August 12, 2008

Mr. Ronald J. Bounds

Assistant City Attorney

City of Corpus Christi

P.O. Box 9277

Corpus Christi, Texas 78469

OR2008-10977

Dear Mr. Bounds:

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# 318874.

The City of Corpus Christi (the "city") received two requests from different requestors for information pertaining to the city's water problems during the year 2007. You state that the city is releasing some information to the requestors. You claim that portions of the submitted documents are excepted from disclosure under sections 552.117 and 552.137 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.117(a)(1) of the Government Code excepts from disclosure the current and former home addresses and telephone numbers, social security numbers, and family member information of current or former officials or employees of a governmental body who request that this information be kept confidential under section 552.024 of the Government Code. Gov't Code § 552.117(a)(1). Whether information is protected by section 552.117(a)(1) must be determined at the time the request for it is made. See Open Records Decision No. 530 at 5 (1989). Pursuant to section 552.117(a)(1), the city must withhold the personal information that pertains to a current or former employee of the city who elected, prior to the city's receipt of the request for information, to keep such information confidential. You have not informed us whether the employees at issue chose to withhold their personal information prior to the city's receipt of the request for information. Therefore, if the employees at issue timely elected to withhold their personal information, the city must withhold the information you have marked in the submitted records pursuant to section 552.117(a)(1) of the Government Code. If the employees at issue did not timely elect to withhold their information, then the city may not withhold any of the information at issue under section 552.117(a)(1) of the Government Code.

You have identified an e-mail address within the submitted records that you argue is subject to section 552.137 of the Government Code. This section excepts from disclosure "an e-mail address of a member of the public that is provided for the purpose of communicating electronically with a governmental body" unless the member of the public consents to its release or the e-mail address is of a type specifically excluded by subsection (c). See Gov't Code § 552.137(a)-(c). You state that the marked e-mail address is not specifically excluded by section 552.137(c). You also state that the city has not received consent for the release of this e-mail address. Therefore, the city must withhold the e-mail address you marked under section 552.137.

In summary, if the employees at issue timely elected to withhold their personal information under section 552.024 of the Government Code, the city must withhold the information you have marked under section 552.117(a)(1) of the Government Code. The city must also withhold the e-mail address you have marked under section 552.137 of the Government Code. The remaining information must be released to the requestors.

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). If the governmental body does not file suit over 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,

Reg Hargrove

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

RJH/eeg

Ref: ID# 318874

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Ms. René Rodriguez

Law Offices of René Rodriguez

433 South Tancahua Street

Corpus Christi, Texas 78401

(w/o enclosures)

Mr. Angel R. Escobar

c/o Ronald J. Bounds

Assistant City Attorney

City of Corpus Christi

P.O. Box 9277

Corpus Christi, Texas 78469

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note that in your letter dated June 12, 2008, you have withdrawn your other assertions under the Act.

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