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1994 Texas Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (1994)

handle is hein.sag/sagtx0054 and id is 1 raw text is: Office of the Attornep @eneral 6tate of Mexan DAN MORALES ATTORNEY GENERAL January 27, 1994 Mr. Steve Baker Open Records Decision No. 622 City Attorney City of G~alveston Re: Whether social security numbers are P.O. Box 779 excepted from public disclosure under Galveston, Texas 77553-0779 section 552.101 of the Open Records Act in conjunction with federal law, and whether the former home addresses and telephone numbers of public employees are excepted from public disclosure under section 552.117(lXA) of the act (RQ-552) Dear Mr. Baker: The City of Galveston (the city) has received a request for information under the Open Records Act, Gov't Code ch. 552 (formerly V.T.C.S. art. 6252-17a),' for the personnel files of two city employees -- a municipal court judge and a bailiff. You have asked this office to determine whether various items in the file are protected under several of the Open Records Act's exceptions to required public disclosure. Your request raises two questions of first impression for this office; first, whether social security numbers are excepted from public disclosure under section 552.101 (formerly section 3(a)(1)) of the Open Records Act in conjunction with a 1990 amendment to the federal Social Security Act and, second, whether the former home addresses and telephone numbers of public employees are excepted from public disclosure under section 552.117(1)(A) (formerly section 3(aXI7)(A)) of the Open Records Act. We address those issues in this formal oven records decision. The remaining issues will be addressed in an informal open records ruling. First, we consider whether social security numbers (SSNs) are excepted from required public disclosure under section 552.101 of the Open Records Act. Section 552.101 excepts from public disclosure information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision. Gov't Code § 552.101. Traditionally, this office has held that SSNs are available to the public under the Open 1The 73rd Legislature repealed article 6252-17a, V.T.C.S. Acts 1993, 73d Leg., ch. 268, § 46. The Open Records Act is now codified in the Government Code at chapter 552. Id. § 1. The codification of the Open Records Act in the Government Code is a nonsubstantive revision. Id. § 47.

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