Bill > SB00225

This bill, effective October 1, 2026, allows public agencies to charge a fee for redacting (obscuring or pixelating) portions of records created by police body-worn recording equipment or dashboard cameras that cannot be legally disclosed under state or federal law, such as those involving victims of domestic abuse or minors, as defined by the Freedom of Information Act. The fee is intended to cover the time spent redacting these records, with the first four hours of labor being free, and subsequent labor costs capped at the hourly wage of the lowest-paid qualified employee, not to exceed $100 per hour of the record's length, with a potential $50 per half-hour rounding up. However, this fee is waived for individuals directly involved in the incident captured in the recording, their legal representatives, or in cases of alleged police misconduct or disciplinary investigations involving the officer in the recording, and it also modifies existing fee structures for copying public records to account for these new redaction costs.

Government Affairs

Government Administration and Elections Committee (Joint)

https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&bill_num=SB00225&which_year=2026