Source: https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/openrecords/49cornyn/orl/1999/htm/or199903825.htm
Timestamp: 2018-01-24 06:03:50
Document Index: 339953894

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 552', '§ 552', '§ 552', '§ 552', '§ 20', '§ 411', '§ 411', '§ 411', '§ 772', '§ 552', '§ 405']

Cornyn Open Records Letter Ruling OR99-3825
Mr. Jason C. Marshall
OR99-3825
You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 130786.
The City of Sachse (the "city") received a request for police blotters for certain dates. You claim that the information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101 and 552.108 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and have reviewed the submitted information.
Pursuant to section 552.301(e), a governmental body is required to submit to this office within fifteen business days of receiving an open records request (1) general written comments stating the reasons why the stated exceptions apply that would allow the information to be withheld, (2) a copy of the written request for information, (3) a signed statement or sufficient evidence showing the date the governmental body received the written request, and (4) a copy of the specific information requested or representative samples, labeled to indicate which exceptions apply to which parts of the documents. Gov't Code § 552.301(e). You did not, however, submit to this office a copy of the written request for information.
Pursuant to section 552.302 of the Government Code, a governmental body's failure to submit to this office the information required in section 552.301(e) results in the legal presumption that the information is public and must be released. Gov't Code § 552.302. Information that is presumed public must be released unless a governmental body demonstrates a compelling reason to withhold the information to overcome this presumption. See Hancock v. State Bd. of Ins., 797 S.W.2d 379, 381-82 (Tex. App.--Austin 1990, no writ) (governmental body must make compelling demonstration to overcome presumption of openness pursuant to statutory predecessor to Gov't Code § 552.302); Open Records Decision No. 319 (1982). You assert that the requested information is excepted from required disclosure pursuant to sections 552.101 and 552.108 of the Government Code. Generally, the applicability of section 552.108 is not a compelling reason which would overcome the presumption that the information must be released. See Open Records Decision No. 177 at 3 (1977) (determining that the predecessor to section 552.108 was discretionary exception). Therefore, we will not address your argument under that exception. However, the application of section 552.101 of the Government Code to the submitted information does provide a compelling reason which will overcome the presumption that the information is subject to required disclosure.
You assert that the submitted information contains information that must be withheld because its release would violate the common-law right to privacy. Section 552.101 excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Section 552.101 also encompasses the doctrine of common-law privacy. For information to be protected from public disclosure under the common-law right of privacy, the information must meet the criteria set out in Industrial Found. v. Texas Industrial Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668 (Tex. 1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 931 (1977). The court stated that
information . . . is excepted from mandatory disclosure under Section 3(a)(1) as information deemed confidential by law if (1) the information contains highly intimate or embarrassing facts the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person, and (2) the information is not of legitimate concern to the public.
540 S.W.2d at 685; Open Records Decision No. 142 at 4 (1976) (construing statutory predecessor to Gov't Code § 552.101). In Industrial Foundation, the Texas Supreme Court considered intimate and embarrassing information such as that relating to sexual assault, pregnancy, mental or physical abuse in the workplace, illegitimate children, psychiatric treatment of mental disorders, attempted suicide, and injuries to sexual organs. 540 S.W.2d at 683; see also Open Records Decision Nos. 470 (1987) (concluding that fact that a person broke out in hives as a result of severe emotional distress is excepted by common-law privacy), 455 (1987) (concluding that kinds of prescription drugs a person is taking are protected by common-law privacy), 343 (1982) (concluding that information regarding drug overdoses, acute alcohol intoxication, obstetrical/gynecological illnesses, convulsions/ seizures, or emotional/mental distress is protected by common-law privacy). We agree that certain information may be withheld pursuant to section 552.101 in conjunction with common-law privacy. For your convenience, we have marked the information which the department must withhold.
Next, you assert that portions of the information is excepted from disclosure because it was obtained from the Texas Criminal History database. Federal regulations prohibit the release of criminal history record information ("CHRI") maintained in state and local CHRI systems to the general public. 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."), (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."). Section 411.083 provides that any CHRI maintained by the Department of Public Safety ("DPS") is confidential. Gov't Code § 411.083(a). Similarly, CHRI obtained from the DPS pursuant to statute is also confidential and may only be disclosed in very limited instances. Id . § 411.084; see also id. § 411.087 (restrictions on disclosure of CHRI obtained from DPS also apply to CHRI obtained from other criminal justice agencies). Therefore, to the extent that the requested information contains CHRI obtained from DPS or another criminal justice agency, that information must not be released to the requestor.
You also contend that the originating telephone numbers and addresses on a 911 report for this area are excepted from disclosure pursuant to section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code. You claim that section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code, one of several confidentiality provisions in chapter 772 of the Health and Safety Code, makes the originating telephone numbers and addresses confidential. As you raise this section, we assume that the emergency 911 district involved here was established in accordance with chapter 772 of the Health and Safety Code, which authorizes the development of local emergency communications districts. Sections 772.118, 772.218 and 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code make confidential the originating telephone numbers and addresses of 911 callers furnished by a service supplier. See Open Records Decision No. 649 (1996). Section 772.118 applies to emergency communication districts for counties with a population over two million. Section 772.218 applies to emergency communication districts for counties with a population over 860,000. Section 772.318 applies to emergency communication districts for counties with a population over 20,000. Subchapter E, which applies to counties with populations over 1.5 million, does not contain a confidentiality provision regarding 911 telephone numbers and addresses. Health & Safety Code § 772.401, et seq. Thus, if the emergency communication district here is subject to section 772.118, 772.218 or 772.318, the originating telephone numbers and addresses on the 911 report are excepted from public disclosure based on section 552.101 as information deemed confidential by statute.
Additionally, you claim that certain information is excepted from disclosure pursuant to section 552.101 in conjunction with 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 Family Code section 58.007. The relevant language of section 58.007(c), as amended by the Seventy-sixth Legislature, reads as follows:
Some of the information you have submitted does not involve a juvenile offender. Records containing names of juvenile witnesses are not confidential under Family Code section 58.007. However, portions of the submitted information involves juvenile conduct that occurred after September 1, 1997. It does not appear that any of the exceptions in section 58.007 apply. Thus, we have marked the records which are made confidential by section 58.007 of the Family Code. Accordingly, you must withhold the marked information.
Next, you claim that driver's license and license plate information is excepted from disclosure. Section 552.130 of the Government Code, which governs the release and use of information obtained from motor vehicle records, provides in relevant part as follows:
Gov't Code § 552.130. Therefore, we have marked the information which the city must withhold pursuant to section 552.130.
Finally, we note that the submitted information contains a social security number. Social security numbers may be withheld in some circumstances under section 552.101 of the Government Code. A social security number or "related record" may be excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 in conjunction with the 1990 amendments to the federal Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 405(c)(2)(C)(viii)(I). See Open Records Decision No. 622 (1994). These amendments make confidential social security numbers and related records that are obtained and maintained by a state agency or political subdivision of the state pursuant to any provision of law enacted on or after October 1, 1990. See id. We have no basis for concluding that the social security number in the file is confidential under section 405(c)(2)(C)(viii)(I), and therefore excepted from public disclosure under section 552.101 of the Public Information Act on the basis of that federal provision. We remind you, however, that section 552.353 of the Public Information Act imposes criminal penalties for the release of confidential information. Prior to releasing any social security number information, you should ensure that no such information was obtained or is maintained by the department pursuant to any provision of law enacted on or after October 1, 1990.
Ref:	ID# 130786
cc:	Mr. Jack Ersman
6221 Murphy Road