 Office of the ATTORNEY GENERAL GREG ABBOTT | |
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January 17, 2003 Ms. Sylvia F. Hardman
OR2003-0373 Dear Ms. Hardman: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 175175. The Texas Rehabilitation Commission (the "commission") received a request for reports of the reviews of vehicle modification recommendations from the Texas Transportation Institute (with client names redacted) for any existing or former commission clients for whom the Scott Driving System was purchased within the last ten years, and the same information for clients for whom the Scott Driving System was denied within the last ten years. 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 have reviewed the submitted representative sample of information.(1) Section 552.101 excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." This section encompasses information protected by other statutes. Section 111.057 of the Human Resources Code provides as follows: (a) Except for purposes directly connected with the administration of health and human service programs and in accordance with regulations, it is unlawful for a person to solicit, disclose, receive, or make use of, or authorize, knowingly permit, participate in, or acquiesce in the use of any list of, names of, or any information directly or indirectly derived from records concerning persons applying for or receiving health and human services. (b) The commission is authorized to provide client and other information to and receive client and other information from any state agency for the purpose of increasing and enhancing services to clients and improving agency operations, except where federal law or regulations preclude such sharing. (c) The commission shall adopt rules to carry out the purposes of this section. Hum. Res. Code §111.057 (emphasis added). Because all of the submitted information in this instance is information directly or indirectly derived from records concerning persons applying for or receiving health and human services, the commission must withhold the documents in their entirety under section 552.101 as information made confidential by law. Although you request that this office issue a previous determination concerning this type of information, we decline to issue such a determination at this time. Accordingly, 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, Kristen Bates
c: Ms. Denette Vaughn
Footnotes 1. We assume that the "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 |