Connecticut tied for 37th in Sunshine Week survey on availability of online records

The University of Connecticut’s college basketball teams may be number one seeds during March Madness, but the 2009 Survey of State Government Information Online ranks Connecticut a lowly 37th for online access to public records.  Connecticut was tied with Massachusetts and Maine.  Texas came in first and Mississippi came in last place.

The survey was prepared as part of this year’s Sunshine Week.  The Sunshine Week Committee’s full report goes into more detail, but here is what it has to say about Connecticut:

Connecticut: Anyone seeking financial disclosure reports from state officials in Connecticut must e-mail their requests, which are then considered for release at the discretion of the governor.

The survey included twenty categories of records.  Connecticut provides nine of those categories online.  Texas provides all twenty.  You can view a more detailed regional analysis on the Sunshine Week website.