 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
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August 25, 2008 Mr. C. Patrick Phillips Assistant City Attorney City of Fort Worth 1000 Throckmorton Street, 3rd Floor Fort Worth Texas 76102 OR2008-11625 Dear Mr. Phillips: 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# 319778. The City of Fort Worth (the "city") received a request for incident reports 08-55399, 08-062318, and 08-64401, as well as any other reports or incidents involving the requestor's daughter. You state that you will release some of the responsive information. You state that you have redacted Texas motor vehicle record information under section 552.130 of the Government Code pursuant to the previous determinations issued to the city in Open Records Letter Nos. 2006-14726 (2006) and 2007-00198 (2007). See Gov't Code § 552.301(a); Open Records Decision No. 673 at 7-8 (2001). You also state that you are withholding social security numbers under section 552.147 of the Government Code. (1) You claim that the remaining information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101 and 552.136 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 public disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. This section encompasses information that other statutes make confidential, such as section 58.007 of the Family Code. Juvenile law enforcement records relating to conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997 are confidential under section 58.007. Section 58.007 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, D, and E. . . . (e) Law enforcement records and files concerning a child may be inspected or copied by a juvenile justice agency as that term is defined by Section 58.101, a criminal justice agency as that term is defined by Section 411.082, Government Code, the child, and the child's parent or guardian. . . . (j) Before a child or a child's parent or guardian may inspect or copy a record or file concerning the child under Subsection (e), the custodian of the record or file shall redact: (1) any personally identifiable information about a juvenile suspect, offender, victim, or witness who is not the child; and (2) any information that is excepted from required disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code, or other law. Fam. Code § 58.007(c), (e), (j). We note, however, that section 58.007(c) is not applicable to information that relates to a juvenile as a complainant, victim, witness, or other involved party; it is only applicable to juveniles listed as suspects or offenders. See id. § 58.007. We have reviewed the submitted information and find that incident report numbers 08-55399, 08-64401, and 07-137062 pertain to a juvenile runaway. Thus, we find that these reports involve a juvenile engaged in conduct in need of supervision. See id. § 51.03(b) (defining "conduct indicating a need for supervision" to include "the voluntary absence of a child from the child's home without the consent of the child's parent or guardian for a substantial length of time or without intent to return"). Thus, this information is subject to section 58.007(c). We note, however, that the requestor is the father of the juvenile at issue in the submitted information. Under section 58.007(e), the requestor may inspect or copy law enforcement records concerning his own child. Id. § 58.007(e). However, any personally identifiable information concerning other juvenile suspects, offenders, victims, or witnesses must be redacted. See id. § 58.007(j)(1). For the purposes of section 58.007(j), a juvenile suspect or offender is a child as defined by section 51.02 of the Family Code. See id. § 51.02(2) ("child" means a person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age). However, for the purposes of section 58.007(j), we conclude that a juvenile victim or witness is a person who is under eighteen years of age. We agree that some of the information you have marked in green is subject to section 58.007(j)(1). However, the remaining information you have marked is not personally identifiable information about a juvenile suspect, offender, victim, or witness who is not the requestor's child, and therefore none of the remaining information you have marked in green may be withheld under section 58.007(j)(1). Thus, the city must withhold only the information we have marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(j)(1). As you raise no other exceptions against disclosure, incident report numbers 08-55399, 08-64401, and 07-137062 must be released to the requestor pursuant to section 58.007(e). Next, you assert that the credit card and access device numbers you have marked in report number 06-78993 are subject to section 552.136(b) of the Government Code. Section 552.136(b) states that "[n]otwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, a credit card, debit card, charge card, or access device number that is collected, assembled, or maintained by or for a governmental body is confidential." Gov't Code § 552.136. However, we note that the requestor is the father of the juvenile whose credit card and access device numbers are at issue. Section 552.023(a) of the Government Code gives a person or a person's authorized representative a special right of access, beyond the right of the general public, to information held by a governmental body that relates to the person and that is protected from disclosure by laws intended to protect that person's privacy interests. See id. § 552.023; Open Records Decision No. 481 at 4 (1987) (privacy theories not implicated when individual or authorized representative asks governmental body to provide information concerning that individual). Since section 552.136 protects personal privacy, the requestor has a right of access to his daughter's credit card and access device numbers under section 552.023 of the Government Code. See Gov't Code § 552.023. Accordingly, such information may not be withheld under section 552.136 of the Government Code. In summary, the city must withhold the information we have marked in incident report number 07-137062 under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(j)(1) of the Family Code. The remaining information must be released to the requestor. (2) 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, Benjamin A. Diener Assistant Attorney General Open Records Division BAD/jb Ref: ID# 319778 Enc. Submitted documents Footnotes1. Section 552.147(b) 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.
We note that because the requestor has a special right of access to the submitted information in this
instance, the city must again seek a decision from this office if it receives another request for the same
information from another requestor. See Fam. Code § 58.007(e); see also Gov't Code § 552.023.
POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |