December 18, 2012

Ms. Laura Ingram

Assistant District Attorney

Wichita County District Attorney's Office

900 Seventh Street

Wichita Falls, Texas 76301-2482

OR2012-20384

Dear Ms. Ingram:

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# 478325.

The Wichita County Sheriff's Office (the "sheriff's office") received a request for a book-in sheet related to a specified arrest. You claim some of the requested information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101, 552.130, and 552.147 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the information you submitted.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. This exception encompasses federal and state laws that make criminal history record information ("CHRI") obtained from the National Crime Information Center ("NCIC") and Texas Crime Information Center ("TCIC") confidential. CHRI means "information collected about a person by a criminal justice agency that consists of identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions, indictments, informations, and other formal criminal charges and their dispositions." Id. § 411.082(2). Federal law governs the dissemination of CHRI obtained from the NCIC network. Federal regulations prohibit the release to the general public of CHRI maintained in state and local CHRI systems. See 28 C.F.R. § 20.21(c)(1) ("Use of criminal history record information disseminated to noncriminal justice agencies shall be limited to the purpose for which it was given.") and (c)(2) ("No agency or individual shall confirm the existence or nonexistence of criminal history record information to any person or agency that would not be eligible to receive the information itself."). The federal regulations allow each state to follow its own individual law with respect to CHRI it generates. See Open Records Decision No. 565 at 10-12 (1990); see generally Gov't Code ch. 411 subch. F. Although sections 411.083(b)(1) and 411.089(a) of the Government Code authorize a criminal justice agency to obtain CHRI, a criminal justice agency may not release CHRI except to another criminal justice agency for a criminal justice purpose. See id. § 411.089(b). We agree the sheriff's office must withhold the FBI number you have marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with federal law and subchapter F of chapter 411 of the Government Code. We conclude the SID number you have marked is not confidential under federal law or subchapter F of chapter 411 of the Government Code and may not be withheld on that basis under section 552.101.

Section 552.130 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure information related to a motor vehicle operator's or driver's license or permit issued by an agency of this state or another state or country. See id. § 552.130(a)(1). We agree the sheriff's office must withhold the driver's license number you have marked under section 552.130 of the Government Code.

Section 552.147 of the Government Code states "[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 sheriff's office may withhold the social security number you have marked under section 552.147 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾

In summary, the sheriff's office (1) must withhold the marked FBI number under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with federal law and subchapter F of chapter 411 of the Government Code; (2) must withhold the marked driver's license number under section 552.130 of the Government Code; and (3) may withhold the marked social security number under section 552.147 of the Government Code. The rest of 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,

James W. Morris, III

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JWM/bhf

Ref: ID# 478325

Enc: Submitted document

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note section 552.147(b) authorizes a governmental body to redact a living person's social security number from public release without the necessity of requesting a decision under the Act.

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