ATTACHMENT B
AN ACT CONCERNING ELECTRONIC RECORDS AND SIGNATURES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) As used in this Act:
(1) "Agency" means any executive department, board, commission, authority or institution of this state, including any quasi-public entity operating under the direction of this state.
(2) "Electronic" means of or relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, analog or electromagnetic technology or other similar capabilities.
(3) "Electronic device" means a computer program or other electronic or automated means configured and enabled by a person to initiate or respond to electronic records or that performs in whole or in part without review by an individual.
(4) "Electronic record" means a record created, stored, generated, received or communicated by electronic means.
(5) "Electronic signature" means any signature in electronic form, attached to or logically associated with an electronic record.
(6) "Governmental record" means any record relating to the conduct of the public's business prepared, owned, used, received or retained by an agency.
(7) "Information" means data, text, images, sounds, codes, computer programs, software, databases or the like.
(8) "Informational integrity" means (i) for a contract that the information contained in the electronic record (A) was the same when each person signing the electronic record signed it, and (B) is the same at the time of the dispute as it was when the last person signing the record signed it; and (ii) for other electronic records that the information contained in the electronic record is the same at the time of the dispute as it was when the electronic record was created, stored, generated or signed by the person or electronic device responsible for creating, storing, generating or maintaining it. An electronic record does not lack informational integrity because of the addition of any endorsement and of any change arising in the normal course of communication, storage or display,
(9) "Information processing system" means a system for creating, generating, sending, receiving, storing, displaying or otherwise processing information, including electronic records.
(10) "Person" means an individual, corporation, public or private, business trust, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, society, association, joint venture, agency, quasi-public entity operating under the direction of the state or any other legal entity.
(11) "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
(12) "Security procedure," means a procedure or methodology established by law or by agreement or knowingly adopted by each person for the purpose of verifying that an electronic signature, record or performance is that of a specific person or for detecting changes or errors in the informational integrity of an electronic record. The term includes a procedure that requires the use of algorithms or other code, identifying words or numbers, encryption, callback or other acknowledgement procedure, or any other procedures that are reasonable under the circumstances.
(13) "Sign" means to execute or adopt a signature.
(14) "Signature" means any identifying symbol, sound or process of a record in whole or in part that is executed or adopted by a person as part of the record.
(15) "Term" means that portion of an electronic record that relates to a particular matter.
(16) "Writing" includes printing, typewriting and any other intentional reduction of a record to tangible form. "Written" has a corresponding meaning.
Sec. 2. (NEW) (a) This Act is intended to permit and encourage the use of electronic records and electronic signatures.
(b) This Act applies to all electronic records and electronic signatures.
(c) Principles of law and equity supplement this Act unless displaced by a particular provision of it.
(d) Nothing in this Act shall in any way limit the rights or remedies otherwise available to a consumer under any law.
Sec. 3. (NEW) (a) A record may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is an electronic record.
(b) If any law requires a record to be in writing, or provides consequences if it is not, an electronic record satisfies the requirement.
(c) A person may establish reasonable requirements regarding the type of records the person shall accept.
(d) Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (b), no agency shall be required to accept any governmental record in the form of an electronic record, unless the agency has adopted regulations permitting governmental records to be in electronic form.
Sec. 4. (NEW) If any law requires a record to be retained in its original form, or provides consequences if the record is not presented or retained in its original form, that requirement is met by an electronic record if there exists a reliable assurance as to the informational integrity of the electronic record. The standard of reliability required must be assessed in the light of the purpose for which the information was generated and in the light of all relevant circumstances.
Sec. 5. (NEW) (a) A signature may not be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely because it is an electronic signature.
(b) If any law requires a signature, or provides consequences in the absence of a signature, that requirement is satisfied with respect to an electronic record if the electronic record includes an electronic signature.
(c) An electronic record containing an electronic signature is signed as a matter of law if the electronic signature is verified in conformity with a reasonable security procedure for the purpose of verification of electronic signatures.
(d) A person may establish reasonable requirements regarding the method and type of signatures the person shall accept.
Sec. 6. (NEW) (a) In any legal proceeding, the rules of evidence may not be applied to deny the admissibility in evidence of an electronic record or electronic signature on either or both of the following grounds:
(1) That it is an electronic record or electronic signature.
(2) That it is not in its original form or is not an original.
(b) In assessing the evidentiary weight of an electronic record or electronic signature, the trier of fact shall consider the manner in which the electronic record or electronic signature was generated, stored, communicated or retrieved, the reliability of the manner in which the informational integrity of the electronic record or electronic signature was maintained, the manner in which its originator was identified or the electronic record was signed, and any other relevant circumstances.
Sec. 7. (NEW) (a) Any agency may permit any governmental record relating to that agency to be in the form of an electronic record.
(b) Any agency may adopt regulations, in accordance with Title 4, chapter 54, not inconsistent with other state law, governing:
(1) The agency’s creation, distribution, acceptance and maintenance, in accordance with sections 11-8 and 11-8a, of governmental records in the form of electronic records;
(2) the conversion of written governmental records into electronic records;
(3) the adoption and use of technology by the agency in the performance of the agency’s duties;
(4) if a governmental record may be electronically signed, the type of electronic signature required, and the manner and format in which the electronic signature may be affixed to the electronic record; and
(5) the provision of electronic access and other related products or services to the agency that result from the adoption or use of such technology.
(c) To the extent practicable under the circumstances, regulations adopted by any agency relating to the use of electronic records or electronic signatures shall be drafted in a manner designed to encourage and promote consistency and interoperability with similar requirements adopted by other agencies or by the federal government or other states.
(d) This section does not require any agency to use or permit the use of electronic records or electronic signatures.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE: To encourage electronic commerce and other electronic transactions in Connecticut.