December 14, 2011

Ms. Janet I. Monteros

Assistant County Attorney

El Paso County

500 East San Antonio, Room 503

El Paso, Texas 79901

OR2011-18443

Dear Ms. Monteros:

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# 444739 (CA-OP-11458).

The El Paso County Justices of the Peace (the "justices of the peace"), which you represent, received a request for information related to all persons receiving citations during a given time period. You claim the requested information is not public information subject to the Act. We have considered your claim.

Although the Act is applicable to information "collected, assembled, or maintained under a law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by a governmental body," Gov't Code § 552.002(a)(1), the Act's definition of "governmental body" "does not include the judiciary." Id. § 552.003(1)(B). A justice of the peace is a member of the judiciary. See Tex. Const. Art. V; Open Records Decision No. 25 (1974). Information "collected, assembled, or maintained by or for the judiciary" is not subject to the Act but instead is "governed by rules adopted by the Supreme Court of Texas or by other applicable laws and rules." Id. § 552.0035(a); cf. Open Records Decision No. 131 (1976) (applying statutory predecessor to judiciary exclusion under Gov't Code § 552.003(1)(B) prior to enactment of Gov't Code § 552.0035). You state the submitted information is maintained by the justices of the peace. Based on your representation, we agree the requested information is not subject to the Act and need not be released in response to this request for information. ⁽¹⁾

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,

Cindy Nettles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CN/dls

Ref: ID# 444739

No enclosures

c: Requestor

Footnotes

1. We note records of the judiciary may be public under other sources of law. See Gov't Code § 29.007(d)(4) (complaints filed with municipal court clerk); id. § 29.007(f) (municipal court clerks shall perform duties prescribed by law for county court clerk); Local Gov't Code § 191.006 (records belonging to office of county clerk shall be open to public unless access restricted by law or court order); see also Star-Telegram, Inc. v. Walker, 834 S.W.2d 54, 57 (Tex. 1992) (documents filed with courts are generally considered public and must be released); Attorney General Opinions DM-166 at 2-3 (1992) (public has general right to inspect and copy judicial records), H-826 (1976); ORD 25.

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