 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
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May 2, 2006 Mr. Vic Ramirez
OR2006-04479 Dear Mr. Ramirez: 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# 247689. The Lower Colorado River Authority (the "LCRA") received a request for information relating to a request for proposals for engineering services, including the winning proposal and the contract between the winning supplier and the LCRA. You have submitted information that you claim is excepted from disclosure under section 552.133 of the Government Code. You also believe that the submitted information implicates the proprietary interests of private parties. You notified five interested parties of this request for information and of their right to submit arguments to this office as to why the submitted information should not be released.(1) We also received correspondence from Sargent & Lundy, LLC. We have considered all of the submitted arguments and have reviewed the submitted information. We first note that some of the submitted information is subject to section 552.022 of the Government Code. Section 552.022 provides for the required public disclosure of "information in an account, voucher, or contract relating to the receipt or expenditure of public or other funds by a governmental body," unless the information is expressly confidential under other law. Gov't Code § 552.022(a)(3). Thus, the submitted contracts between the LCRA and private parties are subject to section 552.022(a)(3) and would ordinarily be public. Section 552.133(d) of the Government Code provides, however, that '[t]he requirement of Section 552.022 that a category of information listed under Section 552.022(a) is public information and not excepted from required disclosure under this chapter unless expressly confidential under other law does not apply to information that is excepted from required disclosure under [section 552.133]." Accordingly, we will address your claim under section 552.133 with regard to all of the submitted information. Section 552.133 excepts from public disclosure information held by a public power utility that is related to a competitive matter. See Gov't Code § 552.133(b). "Competitive matter" is defined as a matter that the public power utility governing body in good faith determines by vote to be related to the utility's competitive activity. Id. § 552.133(a)(3). The governing body also must determine, in like manner, that the release of the information would give an advantage to competitors or prospective competitors. Id. Section 552.133(a)(3) lists thirteen categories of information that may not be deemed to be competitive matters. The attorney general may conclude that section 552.133 is inapplicable to the information at issue only if, based on the information provided, the attorney general determines that the public power utility governing body has not acted in good faith in determining that the issue, matter, or activity is a competitive matter or that the information requested is not reasonably related to a competitive matter. Id. § 552.133(c). Furthermore, section 552.133(b) provides as follows: Information or records are excepted from [required public disclosure] if the information or records are reasonably related to a competitive matter, as defined in this section. Excepted information or records include the text of any resolution of the public power utility governing body determining which issues, activities, or matters constitute competitive matters. Information or records of a municipally owned utility that are reasonably related to a competitive matter are not subject to disclosure under this chapter, whether or not, under the Utilities Code, the municipally owned utility has adopted customer choice or serves in a multiply certificated service area. This section does not limit the right of a public power utility governing body to withhold from disclosure information deemed to be within the scope of any other exception provided for in this chapter, subject to the provisions of this chapter. Id. § 552.133(b). You inform us that the submitted information comes within the categories of information that the LCRA's board of directors has determined to be competitive matters, the disclosure of which would give an advantage to competitors or prospective competitors. You have submitted a statement of LCRA board policy. We note that the submitted information is not clearly among the thirteen categories of information that section 552.133 expressly excludes from the definition of competitive matter. See id. § 552.133(a)(3). Furthermore, based on the information provided in connection with this request, we cannot conclude that the LCRA board failed to act in good faith. See id. § 552.133(c). Therefore, based on your representations, the board's statement of policy, and our review of the information at issue, we conclude that the LCRA must withhold the submitted information under section 552.133 of the Government Code.(2) 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, upon receiving this ruling, the governmental body will either release the public records promptly pursuant to section 552.221(a) of the Government Code or file a lawsuit challenging this ruling pursuant to section 552.324 of the Government Code. If the governmental body fails to do one of these things, 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 Office of the Attorney General 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. 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, James W. Morris, III
c: FOIA Request Coordinator
Mr. Brian Novian
Mr. Takoohy Harutunian
Mr. David Quintanilla
Ms. Jill A. Liska
Mr. Mike McCullough
Footnotes 1. See Gov't Code § 552.305(d); Open Records Decision No. 542 (1990) (statutory predecessor to Gov't Code § 552.305 permitted governmental body to rely on interested third party to raise and explain applicability of exception to disclosure under certain circumstances). 2. As we are able to make this determination, we do not address the arguments that we received from Sargent & Lundy. POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB:WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |