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Office of the Attorney General - State of Texas John Cornyn |
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February 22, 2002 Mr. Scott Bounds
OR2002-0839 Dear Mr. Bounds: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 158922. The City of Friendswood (the "city"), which you represent, received a request for all documents that relate to a named individual or a particular address. You state that you have released or will release some of the responsive information to the requestor. You claim, however, that the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101, 552.108, 552.130, and 552.131 of the Government Code.(1) We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information. You contend that some of the submitted information must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with sections 58.005 and 58.007 of the Family Code. Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Section 552.101 encompasses confidentiality provisions such as Family Code section 58.007. Juvenile law enforcement records relating to conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997 are confidential under section 58.007. The relevant language of section 58.007(c) reads as follows: (c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), law enforcement records and files concerning a child and information stored, by electronic means or otherwise, concerning the child from which a record or file could be generated may not be disclosed to the public and shall be: (1) if maintained on paper or microfilm, kept separate from adult files and records; (2) if maintained electronically in the same computer system as records or files relating to adults, be accessible under controls that are separate and distinct from controls to access electronic data concerning adults; and (3) maintained on a local basis only and not sent to a central state or federal depository, except as provided by Subchapter B. Some of the submitted information involves juvenile conduct that occurred after September 1, 1997. It does not appear that any of the exceptions in section 58.007 apply; therefore, this information is confidential pursuant to section 58.007(c) of the Family Code. Thus, the city must withhold the information we have marked from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. As this information is confidential in its entirety, the city must not release basic offense and arrest information from these documents. We note that sections 58.005 and 58.007 are inapplicable to one of the documents you seek to withhold under section 552.101 because the incident at issue does not involve a suspect or offender who is a "child" as defined by section 51.02 of the Family Code. A "child" is a person who is: (A) ten years of age or older and under 17 years of age; or (B) seventeen years of age or older and under 18 years of age who is alleged or found to have engaged in delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision as a result of acts committed before becoming 17 years of age. Fam. Code § 51.02(1). Sections 58.005 and 58.007 do not apply where the information in question involves only a juvenile complainant, victim, or witness and not a juvenile suspect or offender. See Fam. Code § 51.04(a)(Title 3 covers cases involving delinquent conduct or conduct indicating need for supervision engaged in by child). Here, the juvenile involved in the incident was not listed as a suspect or offender. Therefore, the city may not withhold the information involving this incident under section 552.101. We will address your argument under section 552.108 with respect to the remaining information. Section 552.108(a) of the Government Code provides as follows: (a) Information held by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime is excepted from the requirements of Section 552.021 if: (1) release of the information would interfere with the detection, investigation or prosecution of crime; [or] (2) it is information that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime only in relation to an investigation that did not result in conviction or deferred adjudication[.] Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(1)-(2). Generally speaking, subdivisions 552.108(a)(1) and 552.108(a)(2) apply to two mutually exclusive types of information held by a law enforcement agency. Section 552.108(a)(1) protects information that pertains to a pending criminal investigation or prosecution. In contrast, section 552.108(a)(2) protects records that pertain to a concluded criminal investigation or prosecution that did not result in a conviction or a deferred adjudication. Based on the information you provided, we understand you to assert that the remaining information pertains to cases that concluded in results other than conviction or deferred adjudication. Therefore, we agree that section 552.108(a)(2) is applicable to the remaining information. However, section 552.108 is inapplicable to basic information about an arrested person, an arrest, or a crime. Gov't Code § 552.108(c). We believe such basic information refers to the information held to be public in Houston Chronicle Publishing Company v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177 (Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975), writ ref'd n.r.e. per curiam, 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976), which includes a detailed description of the offense. Thus, with the exception of the basic offense and arrest information, you may withhold the remaining submitted information from disclosure based on section 552.108(a)(2). We note that you have the discretion to release all or part of the remaining information that is not otherwise confidential by law. Gov't Code § 552.007. To summarize: (1) we have marked the documents that must be withheld in their entirety under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007 of the Family Code; and (2) with the exception of the basic offense and arrest information, the remaining information may be withheld under section 552.108(a)(2) of the Government Code.(2) 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 Texas Building and Procurement 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. We note that a third party may challenge this ruling by filing suit seeking to withhold information from a requestor. Gov't Code § 552.325. 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. Jeff Branscome
Footnotes 1. As you did not submit to this office written comments stating the reasons why section 552.131 would allow the information to be withheld, we assume that you are no longer asserting this exception to disclosure. 2. As we are able to make these determinations, we need not address your argument under section 552.130 of the Government Code. POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |