January 4, 2012

Ms. Lillian Guillen Graham

Assistant City Attorney

City of Mesquite

P.O. Box 850137

Mesquite, Texas 75185-0137

OR2012-00146

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# 441145.

The City of Mesquite (the "city") received a request for all rental inspections, environmental code violations, and rental inspection program information, including ordinances for a specified property. ⁽¹⁾ You state you will release some information to the requestor. You claim that the submitted information is 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. This exception encompasses information other statutes make confidential. Section 1702.284 of the Occupations Code provides in part:

(a) Information contained in alarm systems records maintained by a governmental body that concerns the location of an alarm system, the name of the occupant of an alarm system location, or the type of alarm system used is confidential and may be disclosed only to the [Texas Private Security Board], to the alarm company to which the confidential records relate, or as otherwise required by state law or court order.

Occ. Code § 1702.284(a); see id. § 1702.002(1)(A)(ii) (defining "alarm system" as electronic equipment and devices designed to detect or signal the occurrence of a robbery or other emergency). You believe the submitted information may be confidential under section 1702.284(a). You have not demonstrated, however, nor is it otherwise clear to this office that the information at issue is either "contained in alarm systems records" or "concerns the location of an alarm system, the name of the occupant of an alarm system location, or the type of alarm system used." Id. § 1702.284(a). We therefore conclude the city may not withhold any of the submitted information under section 552.101 of the Government Code on the basis of section 1702.284 of the Occupations Code. See Open Records Decision Nos. 658 at 4 (1998) (statutory confidentiality provision must be express, and confidentiality requirement will not be implied from statutory structure), 649 at 3 (1996) (language of confidentiality provision controls scope of its protection). As you have submitted no other arguments against disclosure, the submitted 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,

Nneka Kanu

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

NK/em

Ref: ID# 441145

Enc. Submitted documents

cc: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. You indicate the city sought and received clarification of the request. See Gov't Code § 522.222(b) (stating if information requested is unclear or large amount has been requested, governmental body may ask requestor to clarify or narrow request, but may not inquire into purpose for which information will be used).

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