December 19, 2011

Mr. B. Chase Griffith

For the City of Flower Mound

Brown & Hofmeister, L.L.P.

740 East Campbell Road, Suite 800

Richardson, Texas 75081

OR2011-18676

Dear Mr. Griffith:

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# 439460.

The Town of Flower Mound (the "town") received a request for records pertaining to a specified incident. You claim portions of the submitted information are excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception 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 protected by other statutes. Juvenile law enforcement records relating to conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997, are confidential under section 58.007(c) of the Family Code. This section provides as follows:

(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.

. . .

(e) Law enforcement records and files concerning a child may be inspected or copied by a juvenile justice agency as that term is defined by Section 58.101, a criminal justice agency as that term is defined by Section 411.082, Government Code, the child, and the child's parent or guardian.

. . .

(j) Before a child or a child's parent or guardian may inspect or copy a record or file concerning the child under Subsection (e), the custodian of the record or file shall redact:

(1) any personally identifiable information about a juvenile suspect, offender, victim, or witness who is not the child; and

(2) any information that is excepted from required disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code, or other law.

Fam. Code § 58.007(c), (e), (j). Upon review, we agree the submitted information consists of a law enforcement record of juveniles engaged in delinquent conduct after September 1, 1997. See id. §§ 51.02(2) (for purposes of section 58.007, "child" means person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age), .03(a) (defining "delinquent conduct" for purposes of section 58.007). In this instance, however, you acknowledge the requestor is one of the juvenile suspects listed in this information. Thus, pursuant to section 58.007(e), the town may not withhold this information from the requestor under section 58.007(c). See id. § 58.007(e). However, personally identifiable information concerning any other juvenile suspects, offenders, victims, or witnesses must be redacted under section 58.007(j)(1). See id. §58.007(j)(1). Therefore, the town must withhold the identifying information of the remaining juveniles listed in the report, which we have marked, under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 58.007(j)(1). Furthermore, section 58.007(j)(2) protects information that is excepted from required disclosure under the Act or other law. See id. § 58.007(j)(2). We note portions of the remaining information are subject to section 552.130 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ Accordingly, we will address the applicability of section 552.130 to this information.

Section 552.130 of the Government Code 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 or another state or country is excepted from public release. See Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1)-(2). Upon review, the town must withhold the driver's license and motor vehicle record information we have marked under section 552.130. ⁽²⁾

In summary, the town must withhold the identifying information of the juveniles we marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(j)(1) of the Family Code. The town also must withhold the driver's license and motor vehicle record information we marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code. The remaining information must be released to the requestor. ⁽³⁾

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,

Kenneth Leland Conyer

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

KLC/agn

Ref: ID# 439460

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. The Office of the Attorney General will raise mandatory exceptions 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 a Texas license plate number under section 552.130 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

3. We note the information being released contains a social security number that is not the requestor's. 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. See Gov't Code § 552.147(b). We also note the requestor has a special right of access under section 58.007(e) of the Family Code to the information being released. See Fam. Code § 58.007(e). Accordingly, if the town receives another request for this information from a different requestor, then the town should again seek a decision from this office. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301, .302; Open Records Decision No. 673 (2001).

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