AN ACT CONCERNING REVISIONS TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT CONCERNING EMPLOYEE RESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES AND CERTAIN HIGHER EDUCATION RECORDS.

House of Representatives
HB5548 / File No. 553 1

General Assembly File No. 553
February Session, 2026 House Bill No. 5548

House of Representatives, April 9, 2026

The Committee on Government Administration and Elections
reported through REP. BLUMENTHAL of the 147th Dist.,
Chairperson of the Committee on the part of the House, that the
bill ought to pass.

AN ACT CONCERNING REVISIONS TO THE FREEDOM OF
INFORMATION ACT CONCERNING EMPLOYEE RESIDENTIAL
ADDRESSES AND CERTAIN HIGHER EDUCATION RECORDS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:

Section 1. Section 1 -217 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2026): 2
(a) No public agency may disclose, under the Freedom of Information 3
Act, from its personnel, medical or similar files, the residential address 4
of any of the following persons: [employed by such public agency:] 5
(1) A federal court judge, federal court magistrate, judge of the 6
Superior Court, Appellate Court or Supreme Court of the state, or 7
family support magistrate; 8
(2) A sworn member of a municipal police department, a sworn 9
member of the Division of State Police within the Department of 10
Emergency Services and Public Protection or a sworn law enforcement 11
officer within the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection; 12
(3) An employee of the Department of Correction; 13
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(4) An attorney-at-law who represents or has represented the state in 14
a criminal prosecution; 15
(5) An attorney-at-law who is or has been employed by the Division 16
of Public Defender Services or a social worker who is employed by the 17
Division of Public Defender Services; 18
(6) An inspector employed by the Division of Criminal Justice; 19
(7) A firefighter; 20
(8) An employee of the Department of Children and Families; 21
(9) A member or employee of the Board of Pardons and Paroles; 22
(10) An employee of the judicial branch; 23
(11) An employee of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction 24
Services who provides direct care to patients; 25
(12) A member or employee of the Commission on Human Rights 26
and Opportunities; [or] 27
(13) A state marshal appointed by the State Marshal Commission 28
pursuant to section 6-38b; or 29
(14) Any other employee of a public agency, except when residency 30
is a condition or term of such person's employment. 31
(b) The business address of any person described in this section, and 32
the address of each town hall, city hall or other municipal building in 33
which the office of the registrars of voters of a municipality is located, 34
shall be subject to disclosure under section 1 -210, as amended by this 35
act. The provisions of this section shall not apply to Department of 36
Motor Vehicles records described in section 14-10. 37
(c) (1) Except as provided in subsections (a), (b) and (e) of this section, 38
no public agency may disclose the residential address of any person 39
listed in subsection (a) of this section from any record described in 40
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subdivision (2) of this subsection that is requested in accordance with 41
the provisions of said subdivision, regardless of whether such person is 42
an employee of the public agency, provided such person has (A) 43
submitted a written request for the nondisclosure of the person's 44
residential address to the public agency, and (B) furnished his or her 45
business address to the public agency. 46
(2) Any public agency that receives a request for a record subject to 47
disclosure under this chapter where such request (A) specifically names 48
a person who has requested that his or her address be kept confidential 49
under subdivision (1) of this subsection, shall make a copy of the record 50
requested to be disclosed and shall redact the copy to remove such 51
person's residential address prior to disclosing such record, (B) is for an 52
existing list that is derived from a readily accessible electronic database, 53
shall make a reasonable effort to redact the residential address of any 54
person who has requested that his or her address be kept confidential 55
under subdivision (1) of this subsection prior to the release of such list, 56
or (C) is for any list that the public agency voluntarily creates in 57
response to a request for disclosure, shall make a reasonable effort to 58
redact the residential address of any person who has requested that his 59
or her address be kept confidential under subdivision (1) of this 60
subsection prior to the release of such list. 61
(3) Except as provided in subsection (a) of this section, an agency shall 62
not be prohibited from disclosing the residential address of any person 63
listed in subsection (a) of this section from any record other than the 64
records described in subparagraphs (A) to (C), inclusive, of subdivision 65
(2) of this subsection. 66
(d) (1) Except as provided in subsections (a), (b) and (e) of this section 67
