Connecticut Freedom of Information Act: Requests and Exemptions

The Connecticut Freedom of Information Act, enacted in 1975, gives any person the right to inspect public records and attend meetings of state and local government bodies. Agencies must respond to a records request within four business days, and if they wrongfully withhold what you asked for, the Freedom of Information Commission can order the records released and fine the responsible official up to $5,000.

Who and What the Law Covers

The Act’s definition of “public agency” is broad. It reaches every executive, administrative, and legislative office of the state and its political subdivisions, along with the departments, boards, commissions, authorities, and committees those offices create.¹ School districts, regional districts, municipal corporations, and multi-town agencies are all covered. The judicial branch is included, but only for its administrative side, not for trials or docket records.

“Public records” is equally broad. Any recorded information about the public’s business that an agency prepared, owns, uses, or received qualifies, and format is irrelevant.¹ Handwritten notes, emails, tape recordings, video, photographs, and electronic data all count.

How to File a Request

You don’t have to say why you want the records, and you don’t have to be a Connecticut resident. The law imposes no purpose requirement and no restriction on how you use what you receive.

Address your request to the specific agency that holds the records and describe what you want clearly enough that staff can find it without guessing. Dates, names, and subject matter help. You can ask to inspect records in person or to receive copies on paper or electronically. Many agencies post standard request forms, but a plain letter or email works just as well.

Response Deadlines

Once the agency has your request, it has four business days to hand over the records or issue a written denial citing a specific exemption.² Silence past those four days counts as a denial and starts the appeal clock. Requests that trigger employee-notification rules for personnel files carry a ten-business-day window instead.

Beyond that initial response, the statute requires agencies to act “promptly.” A single set of meeting minutes should come back in days. A request that pulls in thousands of emails and needs line-by-line exemption review can take weeks, and the Commission judges promptness against the volume and complexity involved.

Copy Fees and Waivers

State agencies can charge up to 25 cents per page for paper copies. All other public agencies, including towns and local boards, can charge up to 50 cents per page.³ For electronic records that need staff time to format or extract, the agency can charge the hourly salary of the workers doing the job. It cannot bill you for the time spent locating the records in the first place.

Fees must be waived if you are indigent, if the agency finds that filling the request benefits the general welfare, if a search turns up only exempt records, if you are a local elected official requesting records from your own political subdivision that relate to your duties, or if you are a public defender or court-appointed counsel requesting records for a case.⁴

Records an Agency Can Withhold

Disclosure is the default. Connecticut General Statutes § 1-210(b) lists the categories that agencies may or must withhold, and the agency has the burden of proving a specific exemption fits.⁵ The main categories are:

Personnel or medical files whose release would invade personal privacy. Connecticut courts apply a two-part test: the information must not relate to a legitimate matter of public concern, and its disclosure must be highly offensive to a reasonable person. Public employees face a higher bar because there is a presumption that information about government workers is a matter of public concern.
Law enforcement investigative files, when release would compromise a pending investigation, identify a confidential informant, expose investigatory techniques, or endanger witnesses.
Preliminary drafts and notes, but only when the agency finds the public interest in withholding outweighs the interest in disclosure.
Trade secrets and commercial or financial information given to the government in confidence.
Records tied to pending litigation involving the agency, until the matter resolves.
Testing materials such as examination questions and scoring keys used for licensing or certification.
Security plans and manuals for state facilities.

When someone requests a public employee’s personnel file, the agency must first notify the employee or their union representative. The employee then has seven business days from receiving the notice to file a written objection under penalty of false statement. If there’s no proof the notice was received, the window extends to nine business days from the date it was sent. An objection doesn’t guarantee the records stay sealed. Courts treat public employees as having a diminished expectation of privacy, and the presumption still runs toward disclosure.

Police Body Camera and Dashboard Camera Footage

Body-worn and dashboard camera recordings are public records, but they run on their own clock. When footage relates to a use-of-force investigation or officer discipline, it must be released within 48 hours after the officer reviews it or 96 hours after the investigation begins, whichever is earlier. In no event can disclosure be delayed more than 144 hours after the recorded event. Where no investigation or use-of-force inquiry is underway, the same structure applies with 48 hours from officer review or 96 hours from the request, and the same 144-hour ceiling.⁶

Some footage stays confidential regardless of timing. Recordings that show people receiving medical or psychological treatment, the interior of a mental health facility (unless police are responding to a call involving a criminal suspect), encounters with undercover officers or informants, or minors are generally withheld. Footage depicting victims of domestic or sexual abuse, homicide, suicide, or fatal accidents can also be withheld when disclosure would be an unwarranted invasion of privacy.

