July 13, 2011

Mr. Warren M. S. Ernst

Chief of the General Counsel Division

City of Dallas

1500 Marilla Street, Room 7DN

Dallas, Texas 75201

OR2011-09956

Dear Mr. Ernst:

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# 423638.

The City of Dallas (the "city") received a request for data recorded in city databases derived from Department of Code Enforcement form CCS-FRM-274 Multi-Tenant Registration Application. You state most of the requested information will be made available to the requestor. You claim portions of the submitted information are excepted from disclosure under sections 552.127, 552.130, and 552.137 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information. ⁽¹⁾

Section 552.127 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure information that "identifies a person as a participant in a neighborhood crime watch organization and relates to the name, home address, business address, home telephone number, or business telephone number of the person." Gov't Code § 552.127(a); see also id. § 552.127(b) (defining "neighborhood crime watch organization"). You state a portion of the submitted information identifies an individual who is a member of a neighborhood crime watch organization. Based on your representation, we find the city must withhold the information you have marked under section 552.127 of the Government Code.

Section 552.130 of the Government Code provides in relevant part:

(a) Information is excepted from the requirements of Section 552.021 if the information relates to:

(1) a motor vehicle operator's or driver's license or permit issued by an agency of this state or another state or country[.]

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). You must withhold the driver's license numbers you have marked under section 552.130.

Section 552.137 of the Government Code from disclosure "an e-mail address of a member of the public that is provided for the purpose of communicating electronically with a governmental body" unless the member of the public consents to its release or the e-mail address is of a type specifically excluded by subsection (c). See Gov't Code § 552.137(a)-(c). The e-mail address at issue does not appear to be of a type specifically excluded by section 552.137(c). You do not inform us that a member of the public has affirmatively consented to the release of the marked e-mail address. Therefore, we agree the city must withhold the e-mail address you have marked under section 552.137.

In summary, the city must withhold the information you have marked under sections 552.127, 552.130, and 552.137 of the Government Code. ⁽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,

Jennifer Luttrall

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JL/dls

Ref: ID# 423638

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We assume that the "representative sample" of records submitted to this office is truly representative of the requested records as a whole. See Open Records Decision Nos. 499 (1988), 497 (1988). This open records letter does not reach, and therefore does not authorize the withholding of, any other requested records to the extent that those records contain substantially different types of information than that submitted to this office.

2. Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009) is 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 and the e-mail address of a member of the public under section 552.137 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

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