October 20, 2011

Ms. Lillian Guillen Graham

Assistant City Attorney

City of Mesquite

P.O. Box 850137

Mesquite, Texas 75185-0137

OR2011-15381

Dear Ms. Graham:

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# 434179.

The Mesquite Police Department (the "department") received three requests from three different requestors for a specified call sheet and incident report. You state you will redact motor vehicle information from the requested information pursuant to Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009). ⁽¹⁾ You claim 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. This section encompasses information protected by other statutes, such as section 58.007 of the Family Code which provides in relevant part:

(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), law enforcement records and files concerning a child and information stored, by electronic means or otherwise, concerning the child from which a record or file could be generated may not be disclosed to the public and shall be:

(1) if maintained on paper or microfilm, kept separate from adult files and records;

(2) if maintained electronically in the same computer system as records or files relating to adults, be accessible under controls that are separate and distinct from controls to access electronic data concerning adults; and

(3) maintained on a local basis only and not sent to a central state or federal depository, except as provided by Subchapters B, D, and E.

Id. § 58.007(c). Juvenile law enforcement records relating to delinquent conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997 are confidential under section 58.007(c). See id. § 51.03(a) (defining "delinquent conduct"). For purposes of section 58.007(c), a "child" is a person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age. See id. § 51.02(2). The submitted information involves a child allegedly engaged in delinquent conduct that occurred after September 1, 1997. You do not indicate, nor does it appear, that any of the exceptions in section 58.007 apply to this information. Thus, the submitted information is confidential in its entirety pursuant to section 58.007(c) of the Family Code, and the department must withhold it under section 552.101 of the Government Code. ⁽²⁾

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,

Jonathan Miles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JM/em

Ref: ID# 434179

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestors

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Open Records Decision No. 684 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, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision. However, on September 1, 2011, the Texas legislature amended section 552.130 to allow a governmental body to redact the information described in subsections 552.130(a)(1) and (a)(3) without the necessity of seeking a decision from the attorney general. See Act of May 30, 2011, 82^nd Leg., R.S., S.B. 602, § 22 (to be codified at Gov't Code § 552.130(c)). If a governmental body redacts such information, it must notify the requestor in accordance with section 552.130(e). See Act of May 30, 2011, 82^nd Leg., R.S., S.B. 602, § 22 (to be codified at Gov't Code § 552.130(d), (e)). Thus, the statutory amendments to section 552.130 of the Government Code supercede Open Records Decision No. 684 on September 1, 2011. Therefore, a governmental body may only redact information subject to subsections 552.130(a)(1) and (a)(3) in accordance with section 552.130, not Open Records Decision No. 684.

2. As our ruling is dispositive, we need not address your remaining arguments.

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