Open Meetings and Executive Sessions

Any gathering where a quorum of a multi-member agency discusses or acts on matters within its authority is a public meeting, and anyone may attend. Agencies must file an annual schedule of regular meetings by January 31 with the Secretary of the State (state agencies) or the town clerk (local agencies), and no meeting can be held sooner than 30 days after that filing.⁷

Agendas for regular meetings must be posted and filed at least 24 hours in advance at the agency’s office and with the Secretary of the State or the appropriate town clerk. State agencies must also post the agenda on the agency’s website and the Secretary of the State’s website. Special meetings follow the same 24-hour notice rule, and the notice must include the time and place.⁷ Minutes must be made available once the proceedings end, along with any recordings or transcripts.

An agency can close a meeting only by a two-thirds vote of the members present, taken during the public portion, with the reason stated on the record.⁷ The permitted grounds are limited to:

Personnel matters, including the hiring, performance, evaluation, health, or dismissal of a public officer or employee.
Strategy and negotiations for pending claims or litigation against the agency or its members acting officially.
Security strategy, deployment of security personnel, or security devices affecting public safety.
Site selection or the lease, sale, or purchase of property by a political subdivision where publicity would drive up prices.
Discussion that would reveal records exempt from disclosure.

Only agency members and specifically invited presenters may be in the room, and invited guests must leave once their part is done.⁸ Minutes must list everyone who attended, except job applicants there for an interview. If you believe an agency slipped into executive session improperly, an appeal to the Commission gets expedited handling: a preliminary hearing within about 72 hours and a final decision within five days of a probable-cause finding.⁹

Appealing to the Freedom of Information Commission

If an agency denies your request or lets the four-business-day window pass without responding, you can appeal to the Freedom of Information Commission. The written appeal must be filed within 30 days of the denial. For a secret or unnoticed meeting, the 30 days runs from when you actually learned it happened.² Miss the deadline and the Commission will dismiss the case without touching the merits.

Your complaint should name the agency, describe the records you sought, explain the denial (or the non-response), and state the remedy you want. A hearing officer then holds a formal proceeding, with both sides presenting evidence. The agency has to prove that a specific exemption justified the withholding.⁹

The hearing officer issues a proposed decision that the full Commission reviews and votes on. If the Commission finds a violation, it can order the records released. It can also impose a civil penalty between $20 and $5,000 against the individual official responsible for the denial, provided the denial had no reasonable grounds.¹⁰

Taking a Commission Decision to Superior Court

Either party can challenge a final Commission decision by appealing to the Connecticut Superior Court under the Uniform Administrative Procedure Act. The appeal has to be filed within 45 days after the Commission mails its final decision. If you first ask the Commission to reconsider, the 45 days runs from the denial of that petition or from a revised decision.¹¹

You serve a copy on the Commission (or on the Attorney General’s office in Hartford) and file with the clerk of the Superior Court for the judicial district of New Britain or the district where you live. Certified or registered mail is acceptable service. Missing the 45-day deadline or botching service is a jurisdictional defect and the case will be dismissed.

What the Act Does Not Cover: Court Case Records

The FOI Act reaches the judicial branch only for administrative matters like budgets, personnel decisions, and operational policies. Trial transcripts, docket sheets, and case filings fall outside the Act entirely. Those records are still generally available, but access runs through the Connecticut Practice Book, which presumes court filings are public and lets a judge override that presumption only when another interest requires it. To get a court record, go to the clerk of the court under Practice Book rules, not through an FOI request.

1
State of Connecticut. Connecticut General Statutes Section 1-200 – Definitions
2
State of Connecticut. Connecticut General Statutes 1-206 – Denial of Access to Public Records or Meetings
3
Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission. Connecticut General Statutes Section 1-212 – Copies and Scanning of Public Records, Fees
4
Justia. Connecticut General Statutes 1-212 – Copies and Scanning of Public Records, Fees
5
Justia. Connecticut Code 1-210 – Access to Public Records
6
Justia. Connecticut General Statutes 29-6d – Use of Body-Worn Recording Equipment
7
Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission. Connecticut General Statutes Section 1-225 – Meetings of Government Agencies to Be Public
8
State of Connecticut. Connecticut General Statutes Section 1-231 – Executive Sessions
9
State of Connecticut. Citizens Guide to the Freedom of Information Commission
10
Connecticut General Assembly. OLR Bill Analysis – SB 1221, Increasing FOIA Civil Penalties
11
Justia. Connecticut General Statutes 4-183 – Appeal to Superior Court