February 28, 2011

Ms. Molly Shortall

Assistant City Attorney

City of Arlington

P.O. Box 90231

Arlington, Texas 76004-3231

OR2011-02890

Dear Ms. Shortall:

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# 410235.

The City of Arlington (the "city") received a request for information related to a specified accident, including dash camera video, the call/emergency response log, and the results from DWI tests. You claim that the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.103 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Initially, we note the submitted information pertains to a completed investigation, which is subject to section 552.022(a)(1) of the Government Code. Section 552.022(a)(1) provides for the required public disclosure of "a completed report, audit, evaluation, or investigation made of, for, or by a governmental body, except as provided by Section 552.108." Gov't Code § 552.022(a)(1). Pursuant to section 552.022(a)(1), a completed investigation is expressly public unless it is either excepted under 552.108 of the Government Code or is expressly confidential under other law. Although you raise section 552.103 of the Government Code, section 552.103 is a discretionary exception to disclosure that protects a governmental body's interests and may be waived. See id. § 552.007; Dallas Area Rapid Transit v. Dallas Morning News, 4 S.W.3d 469, 475-76 (Tex. App.--Dallas 1999, no pet.) (governmental body may waive section 552.103); Open Records Decision Nos. 665 at 2 n.5 (discretionary exceptions generally), 663 (1999) (governmental body may waive section 552.103). As such, section 552.103 is not "other law" that makes information confidential for the purposes of section 552.022. Therefore, the city may not withhold the submitted information under section 552.103 of the Government Code. However, we will address the applicability of section 552.130 of the Government Code to a portion of the submitted information. ⁽¹⁾

Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from public disclosure information that relates to a Texas motor vehicle operator's or driver's license or permit or Texas motor vehicle title or registration. Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1), (2). Accordingly, the city must withhold the Texas license plate number we have marked under section 552.130. ⁽²⁾ 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,

Andrea L. Caldwell

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

ALC/eeg

Ref: ID# 410235

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. The Office of the Attorney General will raise a mandatory exception on behalf of a governmental body, but ordinarily will not raise other exceptions. See Open Records Decision Nos. 481 (1987), 480 (1987), 470 (1987).

2. We note Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009) is a previous determination to all governmental bodies authorizing them to withhold ten categories of information, including Texas license plate numbers under section 552.130 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

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