State AG Opinions
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Can Oklahoma's Statewide Charter School Board vote again after rejecting a revised charter application?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the Board had no statutory power to reconsider, rescind, or vote again on the revised Ben Gamla application after rejecting it. The later approval motion…
Could South Carolina sign a federal highway review agreement, and was its records law comparable to FOIA?
The South Carolina AG's office said the proposed transportation agreement would bind the state upon execution and appeared consistent with state law. It also found South Carolina's and federal…
Can a Delaware school district charge a FOIA requester for staff time spent deciding which emails contain privileged legal advice?
No. The district's proposed review required a staff member to judge which email passages contained privileged legal advice. That was legal review under FOIA, even though the reviewer was not an…
Can Kansas schools store students' phones in accessible lockers, and do nationally accredited private schools get the same rights as state-accredited schools?
Accessible lockers do not meet HB 2299's requirement that students' devices be stored away from them in an inaccessible place all school day. Backpacks qualify only if the backpacks themselves stay…
Can a Kansas city adopt a fire code that is less restrictive than the state fire prevention code?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a local fire code cannot set weaker standards than the Kansas Fire Prevention Code. Municipalities may adopt stricter codes, while local boards of appeals may…
Can Oklahoma's governor appoint an unopposed judge-elect directly to a vacant district judgeship?
No. A district-judge vacancy must be filled through the Judicial Nominating Commission's three nominees. Election to the next term gives the judge-elect no preference for the unexpired term, though…
Does Tennessee Food Freedom Act let a home food seller skip local zoning rules or building permits for a new structure?
No. The Act blocks local rules that prohibit or regulate the production and sale of homemade food, but it does not displace generally applicable zoning or building-permit rules for construction and…
Can a Mississippi deputy sheriff also work as a justice court deputy clerk and accept sworn affidavits?
Yes. The AG concluded that a deputy sheriff's work is a core executive function, but a justice court deputy clerk's statutory duties, including acknowledging affidavits, are not core judicial…
Must Mississippi charter schools follow public school testing rules and the 2026 Mississippi Math Act?
Yes for student assessment and accountability requirements, including student assessments in the 2026 Mississippi Math Act. The AG did not say every district staffing, administration, reporting, or…
Can a Mississippi public body require a records request, a fee, or a reason before someone inspects its meeting minutes?
No. Under the Open Meetings Act, a person may inspect a public body's minutes during regular business hours without filing a Public Records Act request, paying a fee, or giving a reason. A request…
Do Ocean Springs school board terms overlap in the same year, and can the city change an appointed member's term?
The AG concluded that one Ocean Springs school board term expires each year and therefore did not decide whether the city can adjust an appointed member's term. The opinion's background lists the…
Can a Mississippi circuit clerk summon the same people again if their first jury week was canceled and the jury wheel runs out?
The AG found no Mississippi statute barring a new summons for people drawn from the April 2026 jury wheel who never had to report because no trial was held, even if that wheel is exhausted. The…
Can Mississippi aldermen change who signs town checks, and do nepotism rules cover a contractor living with an alderman?
Municipal checks must be signed by the mayor or a majority of the aldermen, even when the payee is the town clerk; the board may require additional signatures but cannot replace those signers. The…
How should a Mississippi county reimburse its road and bridge fund when road crews work on other county projects?
The county must reimburse its road and bridge fund for costs incurred when that department's people, equipment, or materials are used for unrelated county work. The AG found no state-law formula for…
Are Oklahoma's leftover opt-out workers' compensation guaranty funds still held in trust?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the remaining commingled money ceased to be held in trust when the Legislature repealed the law that created the Option Funds and their purpose. He did not…
Can a Delaware public body hold a budget workshop without an agenda and leave a project vote out of its minutes?
No. The Trustees of the New Castle Common had to post an agenda for their budget workshop and keep minutes that accurately reflected what happened. The AG found both requirements violated, but…
Can Delaware's Environmental Appeals Board withhold appeal filings from a nonlitigant under FOIA's pending litigation exemption?
The Board could not justify this denial by pointing only to pending appeals. Applying a recent Delaware Superior Court decision, the AG held that the pending litigation exemption did not apply to…
Does public funding for construction materials trigger California prevailing wages when a nonprofit privately pays its workers?
Generally, yes. On the hypothetical facts in the opinion, county funding for materials makes the construction project public works even if the nonprofit pays installation workers with private funds.…
Can Boone County use public funds for school resource officers at private schools and charge all schools the same reimbursement rate?
Yes, under the plan the attorney general reviewed. Boone County may use general fund money for the sheriff's office to place school resource officers at public and nonpublic schools, with each…
Can I get copies of my own Delaware 911 calls through a county FOIA request?
