[{"_1":2,"_100":-5,"_101":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76,88],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6554302,"mediaKeyId","5028625-235c8cf319de61fe76dcd5d463e7d9d6","parentId",5028625,"title","Legislature updates GIS, higher-education reporting; privacy expansions stall","audioSeconds",687,"startMs",741000,"endMs",1428000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=5028625-235c8cf319de61fe76dcd5d463e7d9d6&start=741&end=1428","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5028625-235c8cf319de61fe76dcd5d463e7d9d6/thumbnail_741000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6554302/Connecticut/Legislature-updates-GIS-higher-education-reporting-privacy-expansions-stall","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6554302-2dd0b1220b020ef276f854baa587efc6/orig.mp4?Expires=1775067535&Signature=RTye4Unrsd2QhBxLarm9ChjkzJgZY64-ZjnZM21o7t5qn6yUA6mvPsO9r0jWCZGnjypPPSmZ1-s7f2VeOC5l7hItBRRr2oHl-mYwq3zf726e9D6nKqScYt4V8EwSRj1d6Oknniaei1gJ6niJMS7v~FinbjhFUPL7BYPn2rbjZ8j1C3rukHzs4NFtQWchXTJIULotm1-A~eiGH9iiNhiq6y5fah8AFbEhJbsfiH8GOlIy9~2dvaPTDmFMGObXA-lqjtQN8y9v-OSNsixsUG5IjOIAlsbvQcz0l0J77l-Ba7TpgpTEs915RCgF6Hj1Nk5XGM-5oc4ZC-BktjCaG3xMUA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Connecticut State Legislature - Government Administration and Elections","date","2025-06-18T10:03:53.727Z","article","Connecticut’s Data Board on Tuesday reviewed the 2025 legislative session’s changes that affect how the state collects and shares data, including a new requirement that certain infrastructure information be submitted to the Office of Policy and Management and expanded reporting from public colleges and workforce boards.

The board’s chair, Scott (Chief Data Officer), told members the new law will require annual submissions to OPM on bridges and culverts beginning in 2028, and that the bond package allocated funds for statewide flood and resiliency mapping next fiscal year. “We’re gonna have data annually submitted to OPM starting, in 2028,” Scott said during the meeting.

The requirement is intended to provide a statewide view of infrastructure that can inform flood modeling and resiliency planning. Scott said the state will work with towns and the existing bi-monthly GIS advisory council chaired by the state geographic information officer to develop standards for the new reporting.

Why it matters: statewide, standardized infrastructure data and flood maps are meant to improve planning and risk assessment for storms and flooding. The new reporting deadline in 2028 gives agencies and municipalities time to adopt technical standards.

Key legislative and administrative changes discussed

- Bridges and culverts: agencies will be required to submit annual data to OPM starting in 2028 to improve understanding of water flow and flood risk; the GIS advisory council will help develop technical standards.

- State plane update: the legislature approved statutory updates to Connecticut’s state plane coordinate system to align with national standards.

- Flood and resiliency mapping funding: the bond act included an allocation for statewide flood and resiliency mapping that the board said will require follow-up on implementation.

- Higher education reporting: the board said two bills increased regular reporting from public higher-education institutions. Financial data will be published through the Open Connecticut transparency tools the comptroller manages, and some workforce and higher-education information will be submitted regularly to the state longitudinal data system (p21/Datalink CT).

- Repeal of annual legal-issues report: a statutory requirement that the chief data officer provide an annual report on legal issues and interagency data sharing was repealed; Scott said this report largely duplicated material in the state data plan and the board will continue to address legal barriers through the data-plan process rather than a separate annual report.

- Contractor disparity database: the chief data officer noted a new assignment for the CDO to work with the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) and the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) to create a database of state contractors informed by the disparity study so the state can better measure and monitor disparities in contracting.

Privacy and did-not-pass items

Board members also flagged privacy proposals considered during the session. John Newman (designee, Office of the Attorney General) observed that several proposals to expand the Connecticut Data Privacy Act did not reach final passage, but federal- and industry-level conversations continued. Scott summarized other proposals that were raised but did not pass, including changes to gender-data collection standards, expanded transparency requirements for municipal finance and energy data, and an expansion of agency data-officer coverage to close a statutory loophole. He also said multiple statewide bills addressing artificial intelligence did not pass this session, leaving the administration’s existing responsible-AI framework unchanged.

Discussion versus decisions

Board members emphasized that many items discussed were legislative outcomes or bills that did not pass this session rather than board actions. Scott said the board will incorporate relevant changes into the state data plan and flag items where the board’s advice is useful. John Newman and others recommended the board track privacy-law changes and nonprofit exemptions raised during the session.

Ending

Board members said the legislative recap was useful for tracking how state law will affect data collection, transparency and sharing. The board plans to follow implementation of the bridge/culvert reporting standards, the flood-mapping bond allocation, and the new contractor database work with DAS and CHRO.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Connecticut Data Analysis Technology Advisory Board Meeting","oneSentenceSummary","Connecticut’s Data Board on Tuesday reviewed the 2025 legislative session’s changes that affect how the state collects and shares data, including a new requirement that certain infrastructure information be submitted to the Office of Policy and Management and expanded reporting from public colleges and workforce boards.","taxTitle","Government Administration and Elections, House of Representatives, Committees, Legislative, Connecticut","taxId",15584,"location","Connecticut","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6554292,"Connecticut advances secure enterprise data sharing: p21/Datalink CT policies and a cloud enclave",1054,3738000,4792000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5028625-235c8cf319de61fe76dcd5d463e7d9d6&start=3738&end=4792","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5028625-235c8cf319de61fe76dcd5d463e7d9d6/thumbnail_3738000.jpg","/articles/6554292/Connecticut/Connecticut-advances-secure-enterprise-data-sharing-p21Datalink-CT-policies-and-a-cloud-enclave","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6554292-05c5a65771b6f3df396a6dba84b53fff/orig.mp4?Expires=1775067535&Signature=bb1EPlXkrhJAdXfhCmWqBaXM3XJ2l6~8Y12i9SHKe--fX5DqlHR0LkNC0r31QEC~dvhexqGgaoPbZNQSyeUtwXG4SvOCq4agnvBkb46oDdSK4FVIIfQ7THhbiIbwf9pTsUjjhpCyqyObtU53O5w23FT4uBhtt3ewFmQUlsQTT3aniieiXCUZWv7ZNGWy5xt1789eLcVjvDvqIs6PBzLBjr1ExbM4OeK1ixtG1gJfjCUMCScPu7usZ-p-~Wjs7ybTvi0Bu1ffBi5J1orccg8yfGHNEegjROVRmu-MgWizQJPN3tpSpxHzWG~cUJxtGvepNk9zPxAVRJRy-HrUukqkpQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Connecticut state leaders told the Data Board on Tuesday they have drafted a comprehensive policy framework and are building a secure cloud enclave to modernize how agencies link and analyze approved data for policy research under the state longitudinal data system, p21 (to be renamed Datalink CT).

Katie Breslin (Outreach and Engagement Coordinator), who manages p21, said the program aims to combine a federated and centralized architecture so data remain at agencies until an approved request is authorized, and then an auditorily monitored environment will allow researchers to work without unnecessary off-state data transfers. “The goal is to combine a federated and centralized model … keeping it inside of the state using a cloud system,” Katie said.

Why it matters: advocates and board members said a modernized system will reduce risk from manual file transfers, provide better auditing, and streamline approvals while preserving legal and privacy protections.

Policy work and governance

- New policies: in the past six months p21’s governance has adopted a data-quality policy, a data-classification policy, an expanded security policy and a new data-privacy policy. Staff said these policies are intended to create clearer expectations for agencies and shorten the time to negotiate data-sharing agreements.

- Governance structure: p21’s executive board authorized modernization; a data-governing board with agency representatives plus legal, privacy and security subcommittees met monthly to draft policies. Katie said existing enterprise memoranda of understanding and data-sharing agreements will reference these policies so that agency-level agreements are shorter and more standardized.

Technical implementation: secure enclave

- Secure Data Enclave development: Adrianna Sanchez Domenici, project manager for the enclave, said the team is building the environment in partnership with the state’s BITS cloud-compute team and plans a phased implementation. Short-term goals include an enclave that can host approved p21 datasets with protections for personally identifiable information; longer-term goals include agency-hosted preapproved datasets and audit logs.

- Integration and tools: technical work focuses on connecting the state’s secure file-transfer system (Axway) to an Azure cloud environment, migrating the data-matching tool (Data Ladder) into the cloud, and building strict access-management controls so users see only the data they are authorized to use.

- Testing and timeline: the team said they are in an agile development cycle with frequent testing and twice-weekly meetings with BITS. Implementation and broader rollout steps are planned for later in the summer.

Discussion, FOI and written agreements

Board members asked whether the new framework would eliminate interagency MOUs. Katie and Scott said enterprise MOUs would still exist but be shorter and standardized by the policy framework; federal law and good practice still require written agreements. Members emphasized the importance of including FOI considerations in agreements so requesters seeking records linked across agencies are handled consistently.

