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Office of the Attorney General - State of Texas John Cornyn |
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August 21, 2001 Mr. Greg S. Boling
OR2001-3679 Dear Mr. Boling: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 150993. The City of McKinney (the "city"), which you represent, received a request for the following information:
You claim that the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.103 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information.(1) We have also considered the comments submitted by the requestor. See Gov't Code § 552.304 (providing for submission of public comments). Initially, we note that you have not submitted any documents responsive to the first category of information sought by the requestor. Therefore, to the extent any information responsive to the first category of information exists, we assume that you have released it to the requestor. If you have not released any such information, you must release it to the requestor at this time. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301(a), .302. We now address your arguments with respect to the requested city ordinances. In Open Records Decision No. 551 (1990), this office addressed whether a city ordinance could be withheld from the public under the Public Information Act and stated that: It is difficult to conceive of a more open record. The law, binding upon every citizen, is free for publication to all. Banks v. Manchester, 128 U.S. 244, 253 (1888). This policy is based on the concept of due process which requires that the people have notice of the law. Building Officials & Code Admin. v. Code Technology, Inc., 628 F.2d 730, 734 (1st Cir. 1980). Given this constitutional consideration, it is difficult to hypothesize a circumstance that would bring a law or ordinance within an exception to public disclosure. Accordingly, the city must release any responsive city ordinance passed by the city and any document attached to or incorporated by reference into the ordinance. Finally, we note that this ruling addresses only whether the city is required to release the requested information pursuant to chapter 552 of the Government Code. This ruling does not affect the city's responsibility to respond to the requestor's discovery requests. See Gov't Code § 552.005(a). 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, Karen A. Eckerle
c: Mr. George A. Staples
Footnotes 1. We assume that the "representative sample" of records submitted to this office is truly representative of the requested records as a whole. See Open Records Decision Nos. 499 (1988), 497 (1988). This open records letter does not reach, and therefore does not authorize the withholding of, any other requested records to the extent that those records contain substantially different types of information than that submitted to this office. POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |