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UConn historian urges FOIA amendment to prevent 'weaponization' of records requests
Summary
Alexis Dutton, a University of Connecticut historian, spoke in favor of Raise Bill 5548 to amend Connecticut's Freedom of Information Act, saying the changes would protect public employees and researchers from abusive or politically motivated requests.
Alexis Dutton, a historian at the University of Connecticut, urged the committee to support Raise Bill 5548 to amend the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act. Dutton framed the bill as a measure to protect routine public employees and researchers from abusive or targeted records requests that waste time and resources.
Dutton recounted a multi-year FOIA episode at her university that produced roughly 5,000 pages of email and culminated in a hearing where the complainant did not appear. She said the experience illustrated how the process can be weaponized against public employees and institutions. "It's worthwhile amending our process not to prohibit the public from having access to their rightful documents, but to ensure that individuals doing their regular work are not targeted for the purposes of weaponizing the process," she told the committee.
Dutton asked lawmakers to refine FOIA procedures to balance transparency with protections against abusive requests. The committee did not vote on the bill during the session and took no formal action following her remarks.
