Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

661 OFFICE OF THE AlTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN IionorableJohn 8. Winters Ez8outlve Dlrrotor State Department of Pub110 Welfare Austin 3, Teraa Eear Sir: We are pleased to refly ,,$a~&UP letter oi‘Be&a- ber 20, 1944, la whioh you reQu8rt the opinloa of this de- partment on the above o&pti ed +ibJect.,. Y \,./’ .::’ The facts Oolltalned ‘0 the r&orandum rubmitted with yc)urletter ar8P4%+r8$ly~ ‘Ppat’~(t 8XtOrt8d $r5.00 oash from B on th8 proml#@ tt#t”whe (A)~wod%d get B’s husband a grant of old age mSititaoC8. lTh8 f Uil ice A charged B for thls extraorclin~y servlci*vas $68,r Oj $15.00 oash aad the balance to be paid out df,the old a&e asSi8tanCe grant after it vu obtaiwd;.~ e-s t. I\, ,;? i Ye ilr8Of t’heo&Ulop.ihat the abOV8 set Of iaCt8, if true; cenet$tuto a flolat$,@Rof Bbotioa 32 0;r the public Yelie &it of 1941, the~~Ba& being Pl’ticlb 6950, Vernon’8 rmnotateq~civil..pt.ytss, which read8 u Sollows; “Jt sh& tie unlawful ror any attorney at lf&h olll,et$cirn99in faot, or any other person, firm h2.r i%rp*ation vhat sower, represent Ina aw appllcBot ~‘rsolplent of assistance to the aged, to the ne& bliad, or to any llsedpdependent child, or for any child usUs.re service with resp8ct t0 any application befOr the State De- partment, or any of its agenta, to charge a fee ior his services in excess of Ten Dollars ($10) ln aiding or reprcsentiag any such applicant be- fore the State Department, or for any other Honorable John Ii.Winters, page 2 servicein lldlng such apFIlcant to secure as- slstanoa or servloe. It Shall 1ik8V188 be t?n- lawful for any person, rum or oorForatlon, to advertise, hold hhS8lf out for or sollclt the procurement of assistance or aarvlce.” SubS8Otlon (3) of s8CtiOll34 9l’OVld88 the 98tity and reads in part as iollovs : I or whoever violates section 32 or S8CtiO;lj3k this AOt, shall be guilty of a mls- dormnor, and upon oonvlotlon thereof, shall be fined eny sum not more than One fiundrsd Dollars 100) or be lnprlroned for not less than sir 18 ) months, nor more than two (2) years, or be both so fined and ~pvIson8d.n Further, you inquire whether or not it vould be la violation of Section 33 of the Public u8lis.reAct of 1941 for the State Department to furnish the county attorney vlth whatever information may be eontalned in the case record of the husband of the said B, and vhether or not the worker may appear la court and testify es to the lnformatlcn which she obtained while octlng in the capacity of a worker ulth the State Iepartvbent. Your second question 1s prompted by the Frotl- slons of Seotlon 33 (1), which reads as follovsr "It shall be unlavful, SXOeDt for 9urpoS88 dlr8OtIy OOiur8Ct8dvlth the administration of general asslstancs, old ax8 assistance, aid to the blind, or aid to dependent children. and in cccoraance with the rules and ragtiatlons of the 3tate Department, for any person or persons to solicit, disclose, recelVe, mak8 us8 Of, Or t0 authorlse, k~oul~gly permit, pertlolpate la, or aCqUieSC8 in the use Of, 8.nylist Of, Or naI~8s Of, or any information concerning, persons ap- piylug for or receiving such assistance, direct- lg or Indirectly derived Srom the records, Papers, filea, or COm~iCatiOnS Of the State I%F~tVWnt 663 or subdlvlslons or agenoles thereof, or acquired in the oours8 of the performance of official duties . ” (Underscoring ours) It is noted then that lnformatlori secured by the 3tate Eepartment in admlnlstering the various provlslons of this Act 1s confld8ntl@1, and ve think properly so. The leglslatlv8 intent or the public policy maifert by Section 33, supra, 1s V8u 8Xpr8sS8d ln the 0888 Of Goopersberg v. Taylor, (Sup. ct. Of a. I. 1933) 266 If. Y. Supp. 359, Vhere- la the court, 10 construllrg a similar provlslo~ of the pub- lic U8ifU8 law 0s H8U York, said: I) The pub110 policy expressed In this statuti k’founded upon the d8slrablllty that the identity Of those aCO8ptilAg.pUbliO r8118f should Rot be dlsalos8d lest vorthy rsclpfents be discouraged from applying tor r8118f by rea- son Of the publloity to which they might be sub- jected. . . .