April 2, 2008

Ms. Cherl K. Byles

Assistant City Attorney

City of Fort Worth

1000 Throckmorton Street, 3^rd Floor

Fort Worth, Texas 76102

OR2008-04394

Dear Ms. Byles:

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# 310197.

The City of Fort Worth (the "city") received a request for information related to a specified accident. You state you have released some of the requested information, with redactions pursuant to the previous determinations issued to the city in Open Records Letter Nos. 2006-14726 (2006) (authorizing the city to withhold a Texas driver's license number, identification number, license plate number, and license year of a motor vehicle) and 2007-00198 (2007) (authorizing the city to withhold class designations, restrictions, expiration dates, license year of a Texas issued driver's license, and a vehicle identification number). See id. § 552.301(a); Open Records Decision No. 673 at 7-8 (2001). In addition, you state that the city has redacted social security numbers pursuant to section 552.147 of the Government Code.number). ⁽¹⁾ You claim that some of the remaining 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.

The submitted information includes a CRB-3 peace officer's accident report completed pursuant to chapter 550 of the Transportation Code. See Transp. Code § 550.064 (Texas Peace Officer's Accident Report form). Section 550.065(b) of the Transportation Code states that except as provided by subsection (c), accident reports are privileged and confidential. See id. § 550.065(b). Section 550.065(c)(4) provides for the release of accident reports to a person who provides two of the following three items of information:  (1) date of the accident; (2) name of any person involved in the accident; and (3) specific location of the accident. See id. § 550.065(c)(4). Under this provision, the Texas Department of Transportation or another governmental entity is required to release a copy of an accident report to a person who provides the agency with two or more of the items of information specified by the statute. Id. In this instance, the requestor has not provided the city with two of the three specified items of information regarding these accidents. Therefore, the city must withhold the CRB-3 accident report pursuant to section 550.065(b) of the Transportation Code.

Section 552.101 excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. Chapter 772 of the Health and Safety Code authorizes the development of local emergency communications districts. Sections 772.118, 772.218 and 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code are applicable to emergency 911 districts established in accordance with chapter 772. See Open Records Decision No. 649 (1996). These sections make the originating telephone numbers and addresses of 911 callers that are furnished by a 911 service provider confidential. Id. at 2. Section 772.118 applies to an emergency communications district for a county with a population of more than two million. Section 772.218 applies to an emergency communications district for a county with a population of more than 860,000. Section 772.318 applies to an emergency communications district for a county with a population of more than 20,000.

You state that the city is part of an emergency communications district established under section 772.218. You explain that the information you have highlighted was furnished by a 911 service provider. Upon review, we find that the highlighted information is confidential under section 772.218 of the Health and Safety Code and the city must withhold this information under section 552.101 of the Government Code.

In summary, the city must withhold the CRB-3 accident report pursuant to section 550.065(b) of the Transportation Code, and the highlighted information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 772.218 of the Health and Safety Code. The remaining 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,

Cindy Nettles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CN/mcf

Ref: ID# 310197

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Mr. Brian Brooks

4201 Spring Valley Drive

Dallas, Texas 75244

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. 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. See Gov't Code § 552.147(b).

POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US
An Equal Employment Opportunity Employer