September 20, 2010

Ms. Michelle Villarreal

Assistant City Attorney

City of Waco - Legal Services

P.O. Box 2570

Waco, Texas 76702-2570

OR2010-14188

Dear Ms. Villarreal:

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# 398789 (LGL-10-1143).

The Waco Police Department (the "department") received a request for information pertaining to a specified accident. You indicate the department is releasing some of the requested information. You claim that a portion 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 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). The City of Waco is part of an emergency communication district that was established under section 772.318. ⁽¹⁾ Provided that the information you have highlighted consists of an originating telephone number furnished by a 9-1-1 service supplier, we agree that the department must withhold the highlighted information under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code. As you raise no further exceptions to its disclosure, the remaining submitted 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,

Paige Lay

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

PL/eeg

Ref: ID# 398789

Enc. Submitted documents

cc: 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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