March 21, 2011

Mr. Richard J. Miller

County Attorney

Bell County

P.O. Box 1127

Belton, Texas 76513

OR2011-03845

Dear Mr. Miller:

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# 416350.

The Bell County Attorney's Office (the "county attorney") received a request for information pertaining to a specified incident. You state that the county attorney is releasing some of the requested information. You claim that the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Initially, we note the submitted information contains a document filed with a court, which is expressly public under section 552.022(a)(17) of the Government Code. See Gov't Code § 552.022(a)(17). Such information must be released unless it is expressly confidential under "other law." You claim the court-filed document is excepted from disclosure under section 552.108 of the Government Code. However, section 552.108 is a discretionary exception that protects a governmental body's interests and is, therefore, not "other law" for purposes of section 552.022(a)(17). See Open Records Decision Nos. 665 at 2 n.5 (2000) (discretionary exceptions generally), 586 (1991) (governmental body may waive section 552.108). Therefore, the county attorney may not withhold the court-filed document, which we have marked, under section 552.108 of the Government Code. As no other exceptions against its disclosure are raised, the marked court-filed document must be released to the requestor.

You claim the remaining submitted information is excepted under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code, which 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). Generally, a governmental body claiming section 552.108(a)(1) must reasonably explain how and why the release of the requested information would interfere with law enforcement. See id. §§ 552.108(a)(1), .301(e)(1)(A); see also Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977). We note that the submitted information includes a statutory warning and notice of suspension. Because copies of these documents, which we have marked, have been provided to the arrestee, we find that their release will not interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime. See Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(1). Therefore, the county attorney may not withhold these documents under section 552.108(a)(1). You state that the remaining information relates to an open and pending criminal case. Based upon your representation and our review, we conclude that the release of the remaining information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime. 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). Thus, section 552.108(a)(1) is applicable to the remaining information.

However, basic information about an arrested person, an arrest, or a crime is not excepted from disclosure under section 552.108. Gov't Code § 552.108(c). Such basic information refers to the information held to be public in Houston Chronicle. See 531 S.W.2d at 186-8; see also Open Records Decision No. 127 (1976) (summarizing types of information deemed public by Houston Chronicle). Thus, with the exception of the statutory warning, notice of suspension, and basic information, the county attorney may withhold the remaining information under section 552.108(a)(1).

We note that the statutory warning and the notice of suspension contain information that is subject to section 552.130 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ Section 552.130 provides that information relating to a motor vehicle operator's license or driver's license issued by a Texas agency is excepted from public release. Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1). Upon review, we find the county attorney must withhold the Texas driver's license numbers we have marked in the statutory warning and the notice of suspension under section 552.130 of the Government Code. ⁽²⁾

In summary, the county attorney must release the marked court-filed document subject to section 552.022(a)(17) of the Government Code. With the exception of the statutory warning, notice of suspension, and basic information, the county attorney may withhold the remaining information under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code. ⁽³⁾ The county attorney must withhold the Texas driver's license numbers we have marked in the statutory warning and the notice of suspension under section 552.130 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,

Laura Ream Lemus

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

LRL/tf

Ref: ID# 416350

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 this office issued Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009), a previous determination to all governmental bodies authorizing them to withhold ten categories of information, including Texas driver's license numbers under section 552.130 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

3. We note basic information includes an arrestee's social security number. Section 552.147(b) of the Government Code authorizes a governmental body to redact a living person's social security number from public release without the necessity of requesting a decision from this office under the Act.

POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US
An Equal Employment Opportunity Employer