August 23, 2010

Ms. Heather Shankle

Records and Information Specialist

City of Burleson

141 West Renfro

Burleson, Texas 76028-4261

OR2010-12777

Dear Ms. Shankle:

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# 391441 (Burleson PIR No. 269).

The City of Burleson (the "city") received a request for case numbers, formal charges, levels of offenses, disposition dates, and sentence information pertaining to three specified incidents involving a named individual. You state some of the requested information has been released to the requestor. You claim the submitted document is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Initially, we note the submitted document appears to be a record of the Burleson Municipal Court (the "court"). The judiciary is expressly excluded from the requirements of the Act. See Gov't Code §§ 552.003(1)(A), (B) (definition of "governmental body" under Act specifically excludes the judiciary), .021 (Act generally requires disclosure of information maintained by "governmental body"). Information "collected, assembled, or maintained by or for the judiciary" is not subject to the Act but is instead "governed by rules adopted by the Supreme Court of Texas or by other applicable laws and rules." Id. § 552.0035(a); cf. Open Records Decision No. 131 (1976) (applying statutory predecessor to judiciary exclusion under Gov't Code § 552.003(1)(B) prior to enactment of Gov't Code § 552.0035). Accordingly, to the extent the document is maintained solely by the court, it is not subject to the Act and need not be released in response to the present request. However, to the extent the document is also maintained by the city outside of the court, it is subject to the Act. Therefore, we will address your argument against disclosure of the document.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from public disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Id. § 552.101. This section encompasses other statutes that make information confidential, such as section 58.007 of the Family Code. Section 58.007 provides in pertinent part:

(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.

Fam. Code § 58.007(c). Section 58.007 makes confidential law enforcement records relating to a child's delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision that occurred on or after September 1, 1997. Although you assert the submitted document is confidential under section 58.007, in this instance, section 58.007 is inapplicable because the document is not a law enforcement record of a "child" as defined by section 51.02 of the Family Code. A "child" is a person who is:

(A) ten years of age or older and under 17 years of age; or

(B) seventeen years of age or older and under 18 years of age who is alleged or found to have engaged in delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision as a result of acts committed before becoming 17 years of age.

Id. § 51.02(1). The submitted document involves conduct by a seventeen-year-old. Accordingly, section 58.007 of the Family Code is not applicable to the document, and the city may not withhold it under section 552.101 of the Government Code on that basis.

We note the submitted document contains Texas motor vehicle record information that is excepted from disclosure under section 552.130 of the Government Code. Section 552.130 excepts from disclosure information that relates to a motor vehicle operator's license, driver's license, motor vehicle title, or registration issued by a Texas agency. Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1), (2). The city must withhold the Texas driver's license number we marked under section 552.130. ⁽¹⁾ As you raise no further exceptions to disclosure, the remaining information must be released.

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,

Jessica Eales

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JCE/em

Ref: ID# 391441

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note this office recently issued Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009), a previous determination to all governmental bodies authorizing them to withhold ten categories of information, including a Texas driver's license number under section 552.130 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

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