January 3, 2008

Mr. David M. Swope

Assistant County Attorney

Harris County

1019 Congress, 15^th Floor

Houston, Texas 77005

OR2008-00110

Dear Mr. Swope:

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# 298638.

Harris County Facilities and Property Management (the "county") received a request for information related to the denial of frequent courthouse visitor badges. You claim that a portion of the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101, 552.130, 552.136, and 552.137 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 552.101 encompasses information made confidential by chapter 560 of the Government Code, which provides that a governmental body may not release fingerprint information except in certain limited circumstances. See id. §§ 560.001 (defining "biometric identifier" to include fingerprints), .002 (prescribing manner in which biometric identifiers must be maintained and circumstances in which they can be released), .003 (providing that biometric identifiers in possession of governmental body are exempt from disclosure under Act). You do not inform us, and the submitted information does not indicate, that section 560.002 permits the disclosure of the submitted fingerprint information. Therefore, the county must withhold the fingerprint information you have highlighted under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 560.003 of the Government Code.

Next, you assert that the submitted information contains Texas motor vehicle record information. Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure information relating to a Texas motor vehicle driver's license and information relating to a Texas motor vehicle title or registration. Gov't Code § 552.130. We have marked the Texas motor vehicle record information that the county must withhold under section 552.130 of the Government Code. The remaining information that you have highlighted under section 552.130 must be released.

The submitted information also contains bank account and routing numbers. Section 552.136 states that "[n]otwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, a credit card, debit card, charge card, or access device number that is collected, assembled, or maintained by or for a governmental body is confidential." Id. § 552.136(b). The county must withhold the bank account and routing numbers you have highlighted under section 552.136 of the Government Code. However, because check numbers do not constitute access device numbers, section 552.136 is not applicable to the check number that we have marked for release. You have also failed to establish that the remaining information you have highlighted under section 552.136 constitutes an access device number for the purposes of section 552.136. Thus, section 552.136 is also not applicable to this information, which we have marked for release.

Finally, the remaining information contains an e-mail address that is excepted from disclosure under section 552.137 of the Government Code, which requires a governmental body to withhold the e-mail address of a member of the general public, unless the individual to whom the e-mail address belongs has affirmatively consented to its public disclosure. See Gov't Code § 552.137 (b). You do not inform us that the owner of the e-mail address has affirmatively consented to release. Therefore, the county must withhold the e-mail address you have highlighted under section 552.137.

In summary, you must withhold the information you have highlighted under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 560.003 of the Government Code. You must withhold the information we have marked under section 552.130. With the exception of the information we have marked for release, you must withhold the information you have highlighted under section 552.136. You must withhold the e-mail address you have highlighted under section 552.137. The remaining information must be released. ⁽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 file suit in Travis County within 30 calendar days. Id. § 552.324(b). In order to get the full benefit of such a challenge, 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 challenge 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,

Justin D. Gordon

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JDG/jh

Ref: ID# 298638

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Mr. Lloyd Kelley

2726 Bissonnet, Suite 240 PMB 12

Houston, Texas 77005

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note that the submitted information contains a social security number. 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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