January 12, 2004

Mr. Brian Anthony Quintero
Assistant County Attorney
Harris County
1019 Congress, 15^th Floor
Houston, Texas 77002

OR2004-0241

Dear Mr. Quintero:

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# 194180.

The Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector (the "tax assessor-collector") received a request for the following information: (1) the name, address, and telephone number of the fiduciary of Harris County; (2) the specie of money required for payment of property taxes imposed on a specific address; (3) a date and time after January 1, 2004, when the fiduciary of Harris County will support a specific event or transaction. You state that the tax assessor-collector has no documents responsive to this request. We have considered comments submitted by the requestor. See Gov't Code § 552.304 (allowing interested party to submit comments indicating why requested information should or should not be released).

The Act does not require a governmental body to release information that did not exist when a request for information was received or to prepare new information in response to a request for information. See Economic Opportunities Dev. Corp. v. Bustamante, 562 S.W.2d 266, 267-68 (Tex. Civ. App. - San Antonio 1978, writ dism'd); Open Records Decision Nos. 605 at 2 (1992), 452 at 3 (1986), 362 at 2 (1983). The Act does not require a governmental body to answer factual questions or to perform legal research. Open Records Decision Nos. 563 (1990), 555 (1990), ORD 379 (1983), 347 (1982). Likewise, the Act does not require a governmental body to obtain information that is not in its possession, provided that no other individual or entity holds such information on its behalf. See Gov't Code 552.002(a); Open Records Decision Nos. 534 at 2-3 (1989), 518 at 3 (1989). However, a governmental body must make a good faith effort to relate a request for information to any responsive information that is within its custody or control. See Open Records Decision No. 561 at 8-9 (1990). Because you state that the tax assessor-collector has no documents responsive to the instant request, the tax assessor-collector has no further obligation with regard to this request and need not provide any information in response to it.

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,

Karen Hattaway
Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Division
KEH/seg
Ref: ID# 194180

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