November 19, 2010

Mr. Troy D. Walker

Assistant District Attorney

220^th Judicial District

P.O. Box 368

Meridian, Texas 76665

OR2010-17561

Dear Mr. Walker:

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# 401057.

The District Attorney for the 220^th Judicial District (the "district attorney") received a request for information pertaining to prosecution results for a particular penal code section for a specified time period. ⁽¹⁾ You claim that compiling the requested information would be too burdensome. We have considered your argument.

Initially, you state that the request is "too global in nature and can not be reasonably attained." Thus, we understand you to assert that the request would be too time consuming or burdensome. We note, however, that the administrative inconvenience of providing public records to a requestor in response to an open records request does not constitute sufficient grounds for denying such a request. See Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668, 687 (Tex. 1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 931 (1977). You additionally assert that this open records request would require the creation of a new document. We note the Act does not require a governmental body that receives a request for information to create information that did not exist when the request was received. See Econ. Opportunities Dev. Corp. v. Bustamante, 562 S.W.2d 266 (Tex. Civ. App.--San Antonio 1978, writ dism'd); Open Records Decisions Nos. 605 at 2 (1992), 563 at 8 (1990), 555 at 1-2 (1990). However, a governmental body must make a good faith effort to relate a request to information which it holds. See Open Records Decision No. 561 at 8 (1990). We therefore find that the district attorney may not refuse to comply with any portion of this request on the basis that doing so would be burdensome.

Section 552.301 of the Government Code prescribes the procedures that a governmental body must follow in asking this office to decide whether requested information is excepted from public disclosure. Pursuant to section 552.301(b), a governmental body must ask for a decision from this office and state the exceptions that apply within ten business days of receiving the written request. Gov't Code § 552.301(b). Pursuant to section 552.301(e) of the Government Code, the governmental body is required to submit to this office within fifteen business days of receiving the request (1) general written comments stating the reasons why the stated exceptions apply that would allow the information to be withheld, (2) a copy of the written request for information, (3) a signed statement or sufficient evidence showing the date the governmental body received the written request, and (4) a copy of the specific information requested or representative samples, labeled to indicate which exceptions apply to which parts of the documents. Id. § 552.301(e). As of the date of this letter, you have not stated the exceptions that apply to the submitted information, nor have you submitted to this office a copy of the written request for information or a copy or representative sample of the information requested. Consequently, we find the district attorney failed to comply with the procedural requirements of section 552.301.

Pursuant to section 552.302 of the Government Code, a governmental body's failure to comply with the requirements of section 552.301 results in the legal presumption that the requested information is public and must be released unless the governmental body demonstrates a compelling reason to withhold the information from disclosure. See id. § 552.302; Simmons v. Kuzmich, 166 S.W.3d 342, 350 (Tex. App.--Fort Worth 2005, no pet.); Hancock v. State Bd. of Ins., 797 S.W.2d 379, 381 (Tex. App.--Austin 1990, no writ); see also Open Records Decision No. 630 (1994). A compelling reason exists when third-party interests are at stake or when information is confidential by law. Open Records Decision No. 150 (1977). As you raise no exceptions to disclosure, the requested information must be released. If you believe the information is confidential and may not lawfully be released, you must challenge this ruling in court pursuant to section 552.324 of the Government Code.

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,

Jonathan Miles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JM/eeg

Ref: ID# 401057

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. As you did not submit a copy of the request, we take our description from your brief.

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