Policies and Procedures Relating to the Submission and Treatment of Confidential Information

I.          Purpose

The purpose of these policies and procedures is to provide guidelines to ensure that information believed to be exempt from public disclosure but necessary to the agency’s consideration can be quickly identified, and that appropriate legal staff have sufficient information to determine whether the information should be entitled to protected treatment. The goal is to allay any fear that such information may be improperly utilized or disclosed, thereby allowing for the free flow of sensitive information into OHS so that it may properly perform its regulatory functions.

II.         Definition(s)

For purposes of these procedures, “Confidential Material” is defined as any information and/or documentation that may be exempt from public disclosure under the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes (“C.G.S.”) § 1-210(b).

III.        Filing Requirements If Protection is Sought

IMPORTANT NOTE: Unlike in judicial proceedings pending before the Connecticut state courts, which have a paper copy filing requirement, OHS will not accept any hard copies in lieu of electronic copies, nor can it guarantee the confidentiality of any such hard copy filings.

Anyone seeking to file Confidential Material (the “Filer”) for which protection from public disclosure is sought shall follow the below procedure:

1. The Filer shall endeavor to limit the request for protection to only the information and/or documentation that genuinely requires such confidentiality protection. For example, if a single page of a multi-page document requires a confidential designation, then only protection for that page should be sought rather than the full document. Similarly, if only a portion of single page document is believed to require a confidential designation, then only protection for that portion of the document should be sought by redaction rather than the full document.
2. The Filer shall submit a Motion for a Protective Order (the “Motion”) requesting an exemption from public disclosure of the information and/or documentation believed to constitute Confidential Material. The Motion must:
   • provide specific legal arguments with reference to state and/or federal law describing with supporting facts why the material should be afforded protected treatment; and
   • have appended to it a certified affidavit supplied by a competent witness which attests to the truth and veracity of the facts supplied in the Motion.
3. For Certificate of Need (CON) proceedings, the Filer shall submit such Motion electronically in the publicly accessible CON Portal in the docket to which the Motion pertains, with a copy sent at the same time by email to OHS.Confidential@ct.gov. For all other non-CON proceedings, such Motion shall only be electronically filed by sending an email to this same email address.

4. All Confidential Material for which protection from public disclosure is sought shall be submitted electronically by email to OHS.Confidential@ct.gov. Such material shall not be submitted into any publicly accessible OHS portal including, but not limited to, the CON Portal. Filers are encouraged to use file encryption or a private file share system, but upon request, OHS staff can send an email that grants access to the state’s secure server through which such Confidential Material can be shared (file size limitation of 39 MB).
5. The subject line of the email in which such Confidential Material is sent shall state in all capital letters: “CONFIDENTIAL MATERIAL - NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.” The Filer shall also include in either the subject line, the body of the email, or a combination of both, the Docket Number (if any), the name of the filing person or entity, the number of pages included, and a brief description of the contents (e.g., “Response to Application Main Form, Question 5”).
6. The Filer shall provide a cover sheet with the Confidential Material itself, which must be clearly labeled with the Docket Number (if any), the name of the filing person or entity, the date, the number of pages included, and a brief description of the contents (e.g., “Response to Application Main Form, Question 5”). Additionally, each page of any Confidential Material shall also contain the words “CONFIDENTIAL – NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE” in a clear and conspicuous location, such as the header or footer.
7. For CON proceedings only, the Filer shall submit one of the following electronically in the CON Portal at the same time as the Motion itself:

 

• When only a portion or portions of a document are believed to constitute Confidential Material, a redacted version of the Confidential Material for which protection is sought; or
• When a full document is believed to constitute Confidential Material, a placeholder cover page which indicates that the documents are believed to constitute Confidential Material and includes the same information as described in #6 above.

IV.        Filing Requirements If Protection Has Already Been Granted

If confidentiality protections have already been granted on a certain category of information, subsequent filings of that type of information do not require that an additional Motion for Protective Order be filed. The Confidential Material shall be filed as described above, and a redacted version of the document(s), also as described above, should also be filed.

V.         Agency Treatment of Confidential Material

Other than as described above, the following additional information is relevant to the agency’s treatment of the Confidential Material:

1. Once submitted, either the General Counsel or Paralegal Specialist will store the Confidential Material in a secure Microsoft SharePoint or SharePoint channel and grant access only to such legal staff as is necessary to have the Motion properly evaluated and ruled upon.
2. If there is a hearing and Executive Session is required in order to address the Confidential Material (see C.G.S. §§ 1-200(6), 1-225(f), 1-231), any transcript from such Executive Session shall be given the same protections as the Confidential Material itself. Such protections include, but are not limited to, storage in a secure SharePoint or SharePoint channel.
3. For CON proceedings only:
   1. For any transcript from an Executive Session, OHS will make a public filing in the docket. Such public filing shall state that the transcript is not subject to disclosure.
   2. Any Table of Record shall maintain the protections afforded to the Confidential Material.
   3. If the open session of a public hearing is held via Zoom, Teams, or other electronic communications platform, and the open session is video recorded, then any Executive Session in the same proceeding will also be held via Zoom, Teams, or other electronic communications platform and video recorded. However, Executive Session recordings shall only be stored in the secure SharePoint or SharePoint channel and shall be treated in the same manner as the remainder of the Confidential Material.
   4. Any Confidential Material that comes into OHS is for OHS use only.
   5. In any order, ruling or action, OHS staff may reference Confidential Material that they based their decision on, but they will not disclose the specifics of the actual information in the decision.
   6. Nothing in these Policies & Procedures or otherwise shall preclude OHS from complying with a court order or lawfully issued subpoena.

Please also note that all existing OHS staff sign a confidentiality pledge upon hire and as of the effective date of these Policies & Procedures, all OHS staff involved in analyzing and/or rendering decisions on CON applications will also be required to sign non-disclosure agreements. Going forward, all new OHS staff involved in analyzing and/or rendering decisions on CON applications will be required to sign not only the confidentiality pledge but also the non-disclosure agreement upon hire.

Content Last Updated January 19, 2024