Not through the FOIA request considered here. A Delaware statute makes 911 call recordings and information supplied during a call confidential, subject to specific release provisions. The AG found…
Must a Delaware city use FOIA to identify the legal basis for removing signs from land it calls a public right of way?
FOIA required a reasonable search for the existing records identified in the request, and the AG found that Rehoboth Beach had made one. It did not require the city to identify which documents…
Can South Carolina's Ethics Commission require a political party to report its operating account under section 8-13-1308(G)?
The Attorney General advised against enforcing that reporting provision at all under its current wording. A party's operating account can fund issue advocacy, and the statute does not explain how to…
Is New Mexico's outfitter set-aside for elk and bighorn sheep hunting licenses constitutional?
The AG concluded that the 10% outfitter set-aside, as enforceable after a federal injunction, violates New Mexico's anti-donation clause. Pooling bighorn sheep tags across hunt units would add a…
Did California grant permission to sue over a water board director also serving on a city council?
Yes. The Attorney General granted leave to bring a quo warranto suit challenging the two offices as potentially incompatible. A court must decide the merits; the opinion itself did not remove the director.
Will federal marijuana rescheduling shut down South Dakota's medical marijuana program?
No. The Attorney General concluded that federal rescheduling does not preempt South Dakota's medical marijuana program. The federal rule provides a registration path for state-licensed operators,…
Can a West Virginia state senator work for a city without giving up the Senate seat?
Generally yes. The AG said ordinary municipal employment does not by itself disqualify a state senator, but the duties, pay source, municipal role, and conflicts with legislative work can change the…
Can a South Dakota road district require a permit before someone excavates a public road, and charge for it?
Yes. A road district may require advance approval for work on its roads and charge a reasonable permit fee. Its trustees must inspect district roads, but the opinion finds no specific power to bill…
Can Delaware State Police withhold records explaining why a license plate reader camera was put in my neighborhood?
In this petition, yes. The Delaware AG found no FOIA violation when State Police withheld records supporting one camera's placement, because sworn statements tied that camera to a criminal…
Can a South Carolina county ban its sheriff from using license plate readers or cut funds to agencies that use them?
The AG concluded that Oconee County’s broad license plate reader ordinance faced a credible legal challenge, especially where it used funding or control of county roads to restrict the sheriff or…
Can a Mississippi county waive its building permit and inspection fees for construction of a local school building?
Yes, for county fees. The AG treats waiving local permit and inspection charges as an in-kind contribution allowed when the board of supervisors makes and records the special-benefit findings…
Can a Mississippi sheriff require bail bond agents to attend court docket calls before they may write bonds at the jail?
No. The AG found no state-law authority for a sheriff to make attendance at circuit court docket calls a condition for writing bonds at the detention center. Because that policy was unauthorized,…
Does Mississippi regulate live auctions on Whatnot, and what counts as selling on a recurring basis?
The AG did not decide whether Whatnot or any particular seller falls under the Auctioneer Commission; the commission must make that factual determination. The AG said the commission may read…
May a Texas Type A general-law city accept donations of cash or property for city purposes?
Yes. The AG read the Type A general-law city’s statutory power to “take” property as authority to receive donated property, including money, for a municipal purpose. It did not decide whether any…
Can a Texas airport board replace civil-service firefighters with outside staff or contractors?
The AG said a city’s governing body could abolish classified firefighter positions by ordinance only in good faith, and civil-service vacancies had to be handled under the Act’s procedures. The…
Can a Texas school vendor violate the conflict law without a formal bid or signed contract?
Yes. A vendor can 'receive a contract' when a school district awards it an opportunity to provide goods or services, even without formal bidding or a signed agreement. The vendor must have sought…
Must a Texas county prove every listed harm before calling a visible junked vehicle a public nuisance?
No. Under Transportation Code section 683.072, a junked vehicle or part visible from a public place or public right-of-way is a public nuisance; the listed harms are legislative findings, not seven…
Must California public electric utilities pay line-clearance tree trimmers the apprentice lineman wage?
No. The AG concluded that Public Utilities Code section 8386.6(b) did not impose its apprentice-lineman prevailing-wage floor on qualified line-clearance tree trimmers employed by local publicly…
Can someone outside a Texas emergency services district serve on its board if the district serves their city?
A qualified voter in a city that receives the district's emergency services may qualify for an appointed board seat even if the city lies outside district boundaries. Owning land outside the…
Can a Texas school district lease its stadium for a concert and let the renter sell alcohol there?
A Texas school district generally may lease facilities for private events if the lease does not interfere with their school purpose. But if the site is public school grounds or a public school…
Can a Texas county pay for an ambulance contract signed without delegated authority or the county auditor's approval?
