December 21, 2010

Ms. Judith N. Benton

Assistant City Attorney

City of Waco

P.O. Box 2570

Waco, Texas 76702-2570

OR2010-19207

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# 408451 (LGL-10-1640).

The City of Waco (the "city") received a request for information relating to a specified arrest. You inform us some of the requested information has been released. You claim the rest of the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the information you submitted.

We note the submitted information includes the results of an analysis of a breath specimen. Section 724.018 of the Transportation Code provides that upon the request of the person who has given a specimen at the request of a peace officer, full information concerning the analysis of the specimen must be made available to that person or the person's attorney. Although you seek to withhold the results of the analysis of the breath specimen under section 552.108 of the Government Code, as a general rule the exceptions to disclosure found in the Act do not apply to information that other statutes make public. See Open Records Decision Nos. 623 at 3 (1994), 525 at 3 (1989). Therefore, if the requestor is acting on behalf of the person who gave the breath specimen at the request of a peace officer, then the submitted results of the analysis of the breath specimen must be released to this requestor pursuant to section 724.018 of the Transportation Code. If the requestor is not acting on behalf of the person who gave the specimen, then the city must dispose of the results of the analysis of the breath specimen in accordance with the rest of this decision.

Section 552.108 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "[i]nformation held by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime . . . if . . . release of the information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime[.]" Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(1). A governmental body must reasonably explain how and why section552.108 is applicable to the information at issue. See id. § 552.301(e)(1)(A); Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977). You indicate the information at issue is related to a pending criminal prosecution. Based on your representations, we conclude section 552.108(a)(1) is applicable in this instance. See Houston Chronicle Publ'g Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177 (Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975) (court delineates law enforcement interests that are present in active cases), writ ref'd n.r.e. per curiam, 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976).

We note the information at issue includes a statutory warning and a notice of suspension. Because copies of those documents are provided to the person who is the subject of the warning and the notice, we find the release of the statutory warning and the notice of suspension will not interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime. See Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(1). Therefore, the statutory warning and the notice of suspension, which we have marked, may not be withheld under section 552.108.

We also note section 552.108 does not except from disclosure "basic information about an arrested person, an arrest, or a crime." Id. § 552.108(c). Section 552.108(c) refers to the basic front-page information held to be public in Houston Chronicle. See 531 S.W.2d at 186-88. The city must release basic offense and arrest information, including a detailed description of the offense from the narrative portion of the submitted police report. See Open Records Decision No. 127 at 3-4 (1976) (summarizing types of information deemed public by Houston Chronicle). Except for basic information, the statutory warning, and the notice of suspension, the city may withhold the information at issue under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code, including the results of the analysis of the breath specimen if the requestor is not acting on behalf of the person who gave the specimen.

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,

James W. Morris, III

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JWM/dls

Ref: ID# 408451

Enc: Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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