January 30, 2009

Ms. Alva I. Trevino

Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County

P.O. Box 61429

Houston, Texas 77208-1429

OR2009-01235

Dear Ms. Trevino:

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# 334295 (METRO No. 2009-0031).

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (the "METRO") received a request for: (1) a list of METRORail accidents up to October 31, 2008, (2) Q-card revenue for October 2008, (3) fare box revenue for October 2008, (4) TVM sales revenue for October 2008, (5) bus boardings for October 2008, (6) METRORail boardings for October 2008, (7) documents related to "stray current," (8) documents related to METRO corrosion committee meetings, and (9) METRO communications to and from the Federal Transit Administration concerning commuter and urban rail. You state that you have released responsive information related to request items 1 through 6 to the requestor. You also state that the METRO does not maintain any information responsive to request item 9. ⁽¹⁾ You claim that the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.103 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

We note that the submitted information is subject to section 552.022 of the Government Code, which provides in relevant part:

the following categories of information are public information and not excepted from required disclosure under this chapter unless they are expressly confidential under other law:

(1) a completed report, audit, evaluation, or investigation made of, for, or by a governmental body, except as provided by Section 552.108[.]

Gov't Code § 552.022(a)(1). The submitted information is a completed report made for the METRO and is therefore subject to section 552.022(a)(1). Accordingly, the METRO may withhold the submitted information only if it is "expressly confidential under other law." Although you raise section 552.103 of the Government Code, this section is a discretionary exception to disclosure that protects the governmental body's interests and which may be waived. See Dallas Area Rapid Transit v. Dallas Morning News, 4 S.W.3d 469, 475-76 (Tex. App.-- Dallas 1999, no pet.) (governmental body may waive section 552.103); see also Open Records Decision Nos. 665 at 2 n.5 (2000) (discretionary exceptions generally), 663 (1999) (governmental body may waive section 552.103). As such, section 552.103 is not "other law" that makes information confidential for the purposes of section 552.022. Therefore, the METRO may not withhold the submitted information under section 552.103. As you raise no other exceptions to disclosure, the METRO must release the submitted information to the requestor.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular information 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 information or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and responsibilities, please visit our website at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/index_orl.php, or call the Office of the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable charges for providing public information under the Act must be directed to the Cost Rules Administrator of the Office of the Attorney General at (512) 475-2497.

Sincerely,

Ryan T. Mitchell

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

RTM/jb

Ref: ID# 334295

Enc. Submitted information

cc: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. The Act does not require a governmental body to disclose information that did not exist at the time the request was received. See Economic Opportunities Dev. Corp. v. Bustamante, 562 S.W.2d 266 (Tex. Civ. App.--San Antonio 1978, writ dism'd); Open Records Decision No. 452 at 3 (1986).

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