April 13, 2010

Ms. Amanda McCrory

City Secretary

City of Burleson

141 West Renfro

Burleson, Texas 76028-5400

OR2010-05204

Dear Ms. McCrory:

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# 376622 (PIR #136).

The City of Burleson (the "city") received a request for water bills for a specified address over a specified time period. You state that the city has released some of the requested information. You claim that portions of the submitted information are excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception 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. Section 182.052 of the Utilities Code provides in relevant part the following:

(a) Except as provided by Section 182.054, a government-operated utility may not disclose personal information in a customer's account record, or any information relating to the volume or units of utility usage or the amounts billed to or collected from the individual for utility usage, if the customer requests that the government-operated utility keep the information confidential. However, a government-operated utility may disclose information related to the customer's volume or units of utility usage or amounts billed to or collected from the individual for utility usage if the primary source of water for such utility was a sole-source designated aquifer.

(b) A customer may request confidentiality by delivering to the government-operated utility an appropriately marked form provided under Subsection (c)(3) or any other written request for confidentiality.

Util. Code § 182.052(a)-(b). "Personal information" under section 182.052(a) of the Utilities Code means an individual's address, telephone number, and social security number. Id. § 182.051(4); see also Open Records Decision No. 625 (1994) (construing statutory predecessor). We note that a customer's name is not included in the definition of personal information, and therefore is not confidential under section 182.052. Section 182.054 of the Utilities Code provides six exceptions to the disclosure prohibition found in section 182.052. See Util. Code § 182.054.

You indicate that the customers whose information is at issue timely requested confidentiality for their personal information under section 182.052. You do not indicate that any of the exceptions to confidentiality under section 182.054 apply in this instance. Therefore, the information we have marked is confidential under section 182.052 of the Utilities Code and must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code. However, the remaining information you have marked does not constitute personal information or information relating to the volume or units of utility usage or the amounts billed to or collected from the individual for utility usage. Thus, the city may not withhold any of the remaining information under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 182.052. The remaining information must be released to the requestor.

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,

Christopher D. Sterner

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CDSA/eeg

Ref: ID# 376622

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US
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