|
Office of the Attorney General - State of Texas John Cornyn |
|
July 9, 2002 Ms. Belinda R. Perkins
OR2002-3699 Dear Ms. Perkins: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 165755. The Teacher Retirement System of Texas (the "TRS") received a request for certain information relating to a particular TRS participant. 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 information. Section 552.101 of the Government Code protects "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." This section encompasses information protected by other statutes. In this regard, we note that section 825.507 of the Government Code provides in pertinent part: (a) Records of a participant that are in the custody of the retirement system... are confidential and not subject to public disclosure in a form that would identify an individual and are exempt from the public access provisions of Chapter 552, except as otherwise provided by this section. (b) The retirement system may release records of a participant...to: (1) the participant or the participant's attorney or guardian or another person who the executive director determines is acting on behalf of the participant; (2) the executor or administrator of the deceased participant's estate, including information relating to the deceased participant's beneficiary; (3) a spouse or former spouse of the participant if the executive director determines that the information is relevant to the spouse's or former spouse's interest in member accounts, benefits, or other amounts payable by the retirement system; (4) an administrator, carrier, consultant, attorney, or agent acting on behalf of the retirement system; (5) a governmental entity, and employer, or the designated agent of an employer, only to the extent the retirement system needs to share the information to perform the purposes of the retirement system, as determined by the executive director; (6) a person authorized by the individual to receive the information; (7) a federal or state criminal law enforcement agency that requests a record for a law enforcement purpose; (8) the attorney general to the extent necessary to enforce child support; or (9) a party in response to a subpoena issued under applicable law if the executive director determines that the participant will have a reasonable opportunity to contest the subpoena. .... (g) In this section, "participant" means a member, former member, retiree, annuitant, beneficiary, or alternate payee of the retirement system. The information you submitted to us for review falls within the confidentiality provision set forth in section 825.507 of Government Code. Because none of the stated exceptions apply, we conclude that the TRS must withhold the TRS records you submitted to our office. 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, Maverick F. Fisher
c: Ms. Laurie J. Wheeler
POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |