 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
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October 16, 2007 Mr. Robert R. Ray OR2007-13531 Dear Mr. Ray: 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# 291925. The City of Longview (the "city") received a request for all law enforcement records involving the requestor's child. You claim that the requested information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101, 552.130, and 552.147 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information. Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from public disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Section 552.101 encompasses information protected by other statutes, such as section 58.007 of the Family Code. The relevant language of section 58.007 reads as follows: (c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), law enforcement records and files concerning a child and information stored, by electronic means or otherwise, concerning the child from which a record or file could be generated may not be disclosed to the public and shall be: (1) if maintained on paper or microfilm, kept separate from adult files and records; (2) if maintained electronically in the same computer system as records or files relating to adults, be accessible under controls that are separate and distinct from controls to access electronic data concerning adults; and (3) maintained on a local basis only and not sent to a central state or federal depository, except as provided by Subchapter B, D, and E. . . . (e) Law enforcement records and files concerning a child may be inspected or copied by a juvenile justice agency as that term is defined by Section 58.101, a criminal justice agency as that term is defined by Section 411.082, Government Code, the child, and the child's parent or guardian. . . . (j) Before a child or a child's parent or guardian may inspect or copy a record or file concerning the child under Subsection (e), the custodian of the record or file shall redact: (1) any personally identifiable information about a juvenile suspect, offender, victim, or witness who is not the child; and (2) any information that is excepted from required disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code, or other law. Act of May 29, 1995, 74th Leg., R.S., ch. 262, 1995 Tex. Gen. Laws 2517, 2552-53, amended by Act of May 28, 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., ch. 879, § 1, 2007 Tex. Sess. Law. Serv. 1896. Juvenile law enforcement records relating to conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997 are confidential under section 58.007. For purposes of section 58.007, "child" means a person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age. See id. § 51.02(2). Section 58.007(c) is not applicable to information that relates to a juvenile as a complainant, victim, witness, or other involved party and not as a suspect or offender. The 80th Legislature recently amended section 58.007 to allow the review or copy of juvenile law enforcement records by a child's parent or guardian. See id. § 58.007(e). However, section 58.007(j) provides that, prior to releasing information to a child's parent or guardian, a governmental body must redact any personally identifiable information about a juvenile suspect, offender, victim, or witness who is not the requestor's child. Fam. Code § 58.007(j)(1). Section 58.007(j) also states the a governmental body must redact any information that is excepted from disclosure under the Act. See id. § 58.007(j)(2). Upon review, we agree that the submitted information consists of juvenile law enforcement records that are subject to section 58.007. We note, however, that the requestor is the parent of one of the juvenile suspects. One of the submitted reports, incident report 05-27237, consists of a juvenile law enforcement record in which the requestor's child is not a suspect or offender. This information, which we have marked, must be withheld in its entirety under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(c) of the Family Code. The remaining information consists of juvenile law enforcement records of the requestor's child. Under section 58.007(e), this information must be released to the requestor subject to the redactions prescribed by section 58.007(j). Accordingly, the city must redact the identifying information of other juveniles under section 58.007(j)(1). In accordance with section 58.007(j)(2), we will also consider the applicability of the remaining exceptions you claim. Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure information that relates to a motor vehicle operator's or driver's license or permit issued by an agency of this state. See Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1). Because this exception protects personal privacy, the requestor has a right of access to her own Texas driver's license information under section 552.023 of the Government Code. See id. § 552.023(a); Open Records Decision No. 481 at 4 (1987) (privacy theories not implicated when individual requests information concerning herself). (1) Therefore, the requestor's driver's license information may not be withheld under section 552.130. The remaining Texas driver's license information, which we have marked, must be withheld under section 552.130 of the Government Code. Section 552.147 of the Government Code provides that "[t]he social security number of a living person is excepted from" required public disclosure under the Act. (2) The requestor also has a right of access to her own social security number and the social security number of her child, which we have marked. See generally Gov't Code § 552.023(b) (governmental body may not deny access to person to whom information relates, or that person's representative, solely on grounds that information is considered confidential by privacy principles). The city may withhold the rest of the social security numbers under section 552.147. In summary, the city must withhold incident report 05-27237 under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007 of the Family Code. The city must withhold the Texas driver's license information that we have marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code. Other than the social security number of the requestor and her child, the city may withhold the social security numbers you have marked under section 552.147 of the Government Code. Prior to releasing the remaining information pursuant to section 58.007(e), the city must redact the identifying information of juvenile suspects, offenders, victims, or witnesses who are not the child of the requestor under section 58.007(j)(1). 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, L. Joseph James Assistant Attorney General Open Records Division LJJ/eeg Ref: ID# 291925 Enc. Submitted documents Footnotes1. Section 552.023(a) provides that "[a] person or a person's authorized representative has a special right of access, beyond the right of the general public, to information held by a governmental body that relates to the person and that is protected from public disclosure by laws intended to protect that person's privacy interests." Gov't Code § 552.023(a). 2. We note that section 552.147(b) of the Government Code authorizes a governmental body to redact a living person's social security number from public release without the necessity of requesting a decision from this office under the Act.
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