 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
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May 30, 2003 Mr. Lou Bright
OR2003-3674 Dear Mr. Bright: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 181927. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (the "Commission") received a request for "[a]ll Jefferson County or City of Port Arthur verifications which certified that [fourteen named entities] were in a 'wet' area for the purposes of selling mixed drinks[.]" You state the Commission has provided the name, proposed location, and type of permit issued to the permittees specified by the requestor. However, you claim some of the responsive information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have reviewed the representative sample of information you submitted and we have considered the exception you claim.(1) You assert section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts Attachment D from required public disclosure. Section 552.101 excepts "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." This section encompasses information made confidential by statute. Section 5.48 of the Alcoholic Beverage Code provides as follows: (a) "Private records," as used in this section, means all records of a permittee, licensee, or other person other than the name, proposed location, and type of permit or license sought in an application for an original or renewal permit or license, or in a periodic report relating to the importation, distribution, or sale of alcoholic beverages required by the commission to be regularly filed by a permittee or licensee. (b) The private records of a permittee, licensee, or other person that are required or obtained by the commission or its agents, in connection with an investigation or otherwise, are privileged unless introduced in evidence in a hearing before the commission or before a court in this state or the United States. Alco. Bev. Code § 5.48. The term "privileged" in this statute has been construed to mean "confidential" for purposes of the Act. Attorney General Opinion JM-1235 at 2 (1990); Open Records Decision Nos. 186 (1978), 62 (1974). Thus, section 5.48 makes confidential any "private records" required or obtained by the Commission, with the exception of "the name, proposed location, and type of permit or license sought in an application" for a permit or license or any renewal thereof or in a periodic report covering the "importation, distribution, or sale of alcoholic beverages required by the [Board] to be regularly filed by a permittee or licensee." See Alco. Bev. Code § 5.48. Attachment D, which you seek to withhold, contains information from the original applications of the permittees. Further, you advise us that the documents contained in Attachment D "have never been introduced into evidence in a hearing before the commission or before a court in this state or the United States." Consequently, other than the name, proposed location, and type of license or permit sought, the original application information is confidential. See Alco. Bev. Code § 5.48. Accordingly, we agree the Commission must withhold the information in Attachment D under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 5.48 of the Alcoholic Beverage Code. 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, Christen Sorrell
c: Mr. Darren L. Brown
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 |