(a) The Commission on Official Legal Publications shall be an agency of the Judicial Branch and shall be composed of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who shall be chairperson, ex officio; the Chief Court Administrator, ex officio; a judge or former judge of the Supreme Court and a state referee, both of whom shall be appointed by the Chief Justice; the Reporter of Judicial Decisions; and one other employee of the Judicial Branch appointed by the Chief Justice.

(b) The commission shall acquire, publish, distribute and maintain for the benefit of the state a sufficient supply of the official legal publications, which shall consist of: (1) The Connecticut Reports consisting of the reports of cases determined by the Supreme Court as prepared for publication by the Reporter of Judicial Decisions, (2) reports of cases determined by the Appellate Court as prepared for publication by the Reporter of Judicial Decisions, (3) the Connecticut Law Journal, (4) the Connecticut Practice Book and cumulative supplements thereto, and (5) such additional publications pertaining to the state Judicial Branch, the Supreme Court, the Appellate Court, the Superior Court and the practice of law as may be assigned to the commission. The commission may publish, maintain and distribute the official legal publications in available alternative formats. An alternative format includes an electronic format and may be the sole method for the publication, maintenance and distribution of all official legal publications and all archived official legal publications.

(c) The commission shall publish in the Connecticut Law Journal except as they may be incorporated into any revision of the Connecticut Practice Book: (1) Rules adopted by the judges of the Supreme Court, including, but not limited to, the rules adopted by the Supreme Court for the courts of probate, (2) the rules of the Appellate Court, and (3) the rules of the Superior Court.

(d) The commission may publish in the Connecticut Law Journal, or prepare for separate publication and publish, such other documents and information as in its opinion are proper or of sufficient importance to warrant publication.

(e) The commission may establish an electronic bulletin board to provide information to members of the public upon such terms as it deems to be in the best interest of the state.

(f) The commission shall, to the extent it finds it desirable to do so, cause official legal publications to be copyrighted in the name of the Secretary of the State for the benefit of the people of the state.

(g) If printed, all official legal publications published by the commission pursuant to this section shall be printed on paper that meets or exceeds the American National Standards Institute standards for permanent paper, unless such paper is not available.

(1951, 1953, S. 3124d; 1957, P.A. 176, S. 4; 1959, P.A. 330, S. 3; 1963, P.A. 288, S. 4; P.A. 73-541, S. 1, 8; P.A. 74-338, S. 35, 94; P.A. 82-248, S. 118; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 83-29, S. 62, 82; P.A. 84-27, S. 1; P.A. 91-144, S. 5; P.A. 95-176, S. 1; P.A. 12-92, S. 13, 14; P.A. 15-85, S. 11; P.A. 18-75, S. 11.)

History: 1959 act deleted Connecticut departmental regulations from Subsec. (a) and modified “additional publications” with the words “pertaining to the state judicial department, the state-maintained courts and the practice of law”; 1963 act added Connecticut Circuit Court Reports and the digest thereof to Subsec. (a); P.A. 73-541 deleted specific reference to advance parts of Connecticut Reports, to the Phillips Connecticut Digest and its cumulative supplements, the Connecticut Supplement, etc., referring instead to “such other volumes of law reports and digests as the reporter of judicial decisions deems necessary” and authorized publication of documents and information which commission deems sufficiently important to warrant publication in Subsec. (a) and updated section references in Subsecs. (b) and (d); P.A. 74-338 corrected section reference in Subsec. (d); P.A. 82-248 rephrased and reorganized the section, added provisions formerly in Secs. 51-22a and 51-216b and deleted certain provisions and reenacted them as part of Sec. 51-216b; Sec. 51-16 transferred to Sec. 51-216a in 1983; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 83-29 added provision re publishing of cases determined by the appellate court, added reference to appellate court and added provision re publication of rules of appellate court; P.A. 84-27 amended Subsec. (a) by designating as members the chief court administrator and an employee of the judicial department appointed by the chief justice; P.A. 91-144 added Subsec. (f) requiring legal publications and regulations to be printed on paper meeting or exceeding the American National Standards Institute standards for permanent paper; P.A. 95-176 amended Subsec. (a) by changing “department” to “branch” and “chairman” to “chairperson”, amended Subsec. (b) by adding provision permitting commission to publish, maintain and distribute official legal publications in alternative format, excluding most recent one hundred volumes, and inserted new Subsec. (e) permitting commission to establish electronic bulletin board to provide information to public, relettering former Subsecs. (e) and (f) accordingly; P.A. 12-92 amended Subsecs. (c) and (g) to delete provisions re publication of regulations, effective July 1, 2013; P.A. 15-85 amended Subsec. (b) by deleting former Subdiv. (5) re digests compiled pursuant to Sec. 51-215b, deleting former Subdiv. (6) re Superior Court decisions selected pursuant to Sec. 51-215a, redesignating existing Subdiv. (7) as Subdiv. (5) and adding provision re alternative format includes electronic format for all official legal publications and archived official legal protections; P.A. 18-75 amended Subsec. (a) by deleting reference to executive secretary of the Judicial Branch, amended Subsec. (b) by replacing “archived official legal protections and all volumes of the Connecticut Reports, excluding the most recent one hundred volumes” with “archived official legal publications”, amended Subsec. (g) by adding “If printed”, and made technical changes, effective June 4, 2018.

Annotation to former section 51-16:

Cited. 24 CS 316.