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Office of the Attorney General - State of Texas John Cornyn |
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May 9, 2002 Mr. Scott Taylor
OR2002-2476 Dear Mr. Taylor: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 162804. The Ector County Hospital District (the "district") received a request for "the log in which all anonymous complaints from hospital suggestion boxes (or Integrity Boxes) are recorded." You claim that the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information.(1) Section 552.101 excepts from required public disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Thus, section 552.101 protects information that is made confidential by statute. Subchapter D of chapter 161 of the Health and Safety Code governs medical committees, medical peer review committees, and compliance officers. Section 161.032 provides in relevant part: (c) Records, information, or reports of a . . . compliance officer and records, information, or reports provided by a . . . compliance officer to the governing body of a public hospital, hospital district, or hospital authority are not subject to disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code. . . . (f) This section . . . do[es] not apply to records made or maintained in the regular course of business by a hospital . . . [or] hospital district [.] Health & Safety Code § 161.032(c), (f). You state that the submitted information consists of the compliance officer's log of reports received on the hotline, through integrity boxes, or directly by the officer, as well as documentation of the actions taken on those reports. Based on our review of the submitted documents, we conclude that the information at issue comprises records, information, or reports of a compliance officer acting under subchapter D of chapter 161 of the Health and Safety Code. Cf. Texarkana Mem'l Hosp., Inc. v. Jones, 551 S.W.2d 33, 35 (Tex. 1977) (defining records made or maintained in regular course of business). We therefore conclude that this information is confidential under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 161.032(c) of the Health and Safety Code. Accordingly, the district must withhold the submitted documents from public disclosure. 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, Cindy Nettles
c: Mr. Brian Rogers
Mr. Richard E. Buck
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 |