September 8, 2010

Ms. Tamara R. Jones

Attorney for Allen Independent School District

Thompson & Knight, LLP

One Arts Plaza

1722 Routh Street, Suite 1500

Dallas, Texas 75201-2533

OR2010-13627

Dear Ms. Jones:

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# 397852.

The Allen Independent School District (the "district") received a request for eight categories of information pertaining to full time employees of the district. You state the city will withhold some of the responsive information under section 552.117 of the Government Code pursuant to section 552.024 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ You also state the district has released some of the responsive information to the requestor. 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.

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." Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 552.101 encompasses the doctrine of common-law privacy, which protects information that is (1) highly intimate or embarrassing, such that its release would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person, and (2) not of legitimate concern to the public. See Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668, 685 (Tex. 1976). To demonstrate the applicability of common-law privacy, both prongs of this test must be established. Id. at 681-82. This office has found that personal financial information not related to a financial transaction between an individual and a governmental body is intimate and embarrassing and of no legitimate public interest. See Open Records Decision Nos. 545 (1990) (deferred compensation information, mortgage payments, assets, bills, and credit history protected under common-law privacy), 373 (1983) (sources of income not related to financial transaction between individual and governmental body protected under common-law privacy). Upon review, we agree that the submitted information is highly intimate or embarrassing and not of legitimate public interest. Accordingly, the district must withhold the submitted information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy.

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,

Laura Ream Lemus

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

LRL/eb

Ref: ID# 397852

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Section 552.117(a)(1) of the Government Code excepts from disclosure the home addresses and telephone numbers, social security numbers, and family member information of current or former officials or employees of a governmental body who request that this information be kept confidential under section 552.024 of the Government Code. See Gov't Code §§ 552.117(a)(1), .024(c)(2) (if employee or official or former employee or official chooses not to allow public access to his or her personal information, the governmental body may redact the information without the necessity of requesting a decision from this office).

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