and subject to the provisions of subdivisions (2) and (3) of this 68
subsection, no public agency of a municipality may disclose, under the 69
Freedom of Information Act, from a public record, including any record 70
described in subdivision (2) of subsection (c) of this section, the 71
residential address of any person who is a municipal clerk, registrar of 72
voters, deputy registrar of voters, election official described in section 9-73
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258, primary official described in section 9-436 or audit official described 74
in section 9-320f, regardless of whether such person is an employee of 75
the public agency, provided such person has (A) submitted to the 76
municipality a written request for the nondisclosure of the person's 77
residential address, and (B) furnished to the municipality (i) his or her 78
business address, or (ii) if such person does not have a business address, 79
the address of the town hall, city hall or other municipal building in 80
which the office of the registrars of voters of such municipality is 81
located. 82
(2) (A) If a person submits a written request described in subdivision 83
(1) of this subsection prior to the ninetieth day preceding an election, the 84
prohibition in said subdivision against disclosing such person's 85
residential address shall take effect on the ninetieth day preceding such 86
election and shall expire on the ninetieth day following such election. 87
(B) If a person submits a written request described in subdivision (1) 88
of this subsection on or after the ninetieth day preceding an election, the 89
prohibition in said subdivision against disclosing such person's 90
residential address shall take effect upon such submission and shall 91
expire on the ninetieth day following such election. 92
(3) The provisions of this subsection shall not be construed to prohibit 93
the disclosure of the residential address of any person described in 94
subdivision (1) of this subsection in the case where such residential 95
address appears on a public record by virtue of such person holding any 96
elective or appointive state or municipal office other than municipal 97
clerk, registrar of voters or deputy registrar of voters. 98
(e) The provisions of this section shall not be construed to prohibit 99
the disclosure without redaction of any document, as defined in section 100
7-35bb, any list prepared under title 9, or any list published under 101
section 12-55. 102
(f) No public agency or public official or employee of a public agency 103
shall be penalized for violating a provision of this section, unless such 104
violation is wilful and knowing. Any complaint of such a violation shall 105
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be made to the Freedom of Information Commission. Upon receipt of 106
such a complaint, the commission shall serve upon the public agency, 107
official or employee, as the case may be, by certified or registered mail, 108
a copy of the complaint. The commission shall provide the public 109
agency, official or employee with an opportunity to be heard at a 110
hearing conducted in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, 111
unless the commission, upon motion of the public agency, official or 112
employee or upon motion of the commission, dismisses the complaint 113
without a hearing if it finds, after examining the complaint and 114
construing all allegations most favorably to the complainant, that the 115
public agency, official or employee has not wilfully and knowingly 116
violated a provision of this section. If the commission finds that the 117
public agency, official or employee wilfully and knowingly violated a 118
provision of this section, the commission may impose against such 119
public agency, official or employee a civil penalty of not less than twenty 120
dollars nor more than one thousand dollars. Nothing in this section shall 121
be construed to allow a private right of action against a public agency, 122
public official or employee of a public agency. 123
Sec. 2. Subsection (b) of section 1 -210 of the 2026 supplement to the 124
general statutes is amended by adding subdivision (29) as follows 125
(Effective October 1, 2026): 126
(NEW) (29) Records maintained or kept on file by or for the faculty 127
or staff of a public institution of higher education arising out of teaching 128
or research on medical, artistic, scientific, legal or other scholarly issues, 129
including any such records of legal clinics or centers, but excluding any 130
financial records of such institution. 131
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:

Section 1 October 1, 2026 1-217
Sec. 2 October 1, 2026 1-210(b)(29)

GAE Joint Favorable

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The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of
the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not
represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general,
fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional
knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final
products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.

OFA Fiscal Note

State Impact: None
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
The bill expands existing prohibitions against disclosure of
residential addresses, personnel, and medical files and exempts certain
proprietary records held by public institutions of higher education from
disclosure, resulting in no fiscal impact to the state or municipalities.
The Out Years
State Impact: None
Municipal Impact: None

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OLR Bill Analysis
HB 5548

AN ACT CONCERNING REVISIONS TO THE FREEDOM OF
INFORMATION ACT CONCERNING EMPLOYEE RESIDENTIAL
ADDRESSES AND CERTAIN HIGHER EDUCATION RECORDS.

SUMMARY
This bill expands the list of people covered by the Freedom of
Information Act’s (FOIA) limitation on public agencies disclosing home
addresses by adding any public agency employee whose residence is
not a condition of employment to the list. It also expan ds the scope of
these address protections.
The bill also exempts from disclosure under FOIA records
maintained or kept on file by or for the faculty or staff of a public higher
education institution related to teaching or research on medical, artistic,
scientific, legal, or other scholarly issues, including any records of legal
clinics or centers. The bill specifically excludes from the exemption the
institution’s financial records.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2026
FOIA ADDRESS DISCLOSURE
Covered Individuals
The bill prohibits a public agency from disclosing, under FOIA, a
public employee’s address from the agency’s personnel, medical, or
similar files, unless residency is a condition or term of the employee’s
employment.
By law, a “public” agency generally includes state executive and
legislative agencies and other state entities, municipalities and political
subdivisions and their agencies and other entities, judicial offices’
administrative functions, an entity that is the functional equivalent of
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one of these, and certain nonprofit development corporations
designated by a municipality related to certain projects.
Under existing law, the following public officials and employees are
already covered by FOIA’s home address disclosure limitation:
1. federal judges and magistrates, Connecticut judges and family
support magistrates, judicial branch employees, prosecutors,
public defenders, public defender social workers, and Division of
Criminal Justice inspectors;
2. firefighters, state marshals, and police officers;
3. Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services employees
who provide direct patient care, and employees of the
departments of Correction and Children and Families; and
4. members and employees of the Board of Pardons and Paroles and
the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.
Scope of Limitation
Currently, a public agency employing a listed person cannot disclose
their residential addresses from the agency’s personnel, medical, or
similar files. The bill extends this to apply to any public agency that has
a listed person’s personnel, medical, or s imilar files, regardless of
whether the agency is the person’s employer.
By law, for records not covered by this provision, a listed person can
request that an agency not disclose a residential address. Under existing
law, an agency that receives a FOIA request about a covered person who
requested address confidentiality must r edact the person’s home
address only from records given in response to a request that
specifically names him or her. Additionally, the agency must make
reasonable efforts to redact the person’s address from (1) an existing list
derived from a readily accessible electronic database and (2) any list that
the agency voluntarily creates in response to a disclosure request. The
law permits disclosure of a covered person’s residential address in any
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other type of record (other than in their employer’s personnel, medical,
or similar files, as described above).
The disclosure prohibition also does not apply to a home address in
(1) documents eligible to be recorded in municipal land records; (2) any
list required by the state’s election laws (such as voter registry lists,
petition forms, and logs of absentee ballot applications); or (3) municipal
grand lists.
BACKGROUND
FOIA Exceptions
FOIA generally requires government documents and records to be
made available to the public, however, there are exceptions. Among
others, existing exceptions include test questions, scoring keys, and
other examination data used to administer a licensing, e mployment, or
academic exam.
Related Bills
HB 5550, favorably reported by the Government Administration and
Elections Committee, exempts from disclosure under FOIA records
created by or for the faculty or staff of a public institution of higher
education that are course syllabi.
SB 325, File 292, favorably reported by the Government Oversight
Committee, prohibits disclosure of the residential addresses of school
employees under FOIA.
SB 492, favorably reported by the Government Administration and
Elections Committee, prohibits disclosure of the residential addresses of
public agency employees under FOIA.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Government Administration and Elections Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 13 Nay 6 (03/23/2026)