November 13, 2012

Ms. LeAnn M. Quinn

City Secretary

City of Cedar Park

450 Cypress Creek Road

Cedar Park, Texas 78613

OR2012-18234

Dear Ms. Quinn:

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# 474905 (Ref. No. 13-034).

The Cedar Park Police Department (the "department") received a request for case number 1209-0296. You claim some of the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101, 552.108, 552.130, 552.136, and 552.147 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

You seek to withhold Exhibit D under section 552.101 of the Government Code, which excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision" and encompasses information made confidential by statute. Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 550.065(b) of the Transportation Code states that except as provided by subsection (c), accident reports are privileged and confidential. See Transp. Code § 550.065. Section 550.065(c)(4) provides for the release of accident reports to a person who provides two of the following three pieces of information: (1) date of the accident; (2) name of any person involved in the accident; and (3) specific location of the accident. Id. § 550.065(c)(4). Under this provision, a governmental entity is required to release a copy of an accident report to a person who provides two or more pieces of information specified by the statute. Id. In this instance, the requestor has provided the department with the requisite information for the CR-3 crash report. Accordingly, the department must release Exhibit D to the requestor.

Section 552.108 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "[i]nformation held by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime . . . if . . . release of the information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime[.]" Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(1). A governmental body must reasonably explain how and why section 552.108 is applicable to the information at issue. See id. § 552.301(e)(1)(A); Ex parte Pruitt, 551 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1977). You state the information submitted as Exhibit C is related to a pending criminal investigation. Based on your representation and our review, we conclude the department may withhold Exhibit C under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ See Houston Chronicle Publ'g Co. v. Department of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177 (Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1975) (court delineates law enforcement interests present in active cases), writ ref'd n.r.e. per curiam, 536 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1976).

Section 552.101 of the Government Code also encompasses common-law privacy, which protects information that is highly intimate or embarrassing, such that its release would be highly objectionable to a person of ordinary sensibilities, and of no legitimate public interest. See Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668, 685 (Tex. 1976). Personal financial information related only to an individual ordinarily satisfies the first element of the common-law privacy test, but the public has a legitimate interest in the essential facts about a financial transaction between an individual and a governmental body. See Open Records Decision Nos. 600 at 9-12 (1992) (identifying public and private portions of certain state personnel records), 545 at 4 (1990) (attorney general has found kinds of financial information not excepted from public disclosure by common-law privacy to generally be those regarding receipt of governmental funds or debts owed to governmental entities), 523 at 4 (1989) (noting distinction under common-law privacy between confidential background financial information furnished to public body about individual and basic facts regarding particular financial transaction between individual and public body), 373 at 4 (1983) (determination of whether public's interest in obtaining personal financial information is sufficient to justify its disclosure must be made on case-by-case basis). We agree the department must withhold the personal financial information you have marked in Exhibit B, as well as the additional information we have marked, under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy.

Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure information related to a motor vehicle operator's or driver's license or permit or a motor vehicle title or registration issued by an agency of this state or another state or country. See Gov't Code § 552.130(a)(1)-(2). We agree the department must withhold the information you have marked in Exhibit B under section 552.130 of the Government Code.

Section 552.136 of the Government Code states that "[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." Id. § 552.136(b); see id. § 552.136(a) (defining "access device"). This office has determined an insurance policy number is an access device number for purposes of section 552.136. We therefore agree the department must withhold the insurance policy number you have marked in Exhibit B under section 552.136 of the Government Code.

Section 552.147 of the Government Code provides that "[t]he social security number of a living person is excepted from" required public disclosure under the Act. Id. § 552.147(a). We agree the department may withhold the social security number you have marked in Exhibit B under section 552.147 of the Government Code.

In summary, the department must release Exhibit D pursuant to section  550.065(c)(4) of the Transportation Code. The department may withhold Exhibit C under section 552.108(a)(1) of the Government Code. In Exhibit B, the department must withhold (1) the marked personal financial information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy, (2) the marked information under section 552.130 of the Government Code, and (3) the marked insurance policy number under section 552.136 of the Government Code. The department may withhold the marked social security number in Exhibit B under section 552.147 of the Government Code. The department must release the remaining information in Exhibit B. ⁽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,

Tamara H. Holland

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

THH/ac

Ref: ID# 474905

c. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. As our ruling is dispositive, we need not address your remaining arguments for Exhibit C.

2. We note the requestor has a special right of access under section 552.023 of the Government Code to some of the information being released. See Gov't Code § 552.023(b) ("person or a person's authorized representative has a special right of access, beyond the right of the general public, to information held by a governmental body that relates to the person and that is protected from public disclosure by laws intended to protect that person's privacy interests"). Therefore, if the department receives another request for this information from a person who does not have a special right of access to this information, the department 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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