July 19, 2010

Ms. Judith N. Benton

Assistant City Attorney

City of Waco

P.O. Box 2570

Waco, Texas 76702-2570

OR2010-10664

Dear Ms. Benton:

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# 392383 (Waco Ref. # LGL-10-845).

The City of Waco (the "city") received a request for information related to a specified incident. You state you have released some of the requested information. You claim that a portion of the remaining 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.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision," and encompasses information made confidential by other statutes. Gov't Code § 552.101. You have highlighted a telephone number in the submitted CAD record that you seek to withhold under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code. Chapter 772 of the Health and Safety Code relates to local emergency communications districts. Section 772.318 applies to an emergency 9-1-1 district established in accordance with chapter 772, and makes confidential the originating telephone numbers and addresses of 9-1-1 callers that are furnished by a service supplier. See Open Records Decision No. 649 (1996). We understand that the city is part of an emergency communication district that was established under section 772.318. ⁽¹⁾ Accordingly, to the extent the information you have marked is the originating telephone number supplied by a 9-1-1 service supplier, this information must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code. However, to the extent the telephone number was not supplied by a 9-1-1 service supplier, section 772.318 is not applicable to this information and it must be released to the requestor, along with the remaining information.

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# 392383

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Section 772.318 applies to an emergency communication district for a county with a population of more than 20,000.

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