February 1, 2008

Mr. Daniel Bradford

Assistant County Attorney

Travis County

P.O. Box 1748

Austin, Texas 78787

OR2008-01387

Dear Mr. Bradford:

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# 301709.

The Travis County Sheriff's Office (the "sheriff") received a request for information pertaining to the requestor, to include two specified incident reports. You claim that the requested information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101 through 552.147 of the Government Code. We have considered comments submitted by the requestor. See Gov't Code § 552.304 (providing that interested party may submit comments stating why information should or should not be released).

Section 552.301 of the Government Code prescribes the procedures that a governmental body must follow in asking this office to decide whether requested information is excepted from public disclosure. Under section 552.301(e), a governmental body must submit to this office within fifteen business days of receiving an open records request written comments stating the reasons why the stated exceptions apply that would allow the information to be withheld, and a copy of the specific information requested or representative samples, labeled to indicate which exceptions apply to which parts of the documents. See id. § 552.301(e)(1)(A), (D). The sheriff received the request for information on November 14, 2007, but as of the date of this letter you have not submitted arguments explaining why the stated exceptions apply or a copy of the specific information requested or representative samples of it. Thus, the sheriff failed to comply with the procedural requirements mandated by section 552.301.

Pursuant to section 552.302 of the Government Code, a governmental body's failure to comply with the procedural requirements of section 552.301 results in the legal presumption that the requested information is public and must be released unless the governmental body demonstrates a compelling reason to withhold the information from disclosure. See id. § 552.302; Hancock v. State Bd. of Ins., 797 S.W.2d 379, 381-82 (Tex. App.-Austin 1990, no writ); Open Records Decision No. 319 (1982). A compelling reason exists when third-party interests are at stake or when information is confidential under other law. Open Records Decision No. 150 (1977). Because the sheriff has failed to comply with the procedural requirements of the Act, the sheriff has waived all of its discretionary exceptions to disclosure. See Open Records Decision No.663 at 5 (1999) (untimely request for a decision resulted in waiver of discretionary exceptions). Further, although the sheriff also raises mandatory exceptions to disclosure, because the sheriff has not submitted the information for our review, we have no basis for finding it confidential. Thus, we have no choice but to order the sheriff to release the requested information. If you believe the information is confidential and may not lawfully be released, you must challenge the ruling in court as outlined below.

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,

Jordan Johnson

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JJ/jb

Ref: ID# 301709

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Ms. Leilani Upshaw-Luna

4806 Yager Lane

Manor, Texas 78653

(w/o enclosures)

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