January 20, 2010

Mr. Mark G. Daniel

Evans, Daniel, Moore & Evans

Sundance Square

115 West Second Street, Suite 202

Forth Worth, Texas 76102

OR2010-00866

Dear Mr. Daniel:

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# 368024.

The City of Watauga (the "city"), which you represent, received a request for any call records for the past year or police reports for a particular address and two named individuals. You state that you have provided the requestor with a portion of the requested information. You claim that the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101 and 552.108 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions 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. This section encompasses information protected by other statutes, such as section 58.007 of the Family Code, which makes confidential juvenile law enforcement records relating to conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997. The relevant language of section 58.007 reads:

(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 Subchapter B, D, and E.

Fam. Code § 58.007(c). The submitted report involves juvenile delinquent conduct that occurred after September 1, 1997. See id. § 51.03(a), (b) (defining "delinquent conduct" and "conduct indicating a need for supervision"). For purposes of section 58.007(c), a "child" is a person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age. See id. § 51.02(2). You do not indicate, nor does it appear, that any of the exceptions in section 58.007 apply to this report. Therefore, section 58.007 of the Family Code is applicable to the submitted information. We note that the requestor is a representative from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. However, the requestor does not indicate that he has a right of access to this information under state or federal law. See Open Records Decision Nos. 598 (1991), 583 (1990), 451 (1986). Accordingly, the city must withhold the submitted information in its entirety under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007 of the Family Code. ⁽¹⁾

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,

Andrea L. Caldwell

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

ALC/eeg

Ref: ID# 368024

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. As our ruling is dispositive, we need not address your remaining argument against disclosure.

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