April 3, 2012

Mr. John Knight

Deputy City Attorney

City of Denton

215 East McKinney

Denton, Texas 76201

OR2012-04804

Dear Mr. Knight:

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# 449649.

The City of Denton (the "city") received a request for a specified bid tabulation sheet. You claim that the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

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." Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 552.101 encompasses information that another statute makes confidential. You raise section 552.101 in conjunction with section 252.049 of the Local Government Code, which provides as follows:

(a) Trade secrets and confidential information in competitive sealed bids are not open for public inspection.

(b) If provided in a request for proposals, proposals shall be opened in a manner that avoids disclosure of the contents to competing offerors and keeps the proposals secret during negotiations. All proposals are open for public inspection after the contract is awarded, but trade secrets and confidential information in the proposals are not open for public inspection.

Local Gov't Code § 252.049. This statutory provision merely duplicates the protection that section 552.110 of the Government Code provides to trade secret and commercial or financial information. The city does not assert, nor has it provided any arguments establishing, that any of the submitted information qualifies as either a trade secret or as confidential commercial or financial information for purposes of section 552.110. See Gov't Code § 552.110(a)-(b). Therefore, the city may not withhold any of the submitted information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 252.049 of the Local Government Code. As no further exceptions to disclosure are raised, the submitted information must be released.

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,

Sarah Casterline

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

SEC/som

Ref: ID# 449649

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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