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Office of the Attorney General - State of Texas John Cornyn |
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April 12, 2001 Mr. George D. Cato
OR2001-1477 Dear Mr. Cato: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 145952. The Texas Department of Health (the "department") received a request for information concerning an investigation of a complaint made against the HealthSouth Rehabilitation Facility in Midland, Texas. You state that some of the information has been provided to the requestor. You claim, however, that some the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 241.051 of the Health and Safety Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information. Under section 552.301(b) of the Government Code, a governmental body must ask for an attorney general's decision no later than the tenth business day after the date of receiving a written request. It appears from the documents submitted to this office that the department received the request for information on January 22, 2001. You did not request a decision from this office until February 8, 2001. Consequently, you failed to request a decision within the ten-business-day period mandated by section 552.301(b) of the Government Code. Because the request for a decision was not timely received, the requested information is presumed to be public information. Gov't Code § 552.302. To overcome the presumption that the requested information is public information, a governmental body must provide compelling reasons why the information should not be disclosed. Id.; Hancock v. State Bd. of Ins., 797 S.W.2d 379, 381 (Tex. App.--Austin 1990, no writ); see Open Records Decision No. 630 (1994). You argue that some of the requested information is confidential under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 241.051 of the Health and Safety Code. This office has held that a compelling reason exists to withhold information when the information is confidential by another source of law or implicates the privacy interest of a third party. See Open Records Decision No. 150 (1977). Accordingly, we will address your claimed exception. Section 552.101 excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." This section encompasses information protected by other statutes. Section 241.051 of the Heath and Safety Code provides in relevant part: (d) All information and materials obtained or compiled by the department in connection with a complaint and investigation concerning a hospital are confidential and not subject to disclosure under Section 552.001 et seq., Government Code, and not subject to disclosure, discovery, subpoena, or other means of legal compulsion for their release to anyone other than the department or its employees or agents involved in the enforcement action except that this information may be disclosed to: (1) persons involved with the department in the enforcement action against the hospital; (2) the hospital that is the subject of the enforcement action, or the hospital's authorized representative; (3) appropriate state or federal agencies that are authorized to inspect, survey, or investigate hospital services; (4) law enforcement agencies; and (5) persons engaged in bona fide research, if all individual-identifying and hospital-identifying information has been deleted. (e) The following information is subject to disclosure in accordance with Section 552.001 et seq., Government Code: (1) a notice of alleged violation against the hospital, which notice shall include the provisions of law which the hospital is alleged to have violated, and a general statement of the nature of the alleged violation; (2) the pleadings in the administrative proceeding; and (3) a final decision or order by the department. Health & Safety Code § 241.051(d), (e). You state that the submitted information was obtained or compiled by the department as a result of a complaint and investigation concerning a general hospital. You state that the submitted information does not contain any information that falls within the exceptions outlined in section 241.051 of the Health and Safety Code. After reviewing the submitted information, we agree that this information is subject to section 241.051 of the Health and Safety Code. We find that none of the exceptions apply in this instance; therefore, the department may withhold the submitted information in its entirety under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 241.051 of the Health and Safety Code. 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 Department 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, Stephen P. Agan
SPA/seg Ref: ID# 145952 Encl. Submitted documents cc: Ms. Vickie Lipps
POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |