Proposals to change the Freedom of Information Act are on the legislative table again this year in addition to the recommendations of the recently-concluded task force on privacy and public disclosure.
State Sen. Ed Meyer, who represents Branford, worries about a trend toward restricting public access to information.
The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, AFT Connecticut, and individual lawmakers have proposed bills to the Government Administration and Elections Committee to carve out new exemptions to the state’s public records law.
The suggestions come less than a year after lawmakers voted on the last day of the 2013 legislative session to prevent the disclosure of crime scene photographs and certain audio recordings collected by police following the Sandy Hook shooting and other homicides. That law also set in motion a task force which has since drafted its own proposals for changing the FOIA.
Aside from those recommendations, most of the bills seeking changes to public disclosure requirements are not related to the Newtown incident. The 2014 legislative sessions opens Wednesday.
Meyer is a vice-chairman of the committee considering the bills.
Meyer said he believes the legislature in general has been too willing to weaken the state’s public disclosure law.
“The desire of a majority of legislators to conceal the horrible things that happened at Sandy Hook indicates that this is a legislature that favors privacy at any cost. I think we pay a price for that,” Meyer said.
Click here to read the full story from Connecticut News Junkie’s Hugh McQuaid.
