 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
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March 11, 2010 Mr. C. Patrick Phillips Assistant City Attorney City of Fort Worth 1000 Throckmorton Street, 3rd Floor Fort Worth, Texas 76102 OR2010-03528 Dear Mr. Phillips: 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# 372564 (Fort Worth PIR No. 1312-10). The Fort Worth Police Department (the "department") received a request for Incident Report 04074420. You state you will release a portion of the requested information. You state you have redacted social security numbers pursuant to section 552.147 of the Government Code. (1) You also state you have redacted certain Texas motor vehicle record information relating to individuals other than the requestor under section 552.130 of the Government Code pursuant to previous determinations issued to Fort Worth. (2) 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. We have also considered comments submitted by the requestor. See Gov't Code § 552.304 (providing that interested party may submit comments stating why information should or should not be released). Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "[i]nformation 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. The relevant language of section 58.007 of the Family Code 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 Subchapter B, D, and E. ... (e) Law enforcement records and files concerning a child may be inspected or copied by a juvenile justice agency as the term is defined in 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 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). Under section 58.007, juvenile law enforcement records relating to conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997 are confidential. 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). We find that the submitted report involves allegations of juvenile delinquent conduct that occurred after September 1, 1997 and this information would ordinarily be confidential pursuant to section 58.007 of the Family Code. However, section 58.007(e) allows for the review or copy of juvenile law enforcement records by a child's parent or guardian. See id. § 58.007(e). We have found that the requestor in this instance has a right of access to the submitted law enforcement records involving her children. However, before a parent may inspect juvenile records, section 58.007(j)(2) provides that information subject to any other exception to disclosure under the Act or other law must also be redacted. Accordingly, we will address your remaining argument against disclosure of this information. Section 552.101 also encompasses section 261.201 of the Family Code, which provides as follows: (a) [T]he 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 this chapter 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 this chapter or in providing services as a result of an investigation. . . . (k) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), an investigating agency, other than the department or the Texas Youth Commission, on request, shall provide to the parent, managing conservator, or other legal representative of a child who is the subject of reported abuse or neglect, or to the child if the child is at least 18 years of age, information concerning the reported abuse or neglect that would otherwise be confidential under this section. The investigating agency shall withhold information under this subsection if the parent, managing conservator, or other legal representative of the child requesting the information is alleged to have committed the abuse or neglect. Fam. Code § 261.201(a), (k). The submitted report consists of information used or developed in an investigation under chapter 261; therefore, the submitted information is within the scope of section 261.201 of the Family Code. See id. § 261.001(1) (defining "abuse" for purposes of Fam. Code ch. 261); see also id. § 101.003(a) (defining "child" for purposes of this section as person under 18 years of age who is not and has not been married or who has not had the disabilities of minority removed for general purposes). Thus, we find the submitted report is generally confidential under section 261.201 of the Family Code. However, the requestor is also the mother of the child victim listed in the report and is not alleged to have committed the suspected abuse. In this instance, the department may not use section 261.201(a) to withhold the submitted information from this requestor. Id. § 261.201(k). As you raise no further exceptions to disclosure, Incident Report 04074420 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, Andrea L. Caldwell Assistant Attorney General Open Records Division ALC/eeg Ref: ID# 372564 Enc. Submitted documents c: Requestor (w/o enclosures) Footnotes1. 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. 2. See Open Records Letter Nos. 2006-14726 (2006) and 2007-00198 (2007); see also Gov't Code § 552.301(a); Open Records Decision No. 673 at 7-8 (2001). 3. Should the department receive another request for this same information from a person to whom release is not authorized under sections 58.007(e) and 261.201(k) of the Family Code, the department should resubmit these records and request another decision. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301(a), .302.
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