Ending

Board members praised the pace of recent progress and asked staff to return with draft enterprise-MOU language and an implementation schedule. Staff said the policy framework is intended to be adoptable by other state initiatives beyond p21.","The Data Board heard progress on modernizing p21 (soon Datalink CT): new governance policies, an enterprise memorandum of understanding, and development of a cloud-based secure data enclave to reduce data movement and improve auditing and security for interagency research.",{"_33":89,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":90,"_41":91,"_43":92,"_45":93,"_47":94,"_49":95,"_51":96,"_53":97,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":98,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":99,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6554297,"State revamps open-data access plans and aims to link portals with FOI guidance",1636,1503000,3139000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5028625-235c8cf319de61fe76dcd5d463e7d9d6&start=1503&end=3139","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5028625-235c8cf319de61fe76dcd5d463e7d9d6/thumbnail_1503000.jpg","/articles/6554297/Connecticut/State-revamps-open-data-access-plans-and-aims-to-link-portals-with-FOI-guidance","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6554297-7f20f3145c6dbc31aed372eb7bf9e1ba/orig.mp4?Expires=1775067535&Signature=DhuHILvn-my6R-JZzX9BE~F0EuQw294NYw3szfq0EwPgHeBY0T7r4v9838XETaMMOG5jDS251mrfKUNZz~-3Whej0wJG9AOGvFJwrNY3ql4Vg-uiYRXZUpg4GNwYP3vKpxMhJpGswY6EagFGZz5QObRr2cGMfgspWlpdWYnyf18mmfHtiVpf3jvXu-NWmJtlD9jPAdE1FNALjhGS0~QSNbfYHmdxtb0VoLDTNDl6UbcqyphcuL~7cm4HR~advzNxHBvKo2-Ou2ywITgrOlR7P6Vst0ESf0vEFG9QkXUilr0imxFHgHWeqi-AdNWvbqanNS8blmcJC1be3hyleoMOIA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Connecticut’s Office of Policy and Management on Tuesday laid out a redesigned process for agency open-data access plans and said the state will pursue training and user-facing changes to better match open-data publication with Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and public needs.

Pauline Zaldonis, Open Data Coordinator, said agencies will be asked this month to answer structured brainstorming questions and then meet with OPM staff in late summer and fall to finalize agency open-data priorities. Agencies will submit responses via Microsoft Forms and the state plans to publish a consolidated dataset showing agency priorities on the Open Connecticut portal or otherwise make it publicly accessible.

Why it matters: board members emphasized that publishing data proactively can reduce FOI workload and improve transparency, but user experience matters; requesters redirected to portals need clear agency ownership and guidance.

What the new process will do

- Strategic planning: OPM will send brainstorming questions to agency data officers this month; agencies will use June–July to develop priorities and later submit answers via Microsoft Forms. The goal is annual updates and a shift from one-off compliance to strategic publication.

- Content of the questions: agencies will be asked how open data aligns with mission, what datasets are valuable to publish, what metadata and automation would help, and what barriers exist to making data public.

- Public access: OPM plans to publish the assembled agency plans as a dataset on the Connecticut open-data portal or make them available through another public means; the final public format is still to be determined.

FOI integration and user guidance

Nick Smaro, staff attorney at the Freedom of Information Commission, urged clearer connections between the FOI process and the open-data portal. “I would just review our suggestions to make a specific FOI … disclaimer,” he said, recommending each dataset show the originating agency and a simple note explaining how requesters should follow up if they want formal records under FOI. Nick and other board members also urged agencies to provide user-facing help and tutorials so that everyday requesters are not redirected to raw data they cannot interpret.

Training and capacity building

OPM said it is partnering with Tyler Technologies to run training for agency users of Connecticut’s open-data and enterprise data platforms. The vendor-led series began in June and will continue in the month following the meeting; OPM reported attendance in the mid-teens to 30-plus for several sessions. Topics include clean and tidy data, visualizations, automating updates, SQL-like queries (SOQL), and data-management practices.

The Geographic Information Office is running a webinar series with the extension office that covers licensed and open-source GIS tools and data-processing methods. Boards discussed building a GIS cohort across agencies to share staff expertise and training opportunities.

Discussion versus direction

Board members asked OPM to: (1) consider mining FOI-request software for patterns of high-demand datasets as candidates for proactive publication, (2) include FOI-oriented language or a simple guidance note on dataset pages indicating the originating agency and how FOI requests relate to the published dataset, and (3) coordinate trainings and outreach through the Data Collaborative and other partners to reach users beyond internal agency staff.

Ending

OPM said it will pilot the brainstorming questions with agencies and return to the board with initial results and an approach for publishing agency plans on the open-data portal.","OPM and the Data Board outlined a retooled open-data access planning process to move agencies from compliance to strategic publication, plus training and outreach to make open data more usable and better aligned with Freedom of Information requests.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Legislature updates GIS, higher-education reporting; privacy expansions stall

Connecticut advances secure enterprise data sharing: p21/Datalink CT policies and a cloud enclave

State revamps open-data access plans and aims to link portals with FOI guidance