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Office of the Attorney General - State of Texas John Cornyn |
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May 16, 2001 Mr. G. Chadwick Weaver
OR2001-2023 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# 147293. The City of Midland (the "city") received a request for its "most current and up-to-date" information relating to two named individuals. You claim that the requested information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101 and 552.130 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you raise and have reviewed the information you submitted. Section 552.101 excepts from required public disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." This exception protects information that is made confidential by another statute. Section 182.052 of the Utilities Code provides in relevant part: (a) Except as provided by Section 182.054, a government-operated utility may not disclose personal information in a customer's account record if the customer requests that the government-operated utility keep the information confidential. Util. Code § 182.052(a).(1) "Personal information" under section 182.052(a) means an individual's address, telephone number, or social security number. See id. § 182.051(4). You indicate that the requested information is contained in city utility records. You inform us that the utility customer in question requested confidentiality for his personal information. None of the exceptions to confidentiality listed in section 182.054 appears to be applicable. Therefore, based on your representations and our review of the submitted documents, we conclude that the address, telephone number, and social security number contained in the documents are confidential under section 182.052 of the Utilities Code. See also Open Records Decision No. 625 (1994) (construing statutory predecessor). You must withhold that information, which we have marked, under section 552.101 of the Government Code. Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "a motor vehicle operator's or driver's license or permit issued by an agency of this state[.]" Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1). The city must withhold the Texas driver's license number contained in the submitted records under section 552.130. We also have marked that information. In summary, you must withhold the marked address, telephone number, social security number, and driver's license number from the requestor under sections 552.101 and 552.130. The rest of the submitted information must be released. 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, James W. Morris, III
JWM/sdk Ref: ID# 147293 Encl: Marked documents cc: Mr. Gene Strickland
Footnotes 1. Formerly sections 2 and 4 of article 1446h, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes. See Act of May 8, 1997, 75th Leg., R.S., ch. 166, § 1, 1997 Tex. Gen. Laws 713, 991. POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |