July 18, 2012

Mr. David C. Schulze

Interim General Counsel

Dallas Area Rapid Transit

P.O. Box 660163

Dallas, Texas 75266-0163

OR2012-11149

Dear Mr. Schulze:

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# 459560 (DART ORR# 8999).

Dallas Area Rapid Transit ("DART") received a request for the police report related to a specified accident. 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 information.

Initially, we note the submitted information is subject to section 552.022 of the Government Code. This section provides, in pertinent part:

(a) Without limiting the amount or kind of information that is public information under this chapter, the following categories of information are public information and not excepted from required disclosure unless made confidential under this chapter or other law:

(1) a completed report, audit, evaluation, or investigation made of, for, or by a governmental body, except as provided by Section 552.108[.]

Gov't Code § 552.022(a)(1). In this instance, the submitted information consists of a completed police report. Accordingly, the submitted information is subject to subsection 552.022(a)(1) of the Government Code. You argue this information is excepted from disclosure by section 552.103 of the Government Code. Section 552.103 is a discretionary exception to disclosure that protects a governmental body's interests and may be waived. See Dallas Area Rapid Transit v. Dallas Morning News, 4 S.W.3d 469, 475-76 (Tex. App.--Dallas 1999, no pet.) (governmental body may waive Gov't Code § 552.103); Open Records Decision Nos. 665 at 2 n.5 (2000) (discretionary exceptions generally), 663 at 5 (1999) (waiver of discretionary exceptions). As such, section 552.103 does not make information confidential for the purposes of section 552.022(a)(1). Therefore, none of the submitted information may be withheld under section 552.103 of the Government Code. However, we note a portion of the submitted information is subject to section 552.130 of the Government Code, which makes information confidential under the Act. ⁽¹⁾ Therefore, we will address the applicability of section 552.130.

Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information [that] relates to (1) a motor vehicle operator's or driver's license or permit issued by an agency of this state or another state or country[.]" Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1). Upon review, we find DART must withhold the driver's license number we have marked in the submitted information under section 552.130 of the Government Code. As you raise no further exceptions, the remaining information must be released. ⁽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,

Jonathan Miles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JM/bhf

Ref: ID# 459560

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

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

2. We note this requestor has a special right of access under section 552.023 of the Government Code to some of the information being released. See id. § 552.023. Therefore, if DART receives another request for this information from a person who does not have a special right of access, DART should resubmit this same information and request another decision from this office. See id. §§ 552.301(a), .302; Open Records Decision No. 673 (2001).

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