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SB00492 • 2026

AN ACT CONCERNING SECURITY OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND EMPLOYEES.

AN ACT CONCERNING SECURITY OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND EMPLOYEES.

Elections Labor
Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Government Administration and Elections Committee
Last action
2026-04-09
Official status
File Number 582
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details about enforcement mechanisms or penalties for violations, leaving these aspects uncertain.

Act to Protect Public Officials and Employees

This act amends the Freedom of Information Act to prevent public agencies from disclosing residential addresses of certain officials and employees, allows candidate committees to use campaign funds for personal security services, and establishes a legislative safety account.

What This Bill Does

  • Amends the Freedom of Information Act so that public agencies cannot disclose residential addresses of specific public officials and employees from their files.
  • Allows candidate committees to spend campaign money on personal security services for candidates.
  • Establishes a 'legislative safety account' funded by the state, which can be used to pay for safety measures for state legislators and staff.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Public officials and employees whose residential addresses will no longer be disclosed under certain circumstances.
  • Candidate committees that may now use campaign funds for personal security services.
  • State legislators and their staff who can benefit from a new safety fund.

Terms To Know

Freedom of Information Act
A law that allows people to request access to public records, including information held by government agencies.
Legislative Safety Account
A fund created by the state to provide safety measures for legislators and their staff.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The act does not specify penalties for public agencies that violate these new rules.
  • It is unclear how much funding will be allocated to the legislative safety account.

Bill History

  1. 2026-04-09 LCO

    Reported Out of Legislative Commissioners' Office

  2. 2026-04-09 Connecticut General Assembly

    Favorable Report, Tabled for the Calendar, Senate

  3. 2026-04-09 Connecticut General Assembly

    Senate Calendar Number 348

  4. 2026-04-09 LCO

    File Number 582

  5. 2026-04-02 LCO

    Referred to Office of Legislative Research and Office of Fiscal Analysis 04/08/26 5:00 PM

  6. 2026-03-23 GAE

    Joint Favorable

  7. 2026-03-23 LCO

    Filed with Legislative Commissioners' Office

  8. 2026-03-13 Connecticut General Assembly

    Public Hearing 03/18

  9. 2026-03-12 Connecticut General Assembly

    Referred to Joint Committee on Government Administration and Elections

Official Summary Text

To (1) amend the Freedom of Information Act to provide that public agencies may not disclose, from their personnel, medical or similar files, the residential addresses of certain public officials and employees, (2) permit candidate committees to expend campaign funds for personal security services, and (3) (A) establish a "legislative safety account" from which the Joint Committee on Legislative Management may expend moneys for purposes of state legislator and state legislative staff safety, and (B) provide for funding of such account.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
Senate
sSB492 / File No. 582 1

General Assembly File No. 582
February Session, 2026 Substitute Senate Bill No. 492

Senate, April 9, 2026

The Committee on Government Administration and Elections
reported through SEN. FLEXER of the 29th Dist., Chairperson
of the Committee on the part of the Senate, that the substitute
bill ought to pass.

