February 2, 2001

Mr. G. Chadwick Weaver
First Assistant City Attorney
City of Midland
P.O. Box 1152
Midland, Texas 79702-1152

OR2001-0438

Dear Mr. Weaver:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act, chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 144957.

The City of Midland (the "city") received a request for specific information regarding four customers. You claim that you are prohibited from releasing driver's license numbers unless the person receiving the information is the individual to whom the information pertains or is that individual's agent. We assume that you are asserting section 552.130 of the Government Code. We have considered your claim and have reviewed the information at issue.

Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from public disclosure information relating to a driver's license or motor vehicle title or registration issued by an agency of this state. Thus, you must withhold the driver's license numbers. We note that a residential alien card number is listed in lieu of a driver's license number for one of the customers. This information is not responsive to the request. Therefore, we do not address whether it must be disclosed.

The responsive information also includes social security numbers. Social security numbers are confidential and must be withheld if they were obtained or are maintained by the city pursuant to any provision of law enacted on or after October 1, 1990. 42 U.S.C. § 405(c)(2)(C)(viii)(I). See Open Records Decision No. 622 (1994).

Finally, we note that no forwarding address information is on file for any of the customers. It is implicit in the Public Information Act that the Act applies only to information already in existence. Therefore, the Act does not require that a governmental body prepare new information in response to a request. See Attorney General Opinion H-90 (1973); see also Open Records Decision No. 362 (1983).

This letter ruling is limited to the particular records at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other records or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For example, governmental bodies are prohibited from asking the attorney general to reconsider this ruling. Gov't Code § 552.301(f). If the governmental body wants to challenge this ruling, the governmental body must appeal by filing suit in Travis County within 30 calendar days. Id. § 552.324(b). In order to get the full benefit of such an appeal, the governmental body must file suit within 10 calendar days. Id. § 552.353(b)(3), (c). If the governmental body does not appeal this ruling and the governmental body does not comply with it, then both the requestor and the attorney general have the right to file suit against the governmental body to enforce this ruling. Id. § 552.321(a).

If this ruling requires the governmental body to release all or part of the requested information, the governmental body is responsible for taking the next step. Based on the statute, the attorney general expects that, within 10 calendar days of this ruling, the governmental body will do one of the following three things: 1) release the public records; 2) notify the requestor of the exact day, time, and place that copies of the records will be provided or that the records can be inspected; or 3) notify the requestor of the governmental body's intent to challenge this letter ruling in court. If the governmental body fails to do one of these three things within 10 calendar days of this ruling, then the requestor should report that failure to the attorney general's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at 877/673-6839. The requestor may also file a complaint with the district or county attorney. Id. § 552.3215(e).

If this ruling requires or permits the governmental body to withhold all or some of the requested information, the requestor can appeal that decision by suing the governmental body. Id. § 552.321(a); Texas Dep't of Public Safety v. Gilbreath, 842 S.W.2d 408, 411 (Tex. App.-Austin 1992, no writ).

Please remember that under the Act the release of information triggers certain procedures for costs and charges to the requestor. If records are released in compliance with this ruling, be sure that all charges for the information are at or below the legal amounts. Questions or complaints about over-charging must be directed to Hadassah Schloss at the General Services Commission at 512/475-2497.

If the governmental body, the requestor, or any other person has questions or comments about this ruling, they may contact our office. Although there is no statutory deadline for contacting us, the attorney general prefers to receive any comments within 10 calendar days of the date of this ruling.

Sincerely,

Yen-Ha Le
Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Division

YHL/rjb/seg

Ref: ID# 144957

Encl. Submitted documents

cc: Mr. Jesus F. Costilla
900 Marion Street
Las Vegas, Nevada 89110
(w/o enclosures)

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