Sunshine on a Cloudy Day? The State of FOIA at 50

By: Katherine Revello, The Inside Investigator, October 12, 2025

Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) went into effect on October 1, 1975. In the intervening 50 years, enforcement of the law has evolved significantly, helping to refine and codify the public’s right of access not only to public records, but to public meetings.

But that has changed in recent years. As local daily newspapers and other media outlets have either shut their doors or been consolidated with larger media conglomerates, the number of challenges to FOIA abuses brought by media has declined, shifting the burden of safeguarding transparency to the public.

Legislative proposals seeking to limit FOIA and exempt more categories of records from compulsory disclosure under the law have also increased in recent years—creating a trend where a major tool for public transparency is under threat, at the same time one of the groups that has used and advocated for it most frequently is shrinking.