March 22, 2012

Mr. Robert Schell

Assistant Director General Counsel

North Texas Tollway Authority

5900 West Plano Parkway, Suite 100

Plano, Texas 75093

OR2012-04243

Dear Mr. Schell:

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# 448452.

The North Texas Tollway Authority (the "authority") received a request for (1) a record of the current policy governing the issuance and use of free or complimentary toll tags and (2) a full and complete record of all active toll tags which are currently provided at no charge to its user, including the full name of the person, company, or agency to whom the tag is issued, the vehicle's license plate number and description, as well as the toll tag's number, date of issuance, and reason for not charging for its use. You state the authority will release some information to the requestor. You state the authority is withholding certain license plate numbers under section 552.130 of the Government Code pursuant to Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009). ⁽¹⁾ You claim some of the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.136 of the Government Code. ⁽²⁾ We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information. ⁽³⁾

Section 552.136 of the Government Code provides, "[n]otwithstanding any other provision of [the Act], a credit card, debit card, charge card, or access device number that is collected, assembled, or maintained by or for a governmental body is confidential." Gov't Code § 552.136(b). An access device number is one that may be used to "(1) obtain money, goods, services, or another thing of value; or (2) initiate a transfer of funds other than a transfer originated solely by paper instrument." Id. § 552.136(a). Upon review, we agree the authority must withhold the toll tag identification numbers at issue under section 552.136 of the Government Code. The authority must release the remaining information.

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/ag

Ref: ID# 448452

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Open Records Decision No. 684 is a previous determination to all governmental bodies authorizing them to withhold ten categories of information, including Texas license plate numbers under section 552.130 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

2. Although you also raise section 552.101 of the Government Code, you have submitted no arguments sufficient to demonstrate the applicability of that exception. Therefore, this decision will not address section 552.101. See Gov't Code § 552.301(e)(1)(A) (governmental body must submit written comments stating reasons why claimed exceptions apply to information at issue).

3. We assume the "representative sample" of information 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.

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