April 3, 2009

Mr. Daniel Bradford

Assistant County Attorney

Travis County Attorney's Office

P.O. Box 1748

Austin, Texas 78767

OR2009-04420

Dear Mr. Bradford:

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# 339525.

The Travis County District Attorney's Office (the "district attorney") received a request for information relating to a specified case number, including the "TDC summary." You state that the district attorney has no information that is responsive to the request for the TDC summary. ⁽¹⁾ You claim that the rest of the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the information you submitted. ⁽²⁾

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 exception encompasses information that other statutes make confidential. You raise section 552.101 in conjunction with section 261.201 of the Family Code, which provides in part:

(a) The following information is confidential, is not subject to public release under Chapter 552, Government Code, and may be disclosed only for purposes consistent with [the Family Code] and applicable federal or state law or under rules adopted by an investigating agency:

(1) a report of alleged or suspected abuse or neglect made under [chapter 261 of the Family Code] and the identity of the person making the report; and

(2) except as otherwise provided in this section, the files, reports, records, communications, audiotapes, videotapes, and working papers used or developed in an investigation under [chapter 261 of the Family Code] or in providing services as a result of an investigation.

Fam. Code § 261.201(a); see id. § 261.001(1), (4) (defining "abuse" and "neglect" for purposes of Fam. Code ch. 261). In this instance, the information at issue is related to a homicide involving a child. We find that this information does not consist of files, reports, records, communications, audiotapes, videotapes, or working papers used or developed in an investigation under chapter 261 of the Family Code or in providing services as a result of an investigation. We therefore conclude that the submitted information is not confidential under section 261.201 of the Family Code and may not be withheld from the requestor on that basis under section 552.101 of the Government Code.

We note that the submitted documents contain Texas motor vehicle information. Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure information relating to a motor vehicle title or registration issued by an agency of this state. ⁽³⁾ See Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(2). We have marked information that the district attorney must withhold under section 552.130. ⁽⁴⁾ The rest of the submitted information must be released.

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,

James W. Morris, III

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JWM/cc

Ref: ID# 339525

Enc: Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note that Act does not require a governmental body to release information that did not exist when it received a request, create responsive information, or obtain information that is not held by the governmental body or on its behalf. See Econ. Opportunities Dev. Corp. v. Bustamante, 562 S.W.2d 266 (Tex. Civ. App.--San Antonio 1978, writ dism'd); Open Records Decision Nos. 605 at 2 (1992), 534 at 2-3 (1989), 518 at 3 (1989), 452 at 3 (1986), 362 at 2 (1983).

2. This letter ruling assumes that the submitted representative sample of information is truly representative of the requested information as a whole. This ruling neither reaches nor authorizes the district attorney to withhold any information that is substantially different from the submitted information. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301(e)(1)(D), .302; Open Records Decision Nos. 499 at 6 (1988), 497 at 4 (1988).

3. Unlike other exceptions to disclosure under the Act, this office will raise section 552.130 on behalf of a governmental body, as this exception is mandatory and may not be waived. See Gov't Code §§ 552.007, .352; Open Records Decision No. 674 at 3 n.4 (2001) (mandatory exceptions).

4. We also note that the submitted information includes a social security number. Section 552.147(b) of the Government Code 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.

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