Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information
Minutes, Nov. 20, 2024
The regular monthly board meeting was via Zoom.
Present: Mike Savino, Michele Jacklin, Tom Scheffey, Jacqueline Smith, Mary Connolly, Jeff Daniels, Mitch Pearlman, David DesRoches, Jodie Gil, Steve Nevas, Clare Dignan, Liz Gemski, Paula Pearlman, Russell Blair.
The minutes of the Oct. 24, 2024 monthly meeting and the Oct. 30, 2024 organizational meeting were accepted.
FOI Conference for Legislators: Gemski discussed plans for an FOI conference for legislators in January, cosponsored by legislative leaders, the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission and CCFOI. She expects it to last from 75-90 minutes. It will be part celebratory, to mark the historic 50th anniversary of the legislature’s adoption of the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act in 1975. In the past 50 years, the FOI act has transformed the conduct of public business in Connecticut, ensuring public access to government meetings and government documents.
In addition, the conference will provide a valuable update on the FOI Act. Savino will offer some welcoming words. Blair and Paula Pearlman will show a short video about how the FOI Act works and then answer questions.
Treasurer’s report: Smith reported a balance of $6,594.99. The fundraising letter will go out shortly.
Legislative update: Gemski said 2025 will bring us a long legislative session, January to June. She anticipates a lot of bills to be introduced, including past bills aimed at limiting the FOI Act that were not adopted. Proposals are expected to create FOI exemptions to protect the identity of people who report crimes.
Blair reported election workers are voicing concern about some demands for their private information, related to political debates about vote counting. Some election workers are under 18 because there is no age requirement to work at the polls.
2025 CCFOI agenda adopted:
1. We will continue to oppose proposals to exempt public university documents from the FOI Act, including records created for teaching, research, artistic, scientific and other scholarly activities. If adopted, the exemptions would cover much of what goes on at publicly funded universities.
2. We will closely follow proposals to create FOI exemptions for information on hate crimes, exemptions that would hide information on these crimes from the public.
3. We will oppose FOI exemptions regarding state employee home addresses. Advocates claim this would protect the privacy and security of state employees. This is not the case. Personal information well beyond home addresses is easily available on the internet.
4. We will closely follow proposals to charge a fee to obtain body cam video held by law enforcement. These videos contain important information that happened in an incident and a high fee could limit public access.
5. We will closely follow the use of Artificial Intelligence in public actions and legislative proposals regarding the use of AI that would not require public transparency.
6. We will support maintaining an appropriate budget for the Freedom of Information Commission so FOI complaints filed by the public can be handled in a timely fashion.
Looking ahead: The next monthly meeting will be Dec. 18 at 9 a.m. via Zoom.