April 1, 2009

Mr. Ronald J. Bounds

Assistant City Attorney

City of Corpus Christi

P.O. Box 9277

Corpus Christi, Texas 78469-9277

OR2009-04228

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# 339022.

The City of Corpus Christi (the "city") received a request for notes taken during three specified human resources meetings. You state the city has released some responsive information to the requestor with redactions pursuant to Open Records Decision No. 670 (2001). ⁽¹⁾ You claim the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "[i]nformation held by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime . . . if . . . release of the information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime[.]" Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(1). Generally, a governmental body claiming section 552.108(a)(1) must reasonably explain how and why the release of the requested information would interfere with law enforcement. See id. §552.301(e)(1)(A); see also Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977). You state the submitted information relates to an active and pending criminal investigation and prosecution. You have provided a representation from the Nueces County District Attorney's Office stating that release of the submitted information would hinder the pending criminal prosecution of this case. Based on these representations and our review of the submitted documents, we find that section 552.108(a)(1) is applicable to submitted information. See Houston Chronicle Publ'g Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d177 (Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975), writ ref'd n.r.e., 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976) (per curiam) (court delineates law enforcement interests that are present in active cases); see also Open Records Decision Nos. 474 (1987), 372 (1983) (where incident involving allegedly criminal conduct is still under active investigation or prosecution, section 552.108 may be invoked by any proper custodian of information relating to incident). Accordingly, the city may withhold the submitted information under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code.

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,

Jordan Hale

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JH/jb

Ref: ID# 339022

Enc. Submitted documents

cc: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note that in Open Records Decision No. 670 (2001), the attorney general determined that all governmental bodies may withhold information that reveals a peace officer's home address, home telephone number, personal cellular phone number, personal pager number, social security number, and information that reveals whether the individual has family members without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision as to whether the exception under section 552.117(a)(2) applies.

POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US
An Equal Employment Opportunity Employer