December 19, 2008

Mr. Joey Longley

Director

Texas Sunset Advisory Commission

P.O. Box 13066

Austin, Texas 78711-3066

OR2008-17266

Dear Mr. Longley:

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# 331227.

The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission (the "commission") received a request for five categories of information concerning the commission's review of the State Office of Administrative Hearings ("SOAH"). You state that you have released some of the requested information to the requestor. We understand you to claim that the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information. ⁽¹⁾ We have also considered comments submitted by the requestor. See Gov't Code § 552.304 (interested party may submit comments stating why information should or should not be released).

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. This section encompasses statutes such as section 325.0195 of the Government Code. Section 325.0195 provides in relevant part:

(a) A working paper, including all documentary or other information, prepared or maintained by the commission staff in performing its duties under this chapter or other law to conduct an evaluation and prepare a report is excepted from the public disclosure requirements of Section 552.021.

Gov't Code § 325.0195(a). You inform us that the submitted documents and communications consist of the commission's working papers that were collected and maintained by the commission during its evaluation of SOAH. You further state that this evaluation was authorized under chapter 325 of the Government Code. See id. § 325.008(a)(3) ("Before January 1 of the year in which a state agency subject to this chapter and its advisory committees are abolished, the commission shall . . . conduct a review of the agency based on the criteria provided in Section 325.011 and prepare a written report[.]"). Accordingly, we find the submitted information is confidential under section 325.0195 of the Government Code and must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code.

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,

Chris Schulz

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CS/eeg

Ref: ID# 331227

Enc. Submitted documents

cc: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We assume that the "representative sample" of records submitted to this office is truly representative of the requested records as a whole. See Open Records Decision Nos. 499 (1988), 497 (1988). This open records letter does not reach, and therefore does not authorize the withholding of, any other requested records to the extent that those records contain substantially different types of information than that submitted to this office.

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