 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
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September 17, 2008 Mr. Charles R. Anderson City Attorney City of Irving 825 West Irving Boulevard Irving, Texas 75060 OR2008-12796 Dear Mr. Anderson: 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# 326696. The City of Irving (the "city") received two requests from the same requestor for a list and the home addresses of the fire department staff assigned to two specified vehicles. You state that you will release a portion of the requested information. You claim that the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.117 of the Government Code. (1) We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information. Section 552.117(a)(1) of the Government Code excepts from disclosure the 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. See Gov't Code § 552.117(a)(1). We note that a post office box number is not a "home address" for purposes of section 552.117. (2) Whether a particular piece of information is protected by section 552.117 must be determined at the time the request for it is received. See Open Records Decision No. 530 at 5 (1989). Therefore, the city may only withhold information under section 552.117 on behalf of current or former officials or employees who made a request for confidentiality under section 552.024 prior to the date on which the request for information was received. In this case, you provide documentation showing that the employees whose information is at issue timely elected confidentiality under section 552.024. Thus, the city must withhold the employee home addresses you have marked under section 552.117(a)(1) of the Government Code. The remaining information in the submitted documents is not responsive to this request. This ruling does not address the public availability of nonresponsive information, and the city is not required to release nonresponsive information in response to this request. 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, Cindy Nettles Assistant Attorney General Open Records Division CN/jb Ref: ID# 326696 Enc. Submitted documents c: Mr. S. Paul Jordan 1519 Arcady Lane Irving, Texas 75061 (w/o enclosures) Footnotes1. Although you also raise section 552.101 of the Government Code as an exception to disclosure of the
requested information, you have provided no arguments regarding the applicability of this section; we therefore
assume that you no longer urge section 552.101. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301(b), (e); .302.
See Gov't Code § 552.117; Open Records Decision No. 622 at 4 (1994) (legislative history makes
clear that purpose of section 552.117 is to protect public employees from being harassed at home) (citing House
Committee on State Affairs, Bill Analysis, H.B. 1976, 69th Leg. (1985)).
POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |