 Office of the ATTORNEY GENERAL GREG ABBOTT | |
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April 24, 2003 Ms. Meredith Ladd
OR2003-2737 Dear Ms. Ladd: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 179984. The City of McKinney (the "city"), which you represent, received a request for five categories of information related to two specified addresses and to a named individual. You advise that you have released some of the requested information. You claim that portions of the remaining requested information are excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101 and 552.137 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and have reviewed the submitted representative sample of information.(1) 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 that another statute makes confidential. Sections 772.118, 772.218 and 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code make confidential the originating telephone numbers and addresses of 9-1-1 callers furnished by a service supplier. See Open Records Decision No. 649 (1996). Section 772.118 applies to emergency communication districts for counties with a population over two million. Section 772.218 applies to emergency communication districts for counties with a population over 860,000. Section 772.318 applies to emergency communication districts for counties with a population over 20,000. Subchapter E, which applies to counties with populations over 1.5 million, does not contain a confidentiality provision regarding 9-1-1 telephone numbers and addresses. See Health & Safety Code §§ 772.401, et seq. Thus, if the submitted call sheets involve an emergency 9-1-1 district established in accordance with chapter 772 of the Health and Safety Code, which authorizes the development of local emergency communications districts, and the district is subject to section 772.118, 772.218, or 772.318, the originating addresses and telephone numbers of callers are protected from public disclosure under section 552.101 as information deemed confidential by statute, and must not be released. However, if the telephone numbers and addresses in the call sheets do not reflect the origin of 9-1-1 calls or were not provided by a 9-1-1 service supplier to an emergency communication district subject to section 772.118, 772.218, or 772.318, the telephone numbers and addresses must be released. Further, the submitted documents contain the personal e-mail address of an individual that must be withheld under section 552.137 of the Government Code. Section 552.137 requires the city to withhold an e-mail address of a member of the public that is provided for the purpose of communicating electronically with a governmental body, unless the member of the public has affirmatively consented to its release. See Gov't Code § 552.137(a), (b). You state that the individual to whom the e-mail address belongs has not affirmatively consented to the release of the e-mail address. Therefore, it must be withheld under section 552.137. In summary, addresses and telephone numbers that are originating addresses and telephone numbers of 9-1-1 callers that were supplied by a 9-1-1 service supplier to an emergency communication district subject to section 772.118, 772.218, or 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code must be withheld from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. The submitted e-mail address must be withheld under section 552.137. The remaining information must be released. 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 Dep't of Pub. 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: Mr. Mark Yablon
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 |