in said subdivision against disclosing such person's 85
residential address shall take effect on the ninetieth day preceding such 86
election and shall expire on the ninetieth day following such election. 87
(B) If a person submits a written request described in subdivision (1) 88
of this subsection on or after the ninetieth day preceding an election, the 89
prohibition in said subdivision against disclosing such person's 90
residential address shall take effect upon such submission and shall 91
expire on the ninetieth day following such election. 92
(3) The provisions of this subsection shall not be construed to prohibit 93
the disclosure of the residential address of any person described in 94
subdivision (1) of this subsection in the case where such residential 95
address appears on a public record by virtue of such person holding any 96
elective or appointive state or municipal office other than municipal 97
clerk, registrar of voters or deputy registrar of voters. 98
(e) The provisions of this section shall not be construed to prohibit 99
the disclosure without redaction of any document, as defined in section 100
7-35bb, any list prepared under title 9, or any list published under 101
section 12-55. 102
(f) No public agency or public official or employee of a public agency 103
shall be penalized for violating a provision of this section, unless such 104
violation is wilful and knowing. Any complaint of such a violation shall 105
be made to the Freedom of Information Commission. Upon receipt of 106
such a complaint, the commission shall serve upon the public agency, 107
official or employee, as the case may be, by certified or registered mail, 108 Substitute Bill No. 6850
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a copy of the complaint. The commission shall provide the public 109
agency, official or employee with an opportunity to be heard at a 110
hearing conducted in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, 111
unless the commission, upon motion of the public agency, official or 112
employee or upon motion of the commission, dismisses the complaint 113
without a hearing if it finds, after examining the complaint and 114
construing all allegations most favorably to the complainant, that the 115
public agency, official or employee has not wilfully and knowingly 116
violated a provision of this section. If the commission finds that the 117
public agency, official or employee wilfully and knowingly violated a 118
provision of this section, the commission may impose against such 119
public agency, official or employee a civil penalty of not less than twenty 120
dollars nor more than one thousand dollars. Nothing in this section shall 121
be construed to allow a private right of action against a public agency, 122
public official or employee of a public agency. 123
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2025 1-217
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Subsec. (d)(1), a reference to subsection (b) was added for consistency.
GAE Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO