 Office of the ATTORNEY GENERAL GREG ABBOTT | |
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January 15, 2003 Mr. Gordon Bowman
OR2003-0316 Dear Mr. Bowman: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 175013. The Travis County Attorney's Office (the "county attorney") received a request for various information related to two specified cause numbers. You claim that the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101, 552.108, and 552.130 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information.(1) We note that the submitted information contains a peace officer's accident report form. Section 550.065(b) of the Transportation Code states that, except as provided by subsection (c), accident reports are privileged and confidential. Section 550.065(c)(4) provides for the release of accident reports to a person who provides two of the following three pieces of information: (1) date of the accident; (2) name of any person involved in the accident; and (3) specific location of the accident. See Transp. Code § 550.065(c)(4). Under this provision, a governmental entity is required to release a copy of an accident report to a person who provides two or more pieces of the required information specified by the statute. Id. In this case, as the requestor has not supplied two or more pieces of the required information, you must withhold the submitted peace officer's accident report form under section 550.065(b) of the Transportation Code. You next argue that the submitted information includes criminal history record information ("CHRI") that is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with chapter 411 of the Government Code. CHRI generated by the National Crime Information Center ("NCIC") or by the Texas Crime Information Center ("TCIC") is confidential. Title 28, part 20 of the Code of Federal Regulations governs the release of CHRI that states obtain from the federal government or other states. Open Records Decision No. 565 (1990). The federal regulations allow each state to follow its individual law with respect to CHRI it generates. Id. Section 411.083 of the Government Code deems confidential CHRI that the Department of Public Safety ("DPS") maintains, except that the DPS may disseminate this information as provided in chapter 411, subchapter F of the Government Code. See Gov't Code § 411.083. Sections 411.083(b)(1) and 411.089(a) authorize a criminal justice agency to obtain CHRI; however, a criminal justice agency may not release CHRI except to another criminal justice agency for a criminal justice purpose. Id. § 411.089(b)(1). Other entities specified in chapter 411 of the Government Code are entitled to obtain CHRI from DPS or another criminal justice agency; however, those entities may not release CHRI except as provided by chapter 411. See generally id. §§ 411.090 - .127. Thus, any CHRI generated by the federal government or another state may not be made available to the requestor except in accordance with federal regulations. See Open Records Decision No. 565 (1990). Furthermore, when a law enforcement agency compiles information that depicts an individual as a criminal suspect, arrestee, or defendant, the compilation of information takes on a character that implicates the individual's right to privacy in a manner that the same information in an uncompiled state does not. See United States Dep't of Justice v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749 (1989); Open Records Decision No. 616 at 2-3 (1993). Thus, any criminal history information that was obtained from the NCIC or TCIC networks, or that is protected by privacy under Reporters Committee, must be withheld from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. You next assert that the information submitted at Tab A is excepted from disclosure pursuant to section 552.108 of the Government Code, which states in pertinent part: (a) Information held by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime [is excepted from required public disclosure] if: (4) it is information that: (A) is prepared by an attorney representing the state in anticipation of or in the course of preparing for criminal litigation; or (B) reflects the mental impressions or legal reasoning of an attorney representing the state [and] . . . . (c) This section does not except from [required public disclosure] information that is basic information about an arrested person, an arrest, or a crime. You indicate, and the documents reflect, that the information that you refer to as "Prosecutorial Work Product" was prepared by an attorney representing the state in anticipation of or in the course of preparing for criminal litigation. We therefore conclude that the information submitted at Tab A may be withheld under section 552.108(a)(4)(A). We note, however, that section 552.108 does not except from disclosure 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). In Open Records Decision No. 127 (1976), this office summarized the types of information made public pursuant to Houston Chronicle. See Open Records Decision No. 127 at 4 (1976). The county attorney must release this information to the requestor, whether or not the information is found on the front page of an offense report. Finally, you argue that Texas driver's license numbers are excepted from disclosure under section 552.130 of the Government Code. Section 552.130 excepts from public disclosure information relating to a driver's license or motor vehicle title or registration issued by an agency of this state. Thus, the county attorney must withhold from disclosure the Texas motor vehicle information we have marked pursuant to section 552.130. In summary, you must withhold from disclosure the submitted Texas peace officer's accident report form under section 550.065(b) of the Transportation Code. The county attorney must withhold from disclosure any criminal history information that was obtained from the NCIC or TCIC networks, or that is protected by privacy under Reporters Committee, under section 552.101 of the Government Code. You may withhold from disclosure the information submitted at Tab A under section 552.108(a)(4)(A), except for basic information which you must release in accordance with section 552.108(c). Finally, you must withhold from disclosure the information we have marked under section 552.130. The remaining submitted information must be released to the requestor. 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: Mr. Craig McClelland
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 |