March 18, 2010

Ms. Jordan Hale

Assistant Attorney General

Assistant Public Information Coordinator

General Counsel Division

Office of the Attorney General

P.O. Box 12548

Austin, Texas 78711-2548

OR2010-03856

Dear Ms. Hale:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 375308 (PIR No. 10-27097).

The Office of the Attorney General (the "OAG") received a request for information pertaining to offense report number 070325. The OAG argues the information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.132 of the Government Code. We have considered the OAG's claimed exception and have reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.132 of the Government Code provides in pertinent part as follows:

(a)  . . ., in this section, "crime victim or claimant" means a victim or claimant under Subchapter B, Chapter 56, Code of Criminal Procedure, who has filed an application for compensation under that subchapter.

(b)  The following information held by the crime victim's compensation division of the attorney general's office is confidential:

(1)  the name, social security number, address, or telephone number of a crime victim or claimant; or

(2) any other information the disclosure of which would identify or tend to identify the crime victim or claimant.

Gov't Code § 552.132. Generally, the OAG would only be allowed to withhold the claimant's identifying information from public disclosure. In this instance, however, because the requestor knows the identity of the claimant, withholding only the identifying information would not effectuate the purpose of the statute. Accordingly, we agree the OAG must withhold the submitted information pursuant to section 552.132 of the Government Code.

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,

Yen-Ha Le

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

YHL/sdk

Ref: ID# 375308

Enc: Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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