* By Opinion go. G-2122, addressed to Xonorable Geo. a. Sheppard, this departaent held that the COnptrOlleP vas not authorized to furnish to the general pub110 the old age warrant register and llst 0r olalms on file in that OfflC8. Later, by Oplnlon Nor o-4976, addressed to Honor- able Bomer Garrison, Jr., Dlreotor Of the Department Of Pub- lic Safety, V8 said: "The Publlo Welfare Act of 1939, repealed by Act8 of the 47th Legislature, contained a corres- ponding provision to Section 33, suprar Refarrlng to records Of the tipartlnentof Public welfare, the Act of 1939 provided that such records shall be open t0 lnap8ctlon only t0 p8rsons duly au- thorized by the State, or the Ullitsd States, t0 Mik8 such Inspection in conIi8otlonvlththeir Of- flcial duties. The Act 0s 1941 houever makes no such 8XC8ptlOu. “It is therefore the opinion of this depart- ment that the State Department of Public W81fW8 is not permitted to furnish the Texas DspartmeQt or public Safety with a list of names or Persons, nor any information concerning person8 applying iionorableJohn 11.Winters, page 4 for or r808iVlEig lSSlStaQC8 through the State ~D8p&lPeQt Of Public w8lfsF8." You mill note then that this departnent, by its 3plnlons, has realously guarded th8 confidential nature of this iQfOrMtiOn iQ UU8S Vh8r8 the 1RfOrplatlOQ is to be used for purposes in no way oonnected with the adainlstra- tlon 0s the provlslons 0s this Act. Bovovor , Under the faOt8 here lnvo1vod, Ye -8 or the oplniaa that the information r8qU8St8d is to be used for pUFpOS88 direOtly oON&eOted Vlth th8 adril%iStP’stfOQ Of the Act. By the expresr terts of Section 33, you are authorfeed to furnish information, . for purposes dlrootly con- nected vlth the adm.inlstrk~on of general asslstanoe. . . ." Such information must be furnished in accordance with the rules and regulations adopted by the State Depsrtaent as pro- vided by Section 33 (2), which reads 8a follovst "The rule-making power of the Stat8 Depart- m8nt shall include the pover to establish and enforce reasonable rules and regulations govern- lng the ouetodg, use, and pvoservatlon of the records, papers, fii8S, and communications of the State DopartPrentand its local oifloers. Uhere- ever, under provisions of law, names and addr8sses 0s r8olpl0nts of public asslstanco are fumlshed to or held by any other agency or department Of government, such agency or d8p8rtm8nt~of govern- ment shall be required to adopt r8gulatlons nec- 8SS&Lry to prevent the publication of lists there- of or their us8 for purposes not direotly oon- nocted vlth the admlnlstratlon of public asslst- ante." Examining the Act as a vhole, Ye find other perti- nent provlslons: "Sec. 4. The Stat8 Department shall be changed with the adminlstratlon of the welfare activities of the State as hereinafter provided. The State Department shall: n. . . . -I 665 Honorable John H. Winters, page 5 “(5) Asslat other departmentr, agencier and lortitutionr of the local State and Federal GOT- ernmenta, vhen lo requested and cooperate vlth such agencies vhen sxpedlent, in performing aerr- ices la oonformlty with the purpose. or this Act; I . . . .” (Undderroorlw oum) By the provlrlonr or thlr Seatlou, when oonstrued in connection with other provlalonu oi the Act, it becomes your duty to iurnlrh the proneouting officer vlth ouch ln- formation a8 may rhov or tend to ahov that a criminal act has occurred. Thatll, that the prorlrloaa OS Section 32 have been violated. This lnformatloo lhould be furnished in accordance vlth rules promulgated by the State Depart- ment and only such lnformatlon aa 18 necessary to ahov that a violation has occurred should be furnlrhed. Perswal data coacernlng family statue , etc., vhloh vould in no vay be relevant to a prosecution for a violation Of provision8 of this Act, should not be furnlahed. In adopting ruler ooncernlng the use of informa- tion in your posresslon by others, ve suggest you keep in mind not only the provisions of the statute, but also the legislative latent aa expressed la the Coopersberg came, supra. We see no objectloa to your rield worker appear- ing in court and offering ruoh testimony as the court may ad&. Trusting this fully anavera your inquiry, Ye are Very truly your8 Assistant R. T. Bob Donahue HTBD :db