REPORT ON BILLS FAVORABLY REPORTED BY COMMITTEE

TITLE OF BILL:

AN ACT CONCERNING THE DISCLOSURE OF SENSITIVE RECORDS.

SPONSORS OF BILL:

REASONS FOR BILL:

Concerns have been raised to the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS) regarding the need to protect information provided to state and local agencies. Enacted in the wake of Sept 11, 2001, existing law (P.A. 02-133) is a combination of several proposals aimed at strengthening the control that municipalities, public utilities, and the military have over public access to documents such as security plans, training manuals, and emergency response and disaster recovery plans. Public Works became the clearinghouse for many of those sensitive documents, but that was before there was a state agency dedicated to security issues. This bill make certain security-sensitive information exempt from Freedom of Information disclosure, and would shift responsibilities to the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS).

Requested by DEMHS.

Substitute language: Line 195: Change “information” to “records” for consistency, as requested by FOIC and DEMHS.

RESPONSE FROM ADMINISTRATION/AGENCY:

Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, Commissioner James Thomas: DEMHS supports this bill. Private companies may be reluctant to provide security sensitive information to a public agency, for fear the information would become a public document. This bill would make such information exempt from FOI disclosure, if releasing the information created a health or safety risk to one or more citizens. Also, the bill takes the logical step of moving responsibility for the determination of whether to disclose certain records to the agency with jurisdiction and responsibility for security. Determination of disclosure of records that may result in a safety risk to property owned or leased by the state would remain with Public Works, the agency knowledgeable in those areas.

NATURE AND SOURCES OF SUPPORT:

Freedom of Information Commission supports the bill and feels that shifting some of the Department of Public Works' “clearinghouse” responsibilities to the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security makes sense. The Commission's preference is to continue to have one agency serve as a clearinghouse, so there is some uniformity in the area of municipal records being withheld from the public for security reasons. But the FOIC also believes that some or all of what is included in the proposed new exemption (“information provided by a private source to a state agency or to a local emergency management agency or official for the purpose of emergency planning, response, mitigation or recovery”) may already be exempt.

Connecticut Conference of Municipalities supports designating the Commissioner of DEMHS as the authority to determine grounds to deny disclosure of municipal records. Municipalities would prefer local discretion, but they acknowledge the need for a unified approach in protecting sensitive information. CCM also requests that mapping information should be included in the list of records that, if disclosed, may result in a safety risk, since municipal maps created by Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can contain potentially sensitive information (e.g., critical infrastructures and key assets).

NATURE AND SOURCES OF OPPOSITION:

None