July 16, 2012

Ms. Ylise Janssen

Senior School Law Attorney

Austin Independent School District

1111 West Sixth Street

Austin, Texas 78703

OR2012-10988

Dear Ms. Janssen:

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# 463614.

The Austin Independent School District (the "district") received a request for (1) the names, home addresses and telephone numbers, and birth dates of all district employees and (2) the names and home addresses of all school board members. You claim some of the requested information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.102 and 552.117 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the information you submitted. ⁽¹⁾

Section 552.102(a) of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information in a personnel file, the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy." Gov't Code § 552.102(a). The Texas Supreme Court has held section 552.102(a) excepts from disclosure the dates of birth of state employees in the payroll database of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. See Tex. Comptroller of Pub. Accounts v. Attorney Gen. of Tex., 354 S.W.3d 336, 348 (Tex. 2010). We agree the district must withhold its employees' birth dates under section 552.102(a) of the Government Code.

Section 552.117(a)(1) of the Government Code excepts from disclosure the home addresses and telephone numbers, emergency contact information, social security numbers, and family member information of current or former officials or employees of a governmental body who timely request confidentiality for these types of information under section 552.024 of the Government Code. See Gov't Code §§ 552.117(a)(1), .024. We note a post office box number is not a "home address" for purposes of section 552.117. ⁽²⁾ We also note section 552.117(a)(1) encompasses an official's or employee's personal cellular telephone number if the official or employee pays for the cellular telephone service with his or her personal funds. See Open Records Decision No. 506 at 5-6 (1988) (statutory predecessor to Gov't Code § 552.117 not applicable to numbers for cellular mobile phones installed in county officials' and employees' private vehicles and intended for official business). Whether a particular item of information is protected by section 552.117(a)(1) must be determined at the time of the governmental body's receipt of the request for the information. See Open Records Decision No. 530 at 5 (1989). Information may only be withheld under section 552.117(a)(1) on behalf of a current or former official or employee who made a request for confidentiality under section 552.024 prior to the date of the governmental body's receipt of the request for the information. Information may not be withheld under section 552.117(a)(1) on behalf of a current or former official or employee who did not timely request confidentiality under section 552.024. Thus, we conclude the district must withhold the requested home addresses and telephone numbers, including employees' cellular telephone numbers to the extent they paid for their cellular telephone service, under section 552.117(a)(1) of the Government Code to the extent the employees and officials concerned timely requested confidentiality for their home addresses and telephone numbers pursuant to section 552.024 of the Government Code. To the extent the employees and officials concerned did not timely request confidentiality, their home addresses and telephone numbers must be released.

In summary, the district must withhold (1) its employees' birth dates under section 552.102(a) of the Government Code and (2) its employees' and officials' home addresses and telephone numbers, including employees' personal cellular telephone numbers to the extent they paid for their cellular telephone service, to the extent the employees and officials concerned timely requested confidentiality for their home addresses and telephone numbers pursuant to section 552.024 of the Government Code. The rest of the requested 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,

James W. Morris, III

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JWM/bhf

Ref: ID# 463614

Enc: Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. This letter ruling assumes the submitted representative sample of information is truly representative of the requested information as a whole. This ruling neither reaches nor authorizes the district to withhold any information that is substantially different from the submitted information. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301(e)(1)(D), .302; Open Records Decision Nos. 499 at 6 (1988), 497 at 4 (1988).

2. See Open Records Decision No. 622 at 4 (1994) (legislative history makes clear that purpose of Gov't Code § 552.117 is to protect public employees from being harassed at home) (citing House Committee on State Affairs, Bill Analysis, H.B. 1976, 69th Leg. (1985); Senate Committee on State Affairs, Bill Analysis, H.B. 1976, 69th Leg. (1985)) (emphasis added).

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