Arkansas Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Arkansas, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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How long does the Arkansas Auditor of State have to keep redeemed and unredeemed state warrants?
There is no specific statutory time limit for keeping unredeemed warrants. Redeemed warrants must be kept for one year in original paper form, or three months for the original plus ten years for an…
Can a licensed Arkansas architect operating as a sole proprietor use a business name with their name?
The AG declined to answer. The Arkansas State Board of Architects, Landscape Architects, and Interior Designers had already decided the issue in a quasi-judicial order. AG opinion policy reserves…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the second Arkansas Blue Grass cannabis ballot title submission in October 2017?
The AG rejected the entire submission because the proposed amendment retained the same kinds of textual ambiguities flagged in earlier opinions, which made an accurate ballot title impossible to draft.
Could Green Forest Police Department deny a FOIA request for ex-officers' records because they weren't terminated?
The AG declined to opine on the specific denial because no records were submitted. The opinion sets out the framework: personnel records open unless privacy outweighs disclosure, evaluation records…
Did Act 877 of 2017 take away Arkansas surveyors' immunity from criminal trespass?
No. Act 877 did not amend the surveyor-immunity statute. Licensed Arkansas surveyors retained their immunity from arrest for criminal trespass, and government-employed surveyors gained an additional…
After Act 365 of 2017 exempted Arkansas Game and Fish from the UCCA, can it still use the same compensation rules?
Yes. Even after Act 365 of 2017 largely exempted the Game and Fish Commission from the UCCA, the Commission may voluntarily follow UCCA-style compensation practices (base salaries, differentials,…
Could a Little Rock employee learn what the city would release from his FOIA'd personnel file?
The AG declined to opine on specific records because no actual records were submitted. The opinion sets out the FOIA standards the custodian must apply: personnel records open unless privacy…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the Arkansas True Grass recreational marijuana ballot title in October 2017?
The AG rejected the submission because the proposed amendment's defined terms were internally inconsistent (carry/carrying on/personal effect) and its plant-cultivation rules contained multiple…
Could Faulkner County withhold investigation records when the employee wasn't suspended or fired?
Yes. The Faulkner County prosecuting attorney's decision to withhold closed investigation records was consistent with FOIA. The records were employee evaluation records, and the employee in question…
Can a Little Rock firefighter's union representative get records from a pending internal investigation under Arkansas FOIA?
Likely yes for the firefighter's own records. The City's blanket denial was inconsistent with FOIA. An employee or their designated representative is entitled to that employee's personnel and…
Can a county civil attorney in Arkansas serve simultaneously as an elected member of the Arkansas House of Representatives?
Yes, in the AG's view. The county civil attorney position created under Ark. Code Ann. § 16-21-114 is public employment, not a 'lucrative office' under Ark. Const. art. 5, § 7, so the constitutional…
When does an Arkansas city's property tax exemption start after buying property for public use?
Not immediately. Tax status is set on January 1 of each tax year. A city that buys property for public purposes in mid-year owes the full year's taxes; the exemption first applies on the following…
Why did Arkansas reject Mary Berry's recreational marijuana ballot title in Opinion 2017-097?
The proposal defined 'carry on' as possession 'on one's body and personal effect' and 'personal effects' as items people 'often carry with them.' The AG found both phrases unclear. Because…
Can a sitting member of the Arkansas Motor Vehicle Commission also be hired as the Commission's Executive Director?
No. Common-law incompatibility blocks a current commissioner from also holding the Executive Director job, regardless of dealer status. A former commissioner who is a licensed dealer can be hired.…
Could Little Rock release records about police recruits who received incentive pay and later left city employment?
The AG could not approve or reject release of the specific records because she had not seen them. Salary and payroll records are generally open, but the custodian had to inspect the names list and…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Ed Frizzell's 'Multi-Member Districts Amendment' ballot title in September 2017?
The ballot title said the proposed districts would reflect geographical, community and political interests, but the AG could not tell from the amendment's text whether anything besides population…
When did the Arkansas Public School Health Services Advisory Committee created by Acts 414 and 935 cease to exist?
December 31, 2017. Act 935 of 2015 amended Ark. Code Ann. § 6-18-709 to fix that termination date, replacing the earlier December 31, 2014 sunset in Act 414 of 2013.
Why did Arkansas reject the proposed recreational marijuana ballot title in Opinion 2017-093?
The AG could not certify the title because the proposed amendment offered several popular names, used unclear language about which acts would become lawful, left business representatives' age…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the 2017 'Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Amendment' ballot title submitted by Mary L. Berry?
