February 15, 2012

Ms. Tiffany N. Evans

Assistant City Attorney

City of Houston

P.O. Box 368

Houston, Texas 77001-0368

OR2012-02354

Dear Ms. Evans:

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# 445508 (GC No. 19165).

The Houston Airport System (the "system") received a request for a listing of all accidents and incidents that occurred at three named airports and the system since January 1, 2006. ⁽¹⁾ You claim the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.103 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information. ⁽²⁾

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from public disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." ⁽³⁾ Gov't Code § 552.101. This exception encompasses information made confidential by other statutes, including federal law. Effective November 19, 2001, Congress enacted the Aviation and Transportation Security Act ("ATSA"), which created the United States Transportation Security Administration ("TSA"), a new agency within the United States Department of Transportation ("DOT") headed by the Under Secretary of Transportation for Security (the "Under Secretary"). See 49 U.S.C. § 114(a), (b)(1). The ATSA provides that, by November 19, 2002, the responsibility for inspecting persons and property carried by aircraft operators and foreign air carriers will be transferred from the Federal Aviation Administration (the "FAA") Administrator to the Under Secretary as head of the TSA. These responsibilities include carrying out the requirements of chapter 449 of title 49 of the United States Code, which pertain to civil aviation security. See id. § 114(d)(1). Section 40119 of title 49, a provision that formerly applied to the FAA Administrator, now states:

Notwithstanding [the Federal Freedom of Information Act (the "FOIA")] and the establishment of a Department of Homeland Security [("DHS")], the [Under Secretary] shall prescribe regulations prohibiting disclosure of information obtained or developed in ensuring security under this title if the [Under Secretary] decides disclosing the information would--

(A) be an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;

(B) reveal a trade secret or privileged or confidential commercial or financial information; or

(C) be detrimental to transportation safety.

Id. § 40119(b)(1). The language of this provision authorizes TSA's Under Secretary to prescribe regulations "prohibiting disclosure of information obtained or developed in ensuring security." Id. It authorizes the Under Secretary to prescribe regulations that prohibit disclosure of information requested not only under the FOIA, but also under other disclosure statutes. Cf. Pub. Citizen, Inc. v. Fed. Aviation Admin., 988 F.2d 186, 194 (D.C. Cir. 1993) (former section 40119 authorized FAA Administrator to prescribe regulations prohibiting disclosure of information under other statutes as well as under FOIA). Thus, the Under Secretary is authorized by section 40119(b)(1) to prescribe regulations that prohibit disclosure of information requested under the Act.

Pursuant to the mandate and authority of section 40119, the DOT's FAA and TSA jointly published new regulations pertaining to civil aviation security, which are found in title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations and which took effect February 17, 2002. See 67 Fed. Reg. 8340. Section 1520.1(a) of these regulations explains that the regulations govern the "maintenance, safeguarding, and disclosure of records and information that TSA has determined to be Sensitive Security Information ["SSI"], as defined in § 1520.5." 49 C.F.R. § 1520.1(a). Section 1520.7 states that the covered persons to which these regulations apply to include, among others, airport operators, such as the system, and "[e]ach person employed by, contracted to, or acting for a covered person[.]" See id. § 1520.7(a), (k). Further, section 1520.7(j) specifies that these regulations apply to "[e]ach person who has access to SSI, as specified in [section] 1520.11." Id. § 1520.7(j). Pursuant to section 1520.11(a), a person has a need to know SSI "[w]hen the person requires access to specific SSI to carry out transportation security activities approved, accepted, funded, recommended, or directed by DHS or DOT." See id. § 1520.11(a). Section 1520.11(b) further states that a local government employee has a need to know SSI if access to the information is necessary for performance of the employee's official duties on behalf or in defense of the interests of the local government. See id. § 1520.11(b)(1). Thus, the regulations in title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations apply to the system.

As to the release of information by persons other than TSA, section 1520.9(a) of title 49 provides in part that a person to which these regulations apply has a duty to protect information, and may disclose SSI "only to covered persons who have a need to know, unless otherwise authorized in writing by TSA, the Coast Guard, or the Secretary of DOT." 49 C.F.R. § 1520.9(a). Section 1520.9(a)(3) of title 49 further provides that those covered by the regulation must "[r]efer requests by other persons for SSI to TSA or the applicable component or agency within DOT or DHS." Id. § 1520.9(a)(3). SSI is defined to include certain information obtained or developed in the conduct of security activities, the disclosure of which TSA has determined would constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy, reveal trade secrets or privileged or confidential information obtained from any person, or be detrimental to the security of transportation. Id. § 1520.5(a). SSI includes, but is not limited to, "identifying information of certain transportation security personnel[,]" "[l]ists of the names or other identifying information that identify persons as- . . . [h]aving unescorted access to a secure area of an airport," and "[a]ny information not otherwise described . . . that TSA determines is SSI under 49 U.S.C. 114(s) or that the Secretary of DOT determines is SSI under 49 U.S.C. 40119." Id. § 1520.5(b).

You state release of the submitted information may be detrimental to the security of transportation and you have referred this matter to the TSA. Based on the statutory and regulatory scheme described above, we conclude the decision to release or withhold the information in question is not for this office or the system to make, but rather is a decision for the Under Secretary as head of the TSA. See English v. Gen. Elec. Co., 496 U.S. 72, 79 (1990) (state law is preempted to extent it actually conflicts with federal law). Therefore, the system may not release any of that information at this time under the Act. Instead, the system must allow the TSA to make a determination concerning disclosure of the information at issue.

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,

Neal Falgoust

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

NF/agn

Ref: ID# 445508

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note the system sought and received clarification of the request. See Gov't Code § 552.222(b) (governmental body may communicate with requestor for purpose of clarifying or narrowing request for information). See also City of Dallas v. Abbott, 304 S.W.3d 380 (Tex. 2010) (holding when a governmental entity, acting in good faith, requests clarification or narrowing of an unclear or overbroad request for public information, the ten-day period to request an attorney general ruling is measured from the date the request is clarified or narrowed).

2. We assume 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 those records contain substantially different types of information than those submitted to this office.

3. The Office of the Attorney General will raise a mandatory exception on behalf of a governmental body but ordinarily will not raise other exceptions. See Open Records Decision Nos. 481 (1987), 480 (1987), 470 (1987).

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