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Office of the Attorney General - State of Texas John Cornyn |
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April 24, 2002 Ms. Mia Settle-Vinson
OR2002-2100 Dear Ms. Settle-Vinson: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 161728. The City of Houston (the "city") received a request for records of transactions at Cash America Pawn during a specified time. You state that the city has released some responsive information to the requestor. You claim, however, that the remaining responsive information is excepted from disclosure pursuant to sections 552.101 and 552.130 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information.(1) You assert that requested information is excepted from disclosure based on section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 371.206 of the Finance 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 Finance Code section 371.206. Chapter 371 of the Finance Code concerns the licensing and regulation of pawn shops. Section 371.206 reads as follows: Information obtained during an examination or inspection authorized by this subchapter is confidential and privileged except for use by the [consumer credit] commissioner or in a criminal investigation or prosecution. You indicate that Houston police officers obtained the information at issue during an inspection authorized by section 371.204 of the Finance Code. Section 371.204 requires a pawnbroker to allow a peace officer to inspect the pawnbroker's books, accounts, papers, correspondence, or other records that relate to the business of the pawnbroker at any reasonable time without judicial writ or other process. Therefore, the requested information is confidential pursuant to section 371.206 of the Finance Code. You must withhold the information from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. Because we are able to make a determination under section 552.101, we need not address the applicability of section 552.130 to the submitted information. 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, V.G. Schimmel
c: Ms. Anita Taylor
Footnotes 1. We assume that the sample of responsive documents 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 |