AN ACT CONCERNING SECURITY OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND
EMPLOYEES.
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
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(3) An employee of the Department of Correction; 13
(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; 29
(14) A state-wide elected officer or officer-elect; 30
(15) A member or member-elect of the General Assembly; 31
(16) A person appointed to any office of the legislative, judicial or 32
executive branch of state government by the Governor or an appointee 33
of the Governor, with or without the advice and consent of the General 34
Assembly; 35
(17) A judge of probate; 36
(18) A chief elected official or executive officer of a municipality; 37
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(19) A member of a representative town meeting, board of selectmen, 38
council, board of directors, board of aldermen or board of burgesses of 39
a municipality; 40
(20) A member of a local or regional board of education; or 41
(21) Any other employee of a public agency, except any person 42
described in subdivision (1) of subsection (d) of this section. 43
(b) The business address of any person described in this section, and 44
the address of each town hall, city hall or other municipal building in 45
which the office of the registrars of voters of a municipality is located, 46
shall be subject to disclosure under section 1-210. The provisions of this 47
section shall not apply to Department of Motor Vehicles records 48
described in section 14-10. 49
(c) (1) Except as provided in subsections (a), (b) and (e) of this section, 50
no public agency may disclose the residential address of any person 51
listed in subsection (a) of this section from any record described in 52
subdivision (2) of this subsection that is requested in accordance with 53
the provisions of said subdivision, regardless of whether such person is 54
an employee of the public agency, provided such person has (A) 55
submitted a written request for the nondisclosure of the person's 56
residential address to the public agency, and (B) furnished his or her 57
business address to the public agency. 58
(2) Any public agency that receives a request for a record subject to 59
disclosure under this chapter where such request (A) specifically names 60
a person who has requested that his or her address be kept confidential 61
under subdivision (1) of this subsection, shall make a copy of the record 62
requested to be disclosed and shall redact the copy to remove such 63
person's residential address prior to disclosing such record, (B) is for an 64
existing list that is derived from a readily accessible electronic database, 65
shall make a reasonable effort to redact the residential address of any 66
person who has requested that his or her address be kept confidential 67
under subdivision (1) of this subsection prior to the release of such list, 68
or (C) is for any list that the public agency voluntarily creates in 69
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response to a request for disclosure, shall make a reasonable effort to 70
redact the residential address of any person who has requested that his 71
or her address be kept confidential under subdivision (1) of this 72
subsection prior to the release of such list. 73
(3) Except as provided in subsection (a) of this section, an agency shall 74
not be prohibited from disclosing the residential address of any person 75
listed in subsection (a) of this section from any record other than the 76
records described in subparagraphs (A) to (C), inclusive, of subdivision 77
(2) of this subsection. 78
(d) (1) Except as provided in subsections (a), (b) and (e) of this section 79
and subject to the provisions of [subdivisions (2) and (3)] subdivision (2) 80
of this subsection, no public agency of a municipality may disclose, 81
under the Freedom of Information Act, from a public record, including 82
any record described in subdivision (2) of subsection (c) of this section, 83
the residential address of any person who is a municipal clerk, registrar 84
of voters, deputy registrar of voters, election official described in section 85
9-258, primary official described in section 9 -436 or audit official 86
described in section 9 -320f, regardless of whether such person is an 87
employee of the public agency, provided such person has (A) submitted 88
to the municipality a written request for the nondisclosure of the 89
person's residential address, and (B) furnished to the municipality (i) his 90
or her business address, or (ii) if such person does not have a business 91
address, the address of the town hall, city hall or other municipal 92
building in which the office of the registrars of voters of such 93
municipality is located. 94
(2) (A) If a person submits a written request described in subdivision 95
(1) of this subsection prior to the ninetieth day preceding an election, the 96
prohibition in said subdivision against disclosing such person's 97
residential address shall take effect on the ninetieth day preceding such 98
election and shall expire on the ninetieth day following such election. 99
(B) If a person submits a written request described in subdivision (1) 100
of this subsection on or after the ninetieth day preceding an election, the 101
prohibition in said subdivision against disclosing such person's 102
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residential address shall take effect upon such submission and shall 103
expire on the ninetieth day following such election. 104
[(3) The provisions of this subsection shall not be construed to 105
prohibit the disclosure of the residential address of any person 106
described in subdivision (1) of this subsection in the case where such 107
residential address appears on a public record by virtue of such person 108
holding any elective or appointive state or municipal office other than 109
municipal clerk, registrar of voters or deputy registrar of voters.] 110
(e) The provisions of this section shall not be construed to prohibit 111
the disclosure without redaction of any document, as defined in section 112
7-35bb, any list prepared under title 9, or any list published under 113
section 12-55. 114
(f) No public agency or public official or employee of a public agency 115
shall be penalized for violating a provision of this section, unless such 116
violation is wilful and knowing. Any complaint of such a violation shall 117
be made to the Freedom of Information Commission. Upon receipt of 118
such a complaint, the commission shall serve upon the public agency, 119
official or employee, as the case may be, by certified or registered mail, 120
a copy of the complaint. The commission shall provide the public 121
agency, official or employee with an opportunity to be heard at a 122
hearing conducted in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, 123
unless the commission, upon motion of the public agency, official or 124
employee or upon motion of the commission, dismisses the complaint 125
without a hearing if it finds, after examining the complaint and 126
construing all allegations most favorably to the complainant, that the 127
public agency, official or employee has not wilfully and knowingly 128
violated a provision of this section. If the commission finds that the 129
public agency, official or employee wilfully and knowingly violated a 130
provision of this section, the commission may impose against such 131
public agency, official or employee a civil penalty of not less than twenty 132
dollars nor more than one thousand dollars. Nothing in this section shall 133
be construed to allow a private right of action against a public agency, 134
public official or employee of a public agency. 135
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Sec. 2. Section 9-601 of the 2026 supplement to the general statutes is 136
amended by adding subdivision (39) as follows (Effective July 1, 2026): 137
(NEW) (39) "Personal security services" means services rendered to a 138
candidate by one or more individuals, other than on -duty law 139
enforcement personnel, for the personal security of such candidate, such 140
candidate's family or such candidate's campaign staff, which services 141
are necessary as a direct result of campaign activity that would not exist 142
but for such candidate's campaign. 143
Sec. 3. Subsection (e) of section 9 -706 of the 2026 supplement to the 144
general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 145
thereof (Effective July 1, 2026): 146
(e) (1) The State Elections Enforcement Commission shall (A) adopt 147
regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, on 148
permissible expenditures under subsection (g) of section 9 -607, as 149
amended by this act, for qualified candidate committees receiving 150
grants from the fund under sections 9 -700 to 9-716, inclusive, [and] (B) 151
on or after July 1, 2021, amend such regulations to permit expenditures 152
for child care services , and (C) on or after July 1, 2026, amend such 153
regulations to permit expenditures for personal security services, which 154
regulations so amended pursuant to this subparagraph shall allow 155
payment for the rendering of such services until the certification of the 156
results of the applicable primary or election. 157
(2) After the amendment of regulations pursuant to [subparagraph 158
(B)] subparagraphs (B) and (C) of subdivision (1) of this subsection, 159
expenditures for child care services and personal security services made 160
by the qualified candidate committee of a participating candidate shall 161
be deemed permissible if such expenditures (A) are, in the aggregate, 162
not more than the amount of qualifying contributions permitted under 163
section 9-704, and (B) comply with all regulations adopted or amended, 164
as applicable, pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection. 165
Sec. 4. Subsection (c) of section 9 -710 of the general statutes is 166
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 167
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2026): 168
(c) A candidate who intends to participate in the Citizens' Election 169
Program may provide personal funds for such candidate's campaign for 170
nomination or election in an amount not exceeding: (1) For a candidate 171
for the office of Governor, twenty thousand dollars; (2) for a candidate 172
for the office of Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, State 173
Comptroller, State Treasurer or Secretary of the State, ten thousand 174
dollars; (3) for a candidate for the office of state senator, two thousand 175
dollars; or (4) for a candidate for the office of state representative, one 176
thousand dollars. Such personal funds shall not constitute a qualifying 177
contribution under section 9 -704. For the purposes of this section, and 178
after the amendment of regulations pursuant to [subparagraph (B) ] 179
subparagraphs (B) and (C) of subdivision (1) of subsection (e) of section 180
9-706, as amended by this act , expenditures for child care services or 181
personal security services made directly from any such candidate's 182
personal funds and for which such candidate does not seek 183
reimbursement from his or her candidate committee, as provided in 184
subsection (k) of section 9 -607, shall not count toward the amounts 185
provided in subdivisions (1) to (4), inclusive, as applicable, of this 186
subsection. 187
Sec. 5. Subdivision (2) of subsection (g) of section 9-607 of the general 188
statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof 189
(Effective July 1, 2026): 190
(2) Unless otherwise provided by this chapter, any treasurer, in 191
accomplishing the lawful purposes of the committee, may pay the 192
expenses of: (A) Advertising in electronic and print media; (B) any other 193
form of printed advertising or communications including "thank you" 194
advertising after the election; (C) campaign items, including, but not 195
limited to, brochures, leaflets, flyers, invitations, stationery, envelopes, 196
reply cards, return envelopes, campaign business cards, direct mailings, 197
postcards, palm cards, "thank you" notes, sample ballots and other 198
similar items; (D) political banners and billboards; (E) political 199
paraphernalia, which is customarily given or sold to supporters 200
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including, but not limited to, campaign buttons, stickers, pins, pencils, 201
pens, matchbooks, balloons, pads, calendars, magnets, key chains, hats, 202
tee shirts, sweatshirts, frisbees, pot holders, jar openers and other 203
similar items; (F) purchasing office supplies for campaign or political 204
purposes, campaign photographs, raffle or other fund -raising permits 205
required by law, fund -raiser prizes, postage, express mail delivery 206
services, bulk mail permits, and computer supplies and services; (G) 207
banking service charges to maintain campaign and political accounts; 208
(H) subscriptions to newspapers and periodicals which enhance the 209
candidacy of the candidate or party; (I) lease or rental of office space for 210
campaign or political purposes and expenses in connection therewith 211
including, but not limited to, furniture, parking, storage space, utilities 212
and maintenance, provided a party committee or political committee 213
organized for ongoing political activities may purchase such office 214
space; (J) lease or rental of vehicles for campaign use only; (K) lease, 215
rental or use charges of any ordinary and necessary campaign office 216
equipment including, but not limited to, copy machines, telephones, 217
postage meters, facsimile machines, computer hardware, software and 218
printers, provided a party committee or political committee organized 219
for ongoing political activities may purchase office equipment, and 220
provided further that a candidate committee or a political committee, 221
other than a political committee formed for ongoing political activities 222
or an exploratory committee, may purchase computer equipment; (L) 223
compensation for campaign or committee staff, fringe benefits [,] and 224
payroll taxes , [and child care services, provided (i) ] provided the 225
candidate and any member of his immediate family shall not receive 226
compensation; [, and (ii) compensation for child care services is 227
reasonable and customary for the services rendered; ] (M) travel, meals 228
and lodging expenses of speakers, campaign or committee workers, the 229
candidate and the candidate's spouse for political and campaign 230
purposes; (N) fund raising; (O) reimbursements to candidates and 231
campaign or committee workers made in accordance with the 232
provisions of this section for campaign -related expenses for which a 233
receipt is received by the treasurer; (P) campaign or committee services 234
of attorneys, accountants, consultants or other professional persons for 235
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campaign activities, obtaining or contesting ballot status, nomination, 236
or election, and compliance with this chapter; (Q) purchasing campaign 237
finance reports; (R) repaying permissible campaign loans made to the 238
committee that are properly reported and refunding contributions 239
received from an impermissible source or in excess of the limitations set 240
forth in this chapter; (S) conducting polls concerning any political party, 241
issue, candidate or individual; (T) gifts to campaign or committee 242
workers or purchasing flowers or other commemorative items for 243
political purposes not to exceed one hundred dollars to any one 244
recipient in a calendar year or for the campaign, as the case may be; (U) 245
purchasing tickets or advertising from charities, inaugural committees, 246
or other civic organizations if for a political purpose, for any candidate, 247
a candidate's spouse, a member of a candidate's campaign staff, or 248
members of committees; (V) the inauguration of an elected candidate by 249
that candidate's candidate committee; (W) hiring of halls, rooms, music 250
and other entertainment for political meetings and events; (X) 251
reasonable compensation for public speakers hired by the committee; 252
(Y) transporting electors to the polls and other get-out-the-vote activities 253
on election day; [and] (Z) child care services and personal security 254
services, provided the amount paid for such services is reasonable and 255
customary for the services rendered; and (AA) any other necessary 256
campaign or political expense. 257
Sec. 6. (NEW) ( Effective July 1, 2026) There is established an account 258
to be known as the "legislative safety account", which shall be a separate, 259
nonlapsing account. The account shall contain any moneys required by 260
law to be deposited in the account. Moneys in the account shall be 261
expended by the Joint Committee on Legislative Management for the 262
purposes of safety, protection and security of state legislators and state 263
legislative staff. 264
Sec. 7. ( Effective July 1, 2026 ) (a) Any moneys received by the Joint 265
Committee on Legislative Management from a national organization 266
representing the interests of legislatures in the states, territories and 267
commonwealths of the United States, during the fiscal year ending June 268
30, 2027, shall be deposited in the legislative safety account established 269
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pursuant to section 6 of this act. 270
(b) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2027, there shall be 271
appropriated to the Joint Committee on Legislative Management from 272
the General Fund, for deposit in the legislative safety account 273
established pursuant to section 6 of this act, a sum equal in amount to 274
any moneys received by said joint committee as described in subsection 275
(a) of this section. 276
(c) For purposes of the appropriation or appropriations described in 277
subsection (b) of this section, whenever the Joint Committee on 278
Legislative Management receives any moneys from a national 279
organization described in subsection (a) of this section during the fiscal 280
year ending June 30, 2027, the executive director of said joint committee 281
shall certify to the Treasurer the amount of such moneys so received. 282
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:

