February 26, 2004

Ms. Mia M. Martin
General Counsel
Richardson Independent School District
400 South Greenville Avenue
Richardson, Texas 75081-4198

OR2004-1442

Dear Ms. Martin:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 196741.

The Richardson Independent School District (the "district") received a request for "a clear and audible copy of the tape recordings of the 10/07/03 Board Hearing concerning [the requestor's] Chapter 544 complaint pursuant to relevant sections of Chapter 551 and 552 of the Texas Government Code, including Section 551.022." You claim that the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.103 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

We note that the information you seek to withhold consists of tape recordings of an open meeting of the district's board of trustees. The minutes, tape recordings, and agendas of a governmental body's open meetings are specifically made public by statute. See Gov't Code §§ 551.022 (minutes and tape recordings of open meeting are public records and shall be available for public inspection and copying upon request), 551.043 (notice of meeting of governmental body must be posted in place readily accessible to general public at least 72 hours before scheduled time of meeting), 551.050 (municipality required to post notice of meeting at a place convenient to public in city hall); see also Gov't Code § 552.022(a)(15) (information regarded as open to the public is not excepted from disclosure under Public Information Act unless expressly confidential by law). Information made public by statute may not be withheld from the public under any of the Public Information Act's exceptions to public disclosure. See, e.g., Open Records Decision Nos. 544 (1990), 378 (1983), 161 (1977), 146 (1976). Accordingly, the submitted tape recordings of the open meeting must be released in accordance with section 551.022 of the Government 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,

Lauren E. Kleine
Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Division
LEK/seg
Ref: ID# 196741
Enc. Submitted documents

c: Mr. J. Umoren
c/o Ogueri & Associates
5646 Milton Street, Suite 745
Dallas, Texas 75206
(w/o enclosures)