CT HB05512

Municipalities may enact ordinances establishing additional fees for public records requested for commercial purposes, beyond existing fees under state law, effective October 1, 2016.

"Commercial purpose" includes direct or indirect use of public records for sale, resale, solicitation, or lease of services where the user expects profit, but excludes newspaper/periodical publications, broadcast news programs, and litigation-related uses.

Fee schedules must be reasonable, uniform regardless of requester identity, and may consider record type, requested purpose, commercial value, and costs of production; municipalities must post schedules at principal offices, with town clerks, and on websites.

Municipalities may require requesters to certify that records will not be used commercially and may require affidavits stating the commercial purpose for which records will be used.

Fees cannot be used to discourage information requests or obstruct public record disclosure.