January 18, 2012

Ms. Donna L. Johnson

Olson & Olson, L.L.P.

2727 Allen Parkway. Suite 600

Houston, Texas 77019

OR2012-00870

Dear Ms. Johnson:

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# 442669 (Ref: SVV-CAL).

The City of Spring Valley Village (the "city"), which you represent, received a request for a recurring report containing information on all traffic cases filed or disposed with the municipal court (the "court") and a one-time historical report containing 3 years of data. ⁽¹⁾ You state the city has released some of the requested information. You claim that the submitted information is not subject to the Act, or, alternatively, is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101, 552.103, 552.108, and 552.130 of the Government Code. We have considered your claims and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information. ⁽²⁾

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," the Act's definition of "governmental body" "does not include the judiciary." Gov't Code §§ 552.002(a)(1), .003(1)(B). 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). The present request is for information maintained by the court. Therefore, we determine the submitted information is not subject to the Act and need not be released in response to this request for information. ⁽³⁾ As we are able to make this determination, we need not address your claimed exceptions to disclosure.

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# 442669

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note the requestor seeks weekly updates of new filings and dispositions. The Act does not require a governmental body to release information that did not exist when it received a request for information, create responsive information, obtain information that is not held by the governmental body or on its behalf, or comply with a standing request to provide information on a periodic basis. See Econ. Opportunities Dev. Corp. v. Bustamante, 562 S.W.2d 266 (Tex. Civ. App.--San Antonio 1978, writ dism'd); Open Records Decision Nos. 605 at 2 (1992), 534 at 2-3 (1989), 518 at 3 (1989), 476 at 1 (1987), 452 at 3 (1986), 362 at 2 (1983).

2. 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.

3. 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 (1992) at 2-3 (public has general right to inspect and copy judicial records), H-826 (1976); Open Records Decision No. 25 (1974).

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