On the stated facts, the EMS director's sales contract did not bind Kinney County because the commissioners court had neither delegated contracting authority nor later approved it. The AG also said…
Does a North Dakota public entity violate open records law by failing to answer a request it never received?
No, on the facts the Attorney General was required to use. The Dickey County Senior Citizens Center said it received none of the three requests, so it had no duty to respond to them.
Can a North Dakota public committee vote on bills by email and then cure the problem with a public vote?
No. The Stutsman County committee violated the open meetings law when members deliberated and voted on two bills by email. Its later public vote did not undo that violation.
Did North Dakota’s health department violate open records law when a city produced records the department did not?
No, on the facts the department supplied. The AG accepted its statement that it had produced every responsive record in its possession and withheld none; the city’s separate production did not…
Can a North Dakota school district wait months to finish a records request and omit notices a resident asked to receive?
No. The AG found that White Shield Public School District violated the open records law by delaying and leaving records unproduced, and the open meetings law by failing to send requested board…
Can a California school trustee remain on the board after moving out of the district while also serving on the county education board?
The AG granted permission to sue the Anderson school trustee over two substantial questions: whether her school and county education board seats are incompatible and whether moving outside the…
Did broken online links at a Delaware utility-rate comment session violate open-meeting FOIA?
No FOIA open-meeting violation was found. Only two of the Public Service Commission’s five members attended the rate-case comment session, and the AG concluded it was not a public-body meeting under…
Can a Delaware town charge a FOIA requester for contractor review, police review, and file delivery?
The AG found that Dagsboro had not justified three disputed parts of its FOIA cost estimate: police and contractor review, possible overlapping work, and file processing and delivery. Review to…
Does Delaware FOIA require a fire commission to produce hiring score sheets it says do not exist?
No. The AG found that the State Fire Prevention Commission adequately searched for requested Fire School director hiring records and supported its statement that further records did not exist with…
Who recommends board members for water districts serving Pickens County, South Carolina?
The Governor appoints members of the Bethlehem-Roanoke, Six Mile and Easley-Central water boards on the Pickens County legislative delegation's recommendation. The AG could not resolve how…
Who must hold the public hearing before a South Carolina transportation sales tax referendum, and when?
Either county council or the county election commission may hold the hearing, though the AG considered council better suited. It must occur after the commission receives the tax ordinance and at…
Can a Mississippi county tax assessor close her office for severe weather without a local emergency declaration?
No. The AG said a county tax assessor could not independently close her office for severe weather without a local emergency declared by the board of supervisors. After a declaration, the board may…
Is next-of-kin information held by a Texas medical examiner confidential, and may it be shared with tissue-donation groups?
Article 49.25, § 11(d) let a medical examiner withhold next-of-kin information from required Public Information Act release but did not make it confidential. Indirect identifying information was…
Must a Texas school-board trustee resign to run for justice of the peace, and can one person hold both offices?
No. A school-board trustee was not covered by the constitutional resign-to-run list, and neither the other cited constitutional rules, judicial canon, nor incompatibility doctrine required…
Could a Texas school-district police department serve as the law-enforcement agency for Family Code child-abuse investigations?
No. The Family Code's definition of law-enforcement agency applied throughout Chapter 261 and listed DPS, municipal police, county sheriffs, and county constables, but not school-district police.…
Could a Texas home-rule city spend tax dollars to provide services to a U.S. Army installation under an intergovernmental agreement?
Potentially. A charter-authorized intergovernmental support agreement under Government Code § 793.002 could serve a municipal public purpose, but the City of Socorro had to decide that question for…
Can Delaware withhold its list of large corporate franchise-tax filers from a FOIA request?
Yes, for the lists requested here. The AG found that Delaware’s large-corporate-filer list was compiled from annual franchise-tax report information protected by statute. It concluded that the…
Can Maine's government oversight office audit a private foundation's Lewiston shooting donations because city officials briefly handled some gifts?
No, on the facts presented. The AG said OPEGA could not evaluate Maine Community Foundation's independently run victim donation fund: it was not a government program and the donated money did not…
Which North Dakota school district may levy property tax on Grand Sky's leased land at Grand Forks Air Force Base?
Only the school district whose boundaries contain the leased property may levy school taxes there. The Attorney General found the leasehold taxable but left the decisive boundary question to local…
Could a West Virginia county development authority own part of an LLC with a private partner for an economic-development project?
Yes. West Virginia Code § 7-12-7 authorized a county development authority to contract with private parties, own personal property such as an LLC distributional interest, and take actions needed for…
After the Supreme Court's 2026 party-spending ruling, which Idaho campaign-finance limits remained enforceable?
Idaho should stop applying its contribution caps to coordinated campaign expenditures between political parties and their candidates. The AG concluded that ordinary contribution limits, disclosure…
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