The right of the citizens of this State to inspect and copy public records pursuant to the Right-to-Know Law shall with respect to the copying of records maintained by a system of data processing or image processing, be deemed to refer to the right to receive printed copies of such records. The legislative history reveals that the Legislature intended to circumscribe the public’s right under the Right-to-Know Law to receive copies of public records in computer form. The Assembly State Government Committee Statement explains the Legislature’s intent in amending the Right-to-Know Law: The committee adopted amendments to this bill to clarify that the public’s right under the right to know law to obtain a copy of a public record shall, with respect to records maintained by a system of data processing or image processing, take the form of a right to receive a printed copy of the record.
Because the expressed legislative intent of section 8 is to “clarify” rather than to change the Right-to-Know Law, the statute’s clarifying provisions regarding the Right-to-Know Law apply now notwithstanding that the effective date for Chapter 140 is July 1, 1995. The Legislature has considered replacing the Right-to-Know Law with a legislative scheme more in step with the information age. Nonetheless, the format of the copies one is entitled to under the Right-to-Know Law has not changed as technology has developed. The current, narrowly drawn Right-to-Know Law still does not entitle citizens to obtain computer copies. See Chapin v. Freedom of Info. Comm’n, holding that Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Act, entitles requestor to only hard copy of computer document because of the statute.
