November 20, 2012

Ms. Leandra Costilla Ortiz

Staff Attorney

Brownsville Independent School District

1900 Price Road

Brownsville, Texas 78521-2417

OR2012-18780

Dear Ms. Ortiz:

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# 474612.

The Brownsville Independent School District (the "district") received a request for a copy of any statement made by a named individual, police officer, or any other witness to a specified incident. You claim 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. We have also considered comments submitted by the requestor. See Gov't Code § 552.304 (interested party may submit comments stating why information should or should not be released).

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Id. § 552.101. Section 552.101 encompasses information that other statutes make confidential, such as section 58.007 of the Family Code. Juvenile law enforcement records relating to conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997 are confidential under section 58.007. For purposes of section 58.007, "child" means a person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age. See Fam. Code § 51.02(2). Section 58.007 provides in pertinent part as follows:

(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), law enforcement records and files concerning a child and information stored, by electronic means or otherwise, concerning the child from which a record or file could be generated may not be disclosed to the public and shall be:

(1) if maintained on paper or microfilm, kept separate from adult files and records;

(2) if maintained electronically in the same computer system as records or files relating to adults, be accessible under controls that are separate and distinct from controls to access electronic data concerning adults; and

(3) maintained on a local basis only and not sent to a central state or federal depository, except as provided by Subchapters B, D, and E.

. . .

(e) Law enforcement records and files concerning a child may be inspected or copied by a juvenile justice agency as that term is defined by Section 58.101, a criminal justice agency as that term is defined by Section 411.082, Government Code, the child, and the child's parent or guardian.

. . .

(j) Before a child or a child's parent or guardian may inspect or copy a record or file concerning the child under Subsection (e), the custodian of the record or file shall redact:

(1) any personally identifiable information about a juvenile suspect, offender, victim, or witness who is not the child[.]

Id. § 58.007(c), (e), (j)(1). Upon review, we find the submitted information involves juvenile delinquent conduct occurring after September 1, 1997; therefore, the submitted information is subject to section 58.007. However, you inform us the requestor is an attorney for a parent of the juvenile offender listed in the submitted information. Therefore, the requestor has a right to inspect law enforcement records concerning her client's child under section 58.007(e). See id. § 58.007(e). However, personally identifiable information concerning any other juvenile suspects, offenders, victims, or witnesses must be redacted pursuant to section 58.007(j)(1) of the Family Code. See id. § 58.007(j)(1). For purposes of section 58.007(j)(1), a juvenile suspect or offender is a child as defined by section 51.02 of the Family Code. See id. § 51.02(2) (defining "child" as a person who is ten years of age or older and younger than seventeen years of age). For the purposes of section 58.007(j)(1), a juvenile victim or witness is a person who is under eighteen years of age. Upon review, we find the district must withhold the information we have marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(j)(1) of the Family Code. However, we find you have failed to demonstrate how any portion of the remaining information you have marked identifies a juvenile suspect, offender, victim, or witness. Thus, no portion of the remaining information you have marked may be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(j)(1) of the Family Code. The remaining information must be released. ⁽¹⁾

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/bhf

Ref: ID# 474612

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note that the requestor has a special right of access to the information being released in this instance. Because such information is confidential with respect to the general public, if the district receives another request for this information from a different requestor, the district must again seek a ruling from this office.

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