July 11, 2011

Ms. Michelle L. Villarreal

Assistant City Attorney

Legal Services

City of Waco

P.O. Box 2570

Waco, Texas 76702-2570

OR2011-09820

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# 427857 (LG-11-769).

The City of Waco (the "city") received a request for information related to a specified incident. You indicate some responsive information will be released to the requestor. You claim some of the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101 and 552.130 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions 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." Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 552.101 encompasses information made confidential by other statutes. Chapter 772 of the Health and Safety Code authorizes the development of local emergency communications districts. Sections 772.118, 772.218, and 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code are applicable to emergency 9-1-1 districts established in accordance with chapter 772. See Open Records Decision No. 649 (1996). These sections make only the originating telephone numbers and addresses of 9-1-1 callers that are furnished by a service supplier confidential. Id. at 2. Section 772.318 applies to an emergency communication district for a county with a population of more than 20,000. We understand the city to be part of an emergency communication district established under section 772.318.

You have marked a telephone number and address the city seeks to withhold under section 772.318. To the extent the telephone number and address you have marked are the originating telephone number and address provided by a 9-1-1 service supplier, this information must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code. However, to the extent the marked telephone number and address were not supplied by a 9-1-1 service supplier, section 772.318 is not applicable, and this information may not be withheld under this exception.

You have marked information in the remaining records that you claim is subject to section 552.130 of the Government Code. Section 552.130 provides information relating to a motor vehicle operator's license, driver's license, motor vehicle title, or registration issued by an agency of this state, another state, or country is excepted from public release. Act of May 24, 2011, 82^nd Leg., R.S., S.B. 1638, § 4 (to be codified as an amendment to Gov't Code § 552.130). We note, however, the requestor in this instance appears to be the insurance provider for one of the individuals listed in the submitted information. As such, this requestor, if acting as the individual's authorized representative, has a right of access to the insured's marked motor vehicle record information. See Gov't Code § 552.023(a); Open Records Decision No. 481 at 4 (1987) (privacy theories not implicated when an individual or authorized representative asks governmental body to provide information concerning that individual). In this instance, it is not clear this requestor is acting as the individual's authorized representative. Therefore, we must rule conditionally. To the extent the requestor has a right of access under section 552.023 to the insured's motor vehicle record information, the city must release this information to the requestor. To the extent the requestor does not have a right of access under section 552.023, the city must withhold all of the marked motor vehicle record information under section 552.130. ⁽¹⁾

In summary, to the extent the telephone number and address you have marked are the originating telephone number and address provided by a 9-1-1 service supplier, this information must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code. The city must withhold all of the information you have marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code, unless the requestor has a right of access under section 552.023 of the Government Code to the insured's motor vehicle record information. 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,

Ana Carolina Vieira

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

ACV/sdk

Ref: ID# 427857

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. 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 and license plate numbers under section 552.130 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

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