Researcher: LRH Page 1 3/12/25
OLR Bill Analysis
SB 973
AN ACT PERMITTING REDACTION FEES FOR THE DISCLOSURE
OF RECORDS CREATED BY POLICE BODY -WORN RECORDING
EQUIPMENT OR DASHBOARD CAMERAS UNDER THE FREEDOM
OF INFORMATION ACT.
SUMMARY
This bill sets conditions under which public agencies may charge a
fee for redacting (i.e. obscuring, pixelating, or muting) body and
dashboard camera recordings requested under the state’s Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA). It prohibits an agency from charging any fee
for the first four hours of its labor costs to redact the requested record.
Then, for any additional labor costs beyond those four hours, it allows
the agency to charge a rate up to the hourly wage of the lowest-paid
employee with the training required to redact the record, but no more
than $100 per hour for the requested recording’s actual duration. The
agency must maintain an original, unredacted copy of any requested
record that is redacted for public dissemination.
However, an agency may not charge any redaction fee if the
requestor is an involved person in the requested record or the record
shows certain types of incidents (e.g., a police officer-involved
shooting). Under the bill, an “involved person” is any (1) individual
depicted in a body or dashboard camera recording; (2) individual
directly involved in the incident that led to the police officer being called
to respond; or (3) responding police officer, including the officer who
created the recording.
For certain types of body and dashboard camera recordings, the bill
sets additional redaction and disclosure requirements. Among other
things, it requires that recordings showing certain confidential events
(e.g., encounters with undercover officers) be redacted while requiring
others (e.g., psychological evaluations) to be disclosed to an involved 2025SB-00973-R000077-BA.DOCX
Researcher: LRH Page 2 3/12/25
person or requesting party if they show the involved person or
requesting party.
Lastly, the bill makes technical and conforming changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2025
REDACTION FEES
Fee Calculation
Under existing law, fees for copies of public records (including body
and dashboard camera recordings) are set by FOIA unless the law
provides otherwise (see BACKGROUND). Generally, FOIA does not
allow public agencies to charge requestors for the time spent redacting
a record.
The bill generally allows public agencies that maintain copies of body
or dashboard camera recordings to charge requestors a fee, but only for
the time in excess of four hours they spend redacting the requested
recordings.
Beyond four hours, the bill allows an agency to charge the hourly
wage (i.e. base salary excluding benefits) of the lowest-paid employee
with the requisite training to redact the record. The bill prohibits
agencies from charging for (1) time spent searching for the requested
records, (2) an attorney hired to conduct a second review of the record,
or (3) a digital management company’s services.
Under the bill, the redaction fee may not exceed $100 per hour for the
actual length of time of the requested record. The agency may round up
the actual length of time to the nearest half-hour at the rate of $50 per
hour (e.g., for a five hours and ten minutes long recording, an agency
could charge no more than $525). Agencies (1) must inform the
requestor if the fee is estimated to exceed $250, (2) may require
prepayment in these cases, and (3) must refund any portion of a
prepayment that exceeds the actual labor costs. The bill allows the
Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC) to order a refund of a
payment or prepayment if it finds that a public agency violated these
fee provisions. 2025SB-00973-R000077-BA.DOCX
Researcher: LRH Page 3 3/12/25
Fee Prohibitions and Waivers
The bill prohibits public agencies from charging any redaction fee to
a requesting party who is an (1) involved person in the requested record;
(2) involved person’s parent or legal guardian; or (3) attorney
representing an involved person in a civil, criminal, or administrative
matter. It also prohibits fees from being charged:
1. for records that depict a police officer (a) involved in a shooting
or motor vehicle accident or (b) giving a formal statement about
the use of force, or
2. if there is an allegation of misconduct by the police officer
involved or the officer is the subject of a disciplinary
investigation.
The bill specifies that these records remain subject to the disclosure
limitations under current law and the bill.
The bill also requires agencies to waive the redaction fee for the same
reasons that FOIA requires copying fees to be waived. FOIA generally
requires these fee waivers for (1) political subdivisions’ elected officials
getting records from their own agency for official business; (2) indigent
people; (3) public defenders; (4) records exempt from disclosure; and (5)
requests that benefit the general welfare, as determined by the agency.
DISCLOSURE AND REDACTION OF BODY CAMERA RECORDIN GS
Additional Disclosure Requirements
Existing law generally subjects body and dashboard camera
recordings to disclosure under FOIA, with certain exceptions. Among
other things, current law (1) prohibits officers from intentionally
recording a person undergoing a medical or psychological evaluation,
procedure, or treatment, unless the recording was made as part of an
agreement between the law enforcement unit and the fe deral
government and (2) makes confidential any recording showing these
events. The bill requires that recordings showing these events be
disclosed to an involved person or requesting party if they show the
involved person or requesting party. 2025SB-00973-R000077-BA.DOCX
Researcher: LRH Page 4 3/12/25
With certain exceptions, existing law generally prohibits disclosing
recordings of a minor. Under current law, a recording of a minor must
be disclosed if, among other things, the minor and his or her parent or
guardian consent to disclosure. The bill additionally requires disclosure
if the (1) minor is an involved person and (2) parent or guardian is a
requesting party or also an involved person.
Additional Redaction Requirements
The bill requires redaction of body and dashboard camera recordings
of any of the following, which are confidential and generally exempt
from disclosure under FOIA:
1. communications between law enforcement unit personnel,
except those that may be recorded as an officer performs his or
her duties;
2. encounters with undercover officers, informants, or officers
performing certain detective work;
3. officers on break or engaging in a personal activity;
4. someone undergoing a medical or psychological evaluation,
procedure, or treatment;
5. anyone, other than a criminal suspect, in a hospital or other
medical facility;
6. a mental health facility, unless the recording was made during a
response to a call involving a criminal suspect thought to be
present in the facility;
7. scenes of an incident involving victims of domestic or sexual
abuse, homicide or suicide, or a fatal accident, if disclosure could
reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of
the victim’s personal privacy; or
8. a minor.
2025SB-00973-R000077-BA.DOCX
Researcher: LRH Page 5 3/12/25
BACKGROUND
FOIA Fees
FOIA allows public agencies to charge the following for producing
copies of computer-stored public records:
1. the hourly salary attributed to all agency employees engaged in
providing the requested record (including their time performing
necessary formatting or programming functions, but excluding
search or retrieval costs);
2. the cost of an outside professional electronic copying service, if
needed;
3. the actual cost of the storage devices or media provided to the
requestor; and
4. computer time charges if a contractor or another agency provides
the storage and retrieval services (CGS §§ 1-211(a) & -212(b)).
Related Case
In a contested case decided in 2023, FOIC rejected a law enforcement
agency’s attempt to charge a requestor for labor costs to pixelate and
mute a body camera recording. Specifically, FOIC ruled that these
actions were not formatting or programming within the meaning of
FOIA’s fee provisions (because the agency used existing software and
did not need to develop a program or contract with an outside entity to
develop a program) (FIC 2022-0176 (2023)).
Related Bill
SB 1229, reported favorably by the Government Administration and
Elections Committee, is identical to this bill.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Government Oversight Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 9 Nay 0 (02/25/2025)