September 9, 2010

Mr. Paul F. Wieneskie

Attorney At Law

For City of Euless

204 South Mesquite

Arlington, Texas 76010

OR2010-13731

Dear Mr. Wieneskie:

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# 393024.

The Euless Police Department (the "department"), which you represent, received a request for information pertaining to a specified case and a named individual. You 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 information.

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. Section 552.101 encompasses section 58.007 of the Family Code. Juvenile law enforcement records relating to conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997 are confidential under section 58.007. The relevant language of section 58.007 reads as follows:

(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), law enforcement records and files concerning a child and information stored, by electronic means or otherwise, concerning the child from which a record or file could be generated may not be disclosed to the public and shall be:

(1) if maintained on paper or microfilm, kept separate from adult files and records;

(2) if maintained electronically in the same computer system as records or files relating to adults, be accessible under controls that are separate and distinct from controls to access electronic data concerning adults; and

(3) maintained on a local basis only and not sent to a central state or federal depository, except as provided by Subchapters B, D, and E.

. . .

(e) Law enforcement records and files concerning a child may be inspected or copied by a juvenile justice agency as that term is defined by Section 58.101, a criminal justice agency as that term is defined by Section 411.082, Government Code, the child, and the child's parent or guardian.

. . .

(j) Before a child or a child's parent or guardian may inspect or copy a record or file concerning the child under Subsection (e), the custodian of the record or file shall redact:

. . .

(2) any information that is excepted from required disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code, or other law.

Fam. Code § 58.007(c), (e), (j)(2); see id. § 51.03(b) (defining "conduct indicating need for supervision" for purposes of Fam. Code tit. 3). Upon review, we find the submitted report pertains to a juvenile engaged in conduct indicating a need for supervision that occurred after September 1, 1997. However, we note, and you acknowledge, the requestor is the parent of the juvenile listed in the submitted report. As such, the department may not withhold any of the submitted records from this requestor under section 58.007(c) of the Family Code. Id. § 58.007(e). However, section 58.007(j)(2) states that information subject to any other exception to disclosure under the Act or other law must be redacted. Id. § 58.007(j)(2). We note portions of the submitted information are subject to section 552.130 of the Government Code; thus, we will address that exception. ⁽¹⁾

Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure information that "relates to . . . a motor vehicle operator's or driver's license or permit issued by an agency of this state[.]" Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1). Accordingly, the department must withhold the driver's license numbers and expiration date we have marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code. ⁽²⁾ The remaining information must be released to this requestor. ⁽³⁾

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, toll free, at (888) 672-6787.

Sincerely,

James McGuire

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JM/dls

Ref: ID# 393024

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. The Office of the Attorney General will raise a mandatory exception like section 552.130 on behalf of a governmental body, but ordinarily will not raise other exceptions. See Open Records Decision Nos. 481 (1987), 480 (1987), 470 (1987).

2. We note this office recently issued Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009), a previous determination to all governmental bodies authorizing them to withhold ten categories of information, including Texas driver's license numbers under section 552.130 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

3. We note that because the information being released contains confidential information regarding the juvenile suspect to which the requestor has a right of access as the child's parent under section 58.007(e), if the department receives another request for this particular information from a different requestor, then the department should again seek a decision from this office.

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