February 24, 2012

Ms. Lillian Guillen Graham

Assistant City Attorney

City of Mesquite

P.O. Box 850137

Mesquite, Texas 75185-0137

OR2012-02849

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# 446343.

The Mesquite Police Department (the "department") received a request for a specified arrest report. You claim the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101 and 552.130 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions 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 federal and state laws that make criminal history record information ("CHRI") confidential. CHRI generated by the National Crime Information Center or the Texas Crime Information Center is confidential under federal and state law. CHRI means "information collected about a person by a criminal justice agency that consists of identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions, indictments, informations, and other formal criminal charges and their dispositions." Id. § 411.082(2). Federal law governs the dissemination of CHRI obtained from the National Crime Information Center network. Federal regulations prohibit the release to the general public of CHRI maintained in state and local CHRI systems. See 28 C.F.R. § 20.21(c)(1) ("Use of criminal history record information disseminated to noncriminal justice agencies shall be limited to the purpose for which it was given.") and (c)(2) ("No agency or individual shall confirm the existence or nonexistence of criminal history record information to any person or agency that would not be eligible to receive the information itself."). The federal regulations allow each state to follow its own individual law with respect to CHRI that it generates. See Open Records Decision No. 565 at 10-12 (1990); see generally Gov't Code ch. 411 subch. F. Although sections 411.083(b)(1) and 411.089(a) of the Government Code authorize a criminal justice agency to obtain CHRI, a criminal justice agency may not release CHRI except to another criminal justice agency for a criminal justice purpose. See id. § 411.089(b). We understand the information you marked to be CHRI the department obtained from the National Crime Information Center or the Texas Crime Information Center. Thus, we agree the department must withhold the marked information from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with chapter 411 of the Government Code and federal law. ⁽¹⁾

Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure information related to a motor vehicle title or registration issued by an agency of this state or another state or county. Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(2). You state the license plate number you have marked is subject to section 552.130. However, we note section 552.130 protects personal privacy. In this instance, it is not clear whether the information at issue belongs to the requestor. As such, the requestor may have a right of access to this marked information, and we must rule conditionally. See id. § 552.023(b) (governmental body may not deny access to person to whom information relates on ground that information is considered confidential by privacy principles); Open Records Decision No. 481 at 4 (1987) (privacy theories not implicated when individuals request information concerning themselves). To the extent the requestor has a right of access under section 552.023 to the marked license plate number, the department must release this information to the requestor. To the extent the requestor does not have a right of access under section 552.023, the department must withhold the marked license plate number under section 552.130 of the Government Code.

In summary, the department must withhold the information you have marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with chapter 411 of the Government Code and federal law. To the extent the requestor has a right of access under section 552.023 of the Government Code to the marked license plate number, the department must release this information to the requestor. To the extent the requestor does not have a right of access under section 552.023, the department must withhold the marked license plate number under section 552.130 of the Government Code. The department must release the remaining information. ⁽²⁾

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,

Sean Nottingham

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

SN/eb

Ref: ID# 446343

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. As our ruling is dispositive, we need not address your remaining argument against disclosure of this information.

2. We note the information to be released includes the requestor's driver's license number, which the department would be required to withhold from the general public under section 552.130(a)(1) of the Government Code. As previously noted, because section 552.130 protects personal privacy, the requestor has a right of access to his driver's license number under section 552.023 of the Government Code. See Gov't Code § 552.023(a). We note section 552.130(c) of the Government Code authorizes a governmental body to redact information protected by section 552.130(a)(1) without the necessity of requesting a decision under the Act. See id. § 552.130(c). Thus, if the department receives another request for this same information from a person who would not have a right of access to the present requestor's driver's license number, section 552.130(c) authorizes the department to redact his driver's license number.

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