Three fundamental ambiguities, the AG said: when the amendment would actually take effect, whether age limits applied to people working for licensed businesses, and what 'considered legally served'…
If an Arkansas inmate serving a life sentence for a juvenile crime gets paroled under Act 539, how long does parole supervision last?
For life. Act 539 makes certain juvenile lifers parole-eligible, but parole does not shorten the underlying sentence, and Arkansas law has no mechanism for ending supervision early. The Parole Board…
Can the Arkansas Auditor of State deposit unclaimed property trust funds with the State Treasurer for investment purposes?
Almost certainly no. The Unclaimed Property Act requires those funds to be deposited in financial institution accounts and administered as cash funds, which by definition are not held by the State…
Does Arkansas's new Amendment 95 (Article 7, Section 53) bar a county judge or sheriff from serving on regional boards, county equalization boards, or workforce councils?
It depends on whether the position is a 'civil office.' The AG declined to answer for each of the 23 boards listed because the test is fact-intensive, but laid out the criteria: a civil office…
Can an Arkansas district judge issue a no-contact order at a bond hearing before the defendant is arraigned, and what penalty applies if it's violated?
A pre-arraignment no-contact order is enforceable through criminal contempt, a Class C misdemeanor. The Class A misdemeanor in Ark. Code Ann. § 16-85-714(d) applies to an order issued under that…
Could the City of Little Rock pay accrued vacation and sick-leave time to district-court judges who became state district judges on January 1, 2017?
A city could pay unused vacation and sick leave to a local district judge if the judge had been its employee before reorganization. The AG could not decide whether a particular judge qualified…
May Russellville fund a church-run tourism event, and does the grant raise an Arkansas constitutional issue?
On the facts supplied, the AG said funding a secular event run by a religious group would not violate the federal Establishment Clause. She separately warned that directly granting public funds to a…
Was the Arkansas Department of Human Services custodian's decision to release a redacted personnel file consistent with the Arkansas FOIA?
Yes. After reviewing the records, the AG concluded the DHS custodian's redactions were proper and no further redactions were required. The specific items the employee asked to keep confidential…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Mary Berry's July 21, 2017 cannabis amendment without going through the usual ambiguity analysis?
Because Berry's submission was substantively identical to two recent rejections (her own Opinion 2017-076 and Larry Morris's Opinion 2017-081, both from the same True Grass committee), the AG…
Was Arkansas Community Correction's decision to release Tenisha Brown's redacted personnel file consistent with the Arkansas FOIA?
Not entirely. The AG agreed most documents were properly subject to disclosure but identified additional information that had to be redacted (insurance, tax info, banking, payroll deductions,…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Larry Morris's July 2017 'Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Amendment of 2018' draft from True Grass?
Four defects: the effective date was contradictory ('effective November 7, 2018' but also 'shall be made lawful' by some unidentified third party); the Section 4 list of legalized 'acts' used…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Scott Trotter's 2017 multi-issue constitutional amendment about jury damages, campaign-finance disclosure, and legislative powers?
Seven defects, the AG said. The popular name was misleading (juries don't have an absolute right to set damages; Arkansas already requires election disclosures). The ballot title used technical…
Can Northwest Arkansas Community College use its local property tax millage to build and run a campus outside its taxing district?
Generally yes, if the facility is within NWACC's service area and the college is not a converted technical college or branch campus covered by the statutory millage restriction. The AG lacked facts…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Mary Berry's third 2017 cannabis legalization amendment, the one with effective dates of November 7, 2018 and April 19, 2019?
Three ambiguities in the measure's text. Section 2 said marijuana activities would be 'regulated and made lawful' starting November 7, 2018, but Section 9 said the state had until April 19, 2019 to…
Can an Arkansas county election commission hire its own election coordinator without the county judge's approval?
No. The AG concluded that under Amendment 55, the county judge holds the exclusive power to contract on the county's behalf. Election commissioners are not 'other elected officials' within the…
Can an Arkansas state agency release a former employee's resignation letter under FOIA, even when the employee says the requester is harassing them?
Yes. The AG concluded that a fill-in-the-blank resignation notice is a personnel record subject to disclosure under Arkansas FOIA. The privacy interest is at most de minimis, and there is no…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Mary Berry's June 2017 cannabis amendment titled 'The Arkansas Adult Recreation of Marijuana Amendment'?
The AG rejected Berry's popular name because Section 1 made 'Recreation of Marijuana' the amendment's short title. She described two possible constructions, each misleading or confusing to voters,…
Could an Arkansas officer outside his jurisdiction pursue and ticket a second motorist for a misdemeanor observed there?
