THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT
Sec. 1-206. (Formerly Sec. 1-21i). Denial
of access to public records or meetings. Appeals.
Notice. Orders.
Civil penalty. Service of process upon commission. Frivolous appeals.
(a) Any denial of the right
to inspect or copy records provided for under section 1-210 shall be made to the
person requesting such right by the public agency official who has custody or
control of the public record, in writing, within four business days of such
request, except when the request is determined to be subject to subsections (b)
and (c) of section 1-214, in which case such denial shall be made, in writing,
within ten business days of such request. Failure
to comply with a request to so inspect or copy such public record within the
applicable number of business days shall be deemed to be a denial.
(b)(1) Any person denied the
right to inspect or copy records under section 1-210 or wrongfully denied the
right to attend any meeting of a public agency or denied any other right
conferred by the Freedom of Information Act may appeal therefrom to the Freedom
of Information Commission, by filing a notice of appeal with said commission.
A notice of appeal shall be filed within thirty days after such denial,
except in the case of an unnoticed or secret meeting, in which case the appeal
shall be filed within thirty days after the person filing the appeal receives
notice in fact that such meeting was held.
For purposes of this subsection, such notice of appeal shall be deemed to
be filed on the date it is received by said commission or on the date it is
postmarked, if received more than thirty days after the date of the denial from
which such appeal is taken. Upon
receipt of such notice, the commission shall serve upon all parties, by
certified or registered mail, a copy of such notice together with any other
notice or order of such commission. In
the case of the denial of a request to inspect or copy records contained in a
public employee's personnel or medical file or similar file under subsection (c)
of section 1-214, the commission shall include with its notice or order an order
requiring the public agency to notify any employee whose records are the subject
of an appeal, and the employee's collective bargaining representative, if any,
of the commission's proceedings and, if any such employee or collective
bargaining representative has filed an objection under said subsection (c), the
agency shall provide the required notice to such employee and collective
bargaining representative by certified mail, return receipt requested or by hand
delivery with a signed receipt. A
public employee whose personnel or medical file or similar file is the subject
of an appeal under this subsection may intervene as a party in the proceedings
on the matter before the commission. Said
commission shall, after due notice to the parties, hear and decide the appeal
within one year after the filing of the notice of appeal.
The commission shall adopt regulations in accordance with chapter 54,
establishing criteria for those appeals which shall be privileged in their
assignment for hearing. Any such
appeal shall be heard within thirty days after receipt of a notice of appeal and
decided within sixty days after the hearing.
If a notice of appeal concerns an announced agency decision to meet in
executive session or an ongoing agency practice of meeting in executive
sessions, for a stated purpose, the commission or a member or members of the
commission designated by its chairperson shall serve notice upon the parties in
accordance with this section and hold a preliminary hearing on the appeal within
seventy-two hours after receipt of the notice, provided such notice shall be
given to the parties at least forty-eight hours prior to such hearing.
If after the preliminary hearing the commission finds probable cause to
believe that the agency decision or practice is in violation of sections 1-200
and 1-225, the agency shall not meet in executive session for such purpose until
the commission decides the appeal. If
probable cause is found by the commission, it shall conduct a final hearing on
the appeal and render its decision within five days of the completion of the
preliminary hearing.
(2) In any appeal to the
Freedom of Information Commission under subdivision (1) of this subsection or
subsection (c) of this section, the commission may confirm the action of the
agency or order the agency to provide relief that the commission, in its
discretion, believes appropriate to rectify the denial of any right conferred by
the Freedom of Information Act. The
commission may declare null and void any action taken at any meeting which a
person was denied the right to attend and may require the production or copying
of any public record. In addition,
upon the finding that a denial of any right created by the Freedom of
Information Act was without reasonable grounds and after the custodian or other
official directly responsible for the denial has been given an opportunity to be
heard at a hearing conducted in accordance with sections 4-176e to 4-184,
inclusive, the commission may, in its discretion, impose against the custodian
or other official a civil penalty of not less than twenty dollars nor more than
one thousand dollars. If the
commission finds that a person has taken an appeal under this subsection
frivolously, without reasonable grounds and solely for the purpose of harassing
the agency from which the appeal has been taken, after such person has been
given an opportunity to be heard at a hearing conducted in accordance with
sections 4-176e to 4-184, inclusive, the commission may, in its discretion,
impose against that person a civil penalty of not less than twenty dollars nor
more than one thousand dollars. The
commission shall notify a person of a penalty levied against him pursuant to
this subsection by written notice sent by certified or registered mail.
If a person fails to pay the penalty within thirty days of receiving such
notice, the superior court for the judicial district of Hartford shall, on
application of the commission, issue an order requiring the person to pay the
penalty imposed. If the executive director of the commission has reason to
believe an appeal under subdivision (1) of this subsection or subsection (c) of
this section (A) presents a claim beyond the commission's jurisdiction; (B)
would perpetrate an injustice; or (C) would constitute an abuse of the
commission's administrative process, the executive director shall not schedule
the appeal for hearing without first seeking and obtaining leave of the
commission. The commission shall
provide due notice to the parties and review affidavits and written argument
that the parties may submit and grant or deny such leave summarily at its next
regular meeting. The commission
shall grant such leave unless it finds that the appeal:
(i) does not present a claim within the commission's jurisdiction; (ii)
would perpetrate an injustice; or (iii) would constitute an abuse of the
commission's administrative process. Any
party aggrieved by the commission's denial of such leave may apply to the
superior court for the judicial district of Hartford, within fifteen days of the
commission meeting at which such leave was denied, for an order requiring the
commission to hear such appeal.
(3) In making the findings
and determination under subdivision (2) of this subsection the commission shall
consider the nature of any injustice or abuse of administrative process,
including but not limited to: (A)
The nature, content, language or subject matter of the request or the appeal;
(B) the nature, content, language or subject matter of prior or contemporaneous
requests or appeals by the person making the request or taking the appeal; and
(C) the nature, content, language or subject matter of other verbal and written
communications to any agency or any official of any agency from the person
making the request or taking the appeal.
(4) Notwithstanding any provision of this subsection to the contrary, in the case of an appeal to the commission of a denial by a public agency, the commission may, upon motion of such agency, confirm the action of the agency and dismiss the appeal without a hearing if it finds, after examining the notice of appeal and construing all allegations most favorably to the appellant, that the agency has not violated the Freedom of Information Act.
(c) Any person who does not receive proper notice of any meeting
of a public agency in accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act may appeal under the provisions of subsection (b) of this
section. A public agency of the
state shall be presumed to have given timely and proper notice of any meeting as
provided for in said Freedom of Information Act if notice is given in the
Connecticut Law Journal or a Legislative Bulletin.
A public agency of a political subdivision shall be presumed to have
given proper notice of any meeting, if a notice is timely sent under the
provisions of said Freedom of Information Act by first-class mail to the address
indicated in the request of the person requesting the same.
If such commission determines that notice was improper, it may, in its
sound discretion, declare any or all actions taken at such meeting null and
void.
(d) Any party aggrieved by
the decision of said commission may appeal therefrom, in accordance with the
provisions of section 4-183. Notwithstanding
the provisions of section 4-183, in any such appeal of a decision of the
commission, the court may conduct an in camera review of the original or a
certified copy of the records which are at issue in the appeal but were not
included in the record of the commission's proceedings, admit the records into
evidence and order the records to be sealed or inspected on such terms as the
court deems fair and appropriate, during the appeal.
The commission shall have standing to defend, prosecute or otherwise
participate in any appeal of any of its decisions and to take an appeal from any
judicial decision overturning or modifying a decision of the commission.
If aggrievement is a jurisdictional prerequisite to the commission taking
any such appeal, the commission shall be deemed to be aggrieved.
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 3-125, legal counsel employed
or retained by said commission shall represent said commission in all such
appeals and in any other litigation affecting said commission.
Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (c) of section 4-183 and
section 52-64, all process shall be served upon said commission at its office.
Any appeal taken pursuant to this section shall be privileged in respect
to its assignment for trial over all other actions except writs of habeas corpus
and actions brought by or on behalf of the state, including informations on the
relation of private individuals. Nothing
in this section shall deprive any party of any rights he may have had at common
law prior to January 1, 1958. If
the court finds that any appeal taken pursuant to this section or section 4-183
is frivolous or taken solely for the purpose of delay, it shall order the party
responsible therefor to pay to the party injured by such frivolous or dilatory
appeal costs or attorney's fees of not more than one thousand dollars.
Such order shall be in addition to any other remedy or disciplinary
action required or permitted by statute or by rules of court.
(e) Within sixty days after
the filing of a notice of appeal alleging violation of any right conferred by
the Freedom of Information Act concerning records of the Department of
Environmental Protection relating to the state's hazardous waste program under
sections 22a-448 to 22a-454, inclusive, the Freedom of Information Commission
shall, after notice to the parties, hear and decide the appeal.
Failure by the commission to hear and decide the appeal within such
sixty-day period shall constitute a final decision denying such appeal for
purposes of this section and section 4-183.
On appeal, the court may, in addition to any other powers conferred by
law, order the disclosure of any such records withheld in violation of the
Freedom of Information Act and may assess against the state reasonable
attorney's fees and other litigation costs reasonably incurred in an appeal in
which the complainant has prevailed against the Department of Environmental
Protection. (P.A. 75-342, §14;
P.A. 76-435, §25; P.A. 77-403; P.A. 77-603, §2; P.A. 77-609, §6; P.A. 78-331,
§57; P.A. 81-431, §2; P.A. 83-129, §1; P.A. 83-587, §69; June Special
Session P.A. 83-31, §1; P.A. 84-112, §2; P.A. 84-136; P.A. 84-311, §1; P.A.
86-408, §1; P.A. 87-285, §2; P.A. 87-526, §4; P.A. 88-230, §1; P.A. 88-317,
§39; P.A. 88-353, §2; P.A. 90-307, §1; P.A. 92-207, §2; P.A. 93-142, §§4,
7; P.A. 93-191, §1; P.A. 95-220, §§4-6; P.A. 97-47, §§10, 11, 12).