February 8, 2012

Mr. Hyattye O. Simmons

General Counsel

Dallas Area Rapid Transit

P.O. Box 660163

Dallas, Texas 75266-0163

OR2012-01982

Dear Mr. Simmons:

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# 448957 (ORR 8753).

Dallas Area Rapid Transit ("DART") received a request for information related to the employment status of a named officer and the reason for his termination. You state some of the requested information has been released. You claim some of the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.102 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the information you submitted.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." ⁽¹⁾ Gov't Code § 552.101. This exception encompasses information other statutes make confidential. In this instance, the information at issue is an F-5 form ("Report of Separation of Licensee") submitted to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education ("TCLEOSE") under subchapter J of chapter 1701 of the Occupations Code. Section 1701.454 of the Occupations Code governs the public availability of an F-5 form and provides as follows:

(a) A report or statement submitted to [TCLEOSE] under this subchapter is confidential and is not subject to disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code, unless the person resigned or was terminated due to substantiated incidents of excessive force or violations of the law other than traffic offenses.

(b) Except as provided by this subchapter, a [TCLEOSE] member or other person may not release the contents of a report or statement submitted under this subchapter.

Occ. Code § 1701.454. The submitted F-5 form does not appear to be subject to release under the statute. We therefore conclude DART must withhold the F-5 form in its entirety under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 1701.454 of the Occupations Code. As we are able to make this determination, we need not address your claim under section 552.102 of the Government Code.

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,

James W. Morris, III

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JWM/em

Ref: ID# 448957

Enc: Submitted document

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. This office will raise section 552.101 on behalf of a governmental body, as this section is a mandatory exception to disclosure. See Gov't Code §§ 552.007, .352; Open Records Decision No. 674 at 3 n.4 (2001) (mandatory exceptions).

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