January 30, 2008

Ms. Candice M. De La Garza

Assistant City Attorney

City of Houston

P.O. Box 368

Houston, Texas 77001-0368

OR2008-01455

Dear Ms. De La Garza:

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# 304832.

The Houston Police Department (the "department") received a request for information regarding eighteen specified incidents. You state that the department has released most of the responsive information. You claim that portions of the submitted information are 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 disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision," and encompasses information made confidential by other statutes. Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 58.007(c) of the Family Code provides in pertinent part 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.

Fam. Code § 58.007(c). You state that the information in Exhibit 3 relates to juvenile law enforcement records that pertain to conduct that occurred after September 1, 1997. Because none of the exceptions in section 58.007 apply, Exhibit 3 is confidential under section 58.007(c) and must be withheld pursuant to section 552.101 of the Government Code.

Exhibit 2 contains information subject to section 552.130 of the Government Code. Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from public disclosure information that relates to a personal identification document issued by an agency of this state or a local agency authorized to issue an identification document. See Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(3). The department must withhold the Texas identification number you have marked under section 552.130.

Exhibit 2 also contains a social security number. 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. Therefore, the department may withhold the social security number you have marked pursuant to section 552.147. ⁽¹⁾

In summary, the department must withhold Exhibit 3 under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007 of the Family Code, and the Texas identification number you have marked in Exhibit 2 under section 552.130 of the Government Code. The department may withhold the social security number you have marked in Exhibit 2 under section 552.147 of the Government Code. The remaining submitted information must be released to the requestor.

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,

Benjamin A. Diener

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

BAD/sdk

Ref: ID# 304832

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Ms. Merlyn D. Moore

M.D. Moore & Associates, Inc.

669 Elkins Lane

Huntsville, Texas 77340

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. 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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