Section 1 October 1, 2026 1-217
Sec. 2 July 1, 2026 9-601(39)
Sec. 3 July 1, 2026 9-706(e)
Sec. 4 July 1, 2026 9-710(c)
Sec. 5 July 1, 2026 9-607(g)(2)
Sec. 6 July 1, 2026 New section
Sec. 7 July 1, 2026 New section

Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 1(d)(1), "subdivisions (2) and (3)" was changed to
"[subdivisions (2) and (3) ] subdivision (2)" for internal consistency; in
Section 5(2)(Z), "or" was changed to "and" for clarity; and in Section 7(c),
"said committee" was changed to "said joint committee" for consistency.

GAE Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO

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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 pur pose. 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:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 27 $ FY 28 $
Resources of the General Fund GF - Potential
Cost
See Below None
Legislative Mgmt. Legislative Safety
Account -
Potential
Revenue Gain
See Below None
Note: GF=General Fund
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
The bill creates a legislative security account, resulting in a potential
cost to the General Fund (GF) and a potential revenue gain to the
legislative safety account in FY 27.
The bill establishes the legislative safety account and requires, in FY
27 only, the GF to match any funding the account receives from national
organizations representing state legislatures, resulting in a potential cost
to the GF and a potential revenue gain to the legislative safety account.
The bill additionally makes changes regarding the disclosure of
residential addresses and allowable expenditures under the Citizens'
Election Program (CEP), which are not anticipated to result in a fiscal
impact to the state or municipalities.
The Out Years
State Impact: None
Municipal Impact: None
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OLR Bill Analysis
sSB 492

AN ACT CONCERNING SECURITY OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND
EMPLOYEES.

SUMMARY
This bill expands the list of individuals covered by the Freedom of
Information Act’s (FOIA) limitation on public agencies disclosing home
addresses of certain state employees and others and expands the scope
of these provisions.
The bill requires the State Elections Enforcement Commission
(SEEC), on or after July 1, 2026, to amend the Citizens’ Election Program
(CEP) regulations on permissible expenditures to allow expenditures
for personal security services . After the regulations are amended, the
bill authorizes participating candidates who qualify for a grant to make
expenditures for personal security services using CEP grants up until
the certification of results for the related election or primary . The bill
also allows privatel y funded candidates to pay for personal security
services using campaign funds.
Relatedly, the bill removes a prohibition against candidates and their
immediate family members receiving compensation for providing child
care services to a candidate’s campaign.
Lastly, the bill establishes a legislative safety account to be used for
the safety, protection, and security of legislators and staff, and includes
funding and appropriations requirements.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2026, except the FOIA provision is
effective October 1, 2026.

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FOIA DISCLOSURE OF HOME ADDRESSES
Covered Individuals
The bill adds to the list of individuals covered by FOIA’s limitation
on disclosing home addresses by adding the following individuals:
1. state-wide elected officers or officers-elect;
2. General Assembly members or members-elect;
3. anyone appointed to a state legislative, judicial, or executive
branch office by the governor or a governor’s appointee, with or
without the advice and consent of the General Assembly;
4. probate judges;
5. municipal chief elected officials or executive officers;
6. municipal representative town meeting, board of selectmen,
council, board of directors, board of aldermen, or board of
burgesses members;
7. local or regional board of education members; and
8. other public agency employees (see BACKGROUND), except
municipal clerks, registrars of voters, deputy registrars of voters,
election officials, primary officials, and audit officials (who must
make a written request for the non-disclosure of their residential
address).
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;
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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 individual cannot
disclose the person’s residential address 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, medi cal, or similar files,
regardless of whether the agency is the person’s employer.
By law, for records not covered by this provision, a listed individual
can request that an agency not disclose a residential address. Under
existing law, an agency that receives a FOIA request about a listed
individual who requested address confidentiality must redact the
person’s home address only from records provided in response to a
request that specifically names him or her. Additio nally, 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 individual’s residential
address in any other type of record (other than their employer’s
personnel, medical, or similar files, as described above). The disclosure
prohibition also does not apply to a public employee’s 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.
PERSONAL SECURITY SERVICES
The bill defines “personal security services” as services to a candidate
from individuals, other than on -duty law enforcement, to protect the
candidate or the candidate’s family members or campaign staff and that
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are needed as a direct result of campaign activity that would not exist
but for the candidate’s campaign.
It subjects these expenditures to the following conditions and limits:
1. aggregate personal security services and child care expenditures
may not exceed the amount of qualifying contributions required
to qualify for a Citizens’ Election Fund grant ( for example, in
2026, $ 20,100 for candidates for state senator and $ 6,700 for
candidates for state representative), and
2. any compensation for personal security services must be
reasonable and customary for the services rendered.
By law, participating CEP candidates may provide their campaign
with a limited amount of personal funds (for example, $2,000 for a state
senator candidate and $1,000 for a state representative candidate). The
bill exempts personal security services expenditures made directly from
a candidate’s personal funds from these limits, as long as the candidate
does not seek reimbursement from his or her candidate committee. The
exemption applies once SEEC amends the CEP regulations as required
by the bill.
LEGISLATIVE SAFETY ACCOUNT
The bill establishes a legislative safety account as a separate, non -
lapsing account that must be spent by the Joint Committee on
Legislative Management for the safety, protection, and security of
legislators and staff.
The bill requires that any money received by the joint committee from
a national organization representing the interests of American
legislatures during FY 27 be deposited into the account. The executive
director of the joint committee must certify to the treasurer the amount
of money received in this way. The bill requires appropriations for the
same fiscal year to match those received from the national organization.

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BACKGROUND
Public Agency Definition
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
one of these, and certain nonprofit development corporations
designated by a municipality related to certain projects.
Related Bills
sHB 5546, reported favorably by the Government Administration
and Elections Committee, among other things, contains identical
provisions about allowable personal security expenditures.
HB 5548, reported favorably by the Government Administration and
Elections Committee, contains similar provisions about prohibiting
disclosure of public employee residential addresses, with exceptions.
sSB 325 (File 292), favorably reported by the Government Oversight
Committee, prohibits disclosure of the residential addresses of school
employees under FOIA.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Government Administration and Elections Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 13 Nay 5 (03/20/2026)