March 3, 2010

Ms. Michelle L. Villarreal

Assistant City Attorney

City of Waco

P.O. Box 2570

Waco, Texas 76702-2570

OR2010-03136

Dear Ms. Villarreal:

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# 376285 (Reference # LGL-10-113).

The City of Waco (the "city") received a request for information relating to a fatal traffic accident. You state that some of the requested information either has been or will be released. You state you have redacted some information pursuant to the previous determination issued to all governmental bodies in Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009). See Gov't Code § 552.301(a); Open Records Decision No. 673 at 7-8 (2001). You claim that the rest of the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the information you submitted.

We note that section 552.022 of the Government Code is applicable to some of the submitted information. Section 552.022(a)(17) provides for required public disclosure of "information that is also contained in a public court record," unless the information is expressly confidential under other law. Gov't Code § 552.022(a)(17). The court documents we have marked are subject to disclosure under section 552.022(a)(17). Although you seek to withhold those documents under section 552.108 of the Government Code, that section is a discretionary exception to disclosure that protects a governmental body's interests and may be waived. See id. § 552.007; Open Records Decision Nos. 665 at 2 n.5 (2000) (discretionary exceptions generally), 177 at 3 (1977) (statutory predecessor to Gov't Code § 552.108 subject to waiver). As such, section 552.108 is not other law that makes information expressly confidential for the purposes of section 552.022(a)(17). Therefore, the marked court documents may not be withheld under section 552.108.

We note that the court documents contain Texas license plate and vehicle identification numbers. 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. ⁽¹⁾ See Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(2). This section is a confidentiality provision for purposes of section 552.022(a)(17). The city must withhold the marked Texas license plate and vehicle identification numbers under section 552.130. ⁽²⁾ The rest of the information in the marked court documents must be released pursuant to section 552.022(a)(17).

Next, we address your claim for the remaining information under section 552.108. Section 552.108(a)(1) 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[.]" Id. § 552.108(a)(1). A governmental body must reasonably explain how and why section 552.108 is applicable to the information at issue. See id. § 552.301(e)(1)(A); Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977). You state that the release of the remaining information would interfere with a pending criminal case. Based on your representations, we conclude that section 552.108(a)(1) is generally applicable to the remaining information. See Houston Chronicle Publ'g Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177 (Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975), writ ref'd n.r.e. per curiam, 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976) (court delineates law enforcement interests that are present in active cases).

We note that section 552.108 does not except from disclosure "basic information about an arrested person, an arrest, or a crime." Gov't Code § 552.108(c). Section 552.108(c) refers to the basic front-page information held to be public in Houston Chronicle. See 531 S.W.2d at 186-88; Open Records Decision No. 127 at 3-4 (1976) (summarizing types of information deemed public by Houston Chronicle). As you acknowledge, the city must release basic offense and arrest information, even if the information does not literally appear on the front page of an offense or arrest report. The city may withhold the rest of the submitted information under section 552.108(a)(1).

In summary: (1) except for the marked Texas license plate and vehicle identification numbers, which must be withheld under section 552.130 of the Government Code, the city must release the marked court documents pursuant to section 552.022(a)(17) of the Government Code; and (2) the city may withhold the rest of the submitted information under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code, except for the basic information which you state has been released under section 552.108(c).

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# 376285

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. 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).

2. We note Open Records Decision No. 684 is a previous determination to all governmental bodies authorizing them to withhold ten categories of information, including a Texas license plate number under section 552.130, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision. However, we further note the previous determination is not applicable to vehicle identification numbers. See ORD 684.

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