February 4, 2008

Ms. Jacqueline Cullom Murphy

Assistant Criminal District Attorney

Bexar County District Attorney's Office

300 Dolorosa, Suite 4049

San Antonio, Texas 78205-3030

OR2008-01571

Dear Ms. Murphy:

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# 301114.

The Bexar County Auditor's Office (the "auditor") received a request for information regarding the Bexar County venue tax paid by car rental and hotel companies from 2004-2007. You claim that the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 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. You claim section 552.101 in conjunction with section 171.206 of the Tax Code, which provides that:

Except as provided by Section 171.207 of this code, the following information is confidential and may not be made open to public inspection:

(1) information that is obtained from a record or other instrument that is required by this chapter to be filed with the comptroller; or

(2) information, including information about the business affairs, operations, profits, losses, cost of goods sold, compensation, or expenditures of a taxable entity, obtained by an examination of the books and records, officers, partners, trustees, agents, or employees of a taxable entity on which a tax is imposed by this chapter.

Tax Code § 171.206. This provision protects information that is in the possession of the Comptroller of Public Accounts. In this instance, the submitted information is in the possession of the auditor. Therefore, no portion of the submitted information is confidential under section 171.206 of the Tax Code. As you raise no other exceptions against disclosure, the 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,

Allan D. Meesey

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

ADM/eeg

Ref: ID# 301114

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Ms. April Salinas

Enterprise Rent A Car Co. of Texas

1505 Harry Wurzbach

San Antonio, Texas 78209

(w/o enclosures)

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