February 25, 2010

Ms. Karen Stead

Assistant City Attorney

City of Tyler

P.O. Box 2039

Tyler, Texas 75710

OR2010-02855

Dear Ms. Stead:

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# 375834 (LegalDesk# ANJ-291605).

The Tyler Municipal Court (the "court") received a request for information regarding citations issued at specified locations during a particular period of time. You claim the requested information is not subject to the Act. We have considered your submitted arguments and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information. ⁽¹⁾

The Act only applies to information that is "collected, assembled, or maintained under a law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by a governmental body." Gov't Code § 552.002(a)(1). The Act does not apply to records of the judiciary. See id. § 552.003(1)(B). Information that is "collected, assembled or maintained by or for the judiciary" is not subject to the Act. Id. § 552.0035(a); see also Tex. Sup. Ct. R. 12. Consequently, records of the judiciary need not be released under the Act. See Attorney General Opinion DM-166 (1992). But see Benavides v. Lee, 665 S.W.2d 151 (Tex. App.-- San Antonio 1983, no writ); Open Records Decision No. 646 (1996) at 4 ("function that a governmental entity performs determines whether the entity falls within the judiciary exception to the . . . Act"). The submitted court records are collected, assembled, or maintained by or for the judiciary. Consequently, the public availability of this information is not governed by the Act and is instead governed by "rules adopted by the Supreme Court of Texas or by other applicable law and rules" pertaining to information "collected, assembled, or maintained by or for the judiciary." See Gov't Code § 552.0035(a), Open Records Decision No. 671 (1992).

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,

Cindy Nettles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CN/dls

Ref: ID# 375834

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. 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 you 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).

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