On the facts given, no. The second motorist's failure to change lanes occurred entirely outside the officer's jurisdiction, and no other source of authority was identified. The AG stressed that a…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Barry Emigh's 2017 casino-by-municipal-ballot proposal that would have given gambling licenses to a small group of named BQC members?
The popular name was misleading because it suggested gambling could be legalized 'simply by way of a municipal ballot measure.' The 785-word ballot title still failed to convey the sweeping changes…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Ed Frizzell's 2017 'Proportional Voting Amendment' that would have shrunk the legislature into seven multi-member senate districts and 21 multi-member house districts drawn by latitude lines?
Three reasons. The popular name 'Proportional Voting' is a technical term that means different things in different electoral contexts and would mislead voters. The ballot title described the new…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject True Grass's 2017 recreational marijuana amendment with the prison-release and expungement provisions?
Because Section 8 of the proposal had a fundamental ambiguity. Subsection (a) and subsection (b) could be read to apply different rules about whether prisoners with non-marijuana convictions also…
Can an Arkansas adult give a firearm to a minor, and what facts matter?
The AG declined a general yes-or-no answer. Arkansas law criminalizes furnishing a firearm or deadly weapon to a minor without specified consent, and an adult who knowingly helps a minor possess a…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Larry Froelich's 2017 ballot title for an initiated act that would have made Act 570 of 2011's reduced drug sentences retroactive?
Because the popular name and ballot title referenced 'Acts 2011, No. 570' without describing the punishment changes that act made, leaving voters unable to assess what the proposal would do. The…
Did the Arkansas AG approve a 2017 ballot title for legalizing recreational marijuana under the 'Arkansas Adult Recreation of Marijuana Amendment'?
No. The AG rejected Berry's proposed title because the amendment's Schedule VI terminology and expungement provision were too ambiguous to summarize accurately.
If a bill from Arkansas's 2017 First Extraordinary Session has no emergency clause and no stated effective date, when does it take effect?
August 2, 2017. Adjournment was May 3, 2017, the 90-day referendum window under Amendment 7 ran through August 1, and the acts took effect the day after.
If an Arkansas bill passed in the 2017 regular session has no emergency clause and no specified effective date, when does it become law?
August 1, 2017. Under Amendment 7, acts without an emergency clause take effect 91 days after the legislature adjourns, giving the people 90 days to file a referendum petition. Adjournment was May…
Do appointees to the Arkansas Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee have to take the constitutional oath of office before they start serving?
No. Committee members are not 'public officers' under Article 19, § 20, because they don't exercise the State's sovereign power and only issue non-binding advisory opinions. They look more like…
Can an Arkansas city pass an ordinance requiring future tax measures to win two-thirds of the vote, instead of a simple majority?
No. State law (Ark. Code Ann. § 14-55-301 and Amendment 7) requires only a majority for referred ordinances, and other Arkansas statutes set majority-vote rules for specific city taxes. A…
Was a Springdale police suspension record properly redacted before release under the Arkansas FOIA, when the suspended officer wanted broader redactions removed?
The AG found the custodian's decision to release the records as redacted consistent with FOIA. She deferred to the custodian's factual finding that the records formed a basis for the suspension,…
Why did Arkansas reject Larry Morris's 2017 recreational-marijuana ballot title?
The AG rejected Morris's ballot title because the measure did not make clear what its Schedule VI and marijuana terms covered or whose convictions its expungement clause would erase. She separately…
Did the Arkansas AG approve the 2017 'Fairplay Holdings' ballot title proposal that would have given specific people exclusive rights to operate casino gambling?
No. The AG rejected the proposal because the popular name was nonsensical, the 833-word ballot title was too long and confusing for voters to digest in five minutes, and the measure failed to…
Under the Arkansas FOIA, what records can a Little Rock police officer get from the city's investigation file on a complaint they filed against a superior, when no discipline resulted?
Mostly the records the officer themselves submitted, plus the original complaint as the personnel record of both employees. Most of the rest are employee-evaluation records of the superior, and…
Did the Arkansas AG approve the 2017 'Arkansas Fair Voting Amendment' ballot title for ranked-choice voting and a redistricting overhaul?
No. The AG rejected it. The popular name's word 'fair' gave partisan coloring, the title used the technical term 'ranked-choice voting' without defining it, the title described 'eliminating…
Can Arkansas release citizen complaints about an Alcoholic Beverage Control enforcement agent under FOIA, even if the agent objects?
Yes. AG Rutledge confirmed that citizen complaints about an Arkansas ABC enforcement agent are personnel records under FOIA, and that under the Young v. Rice balancing test the public's interest in…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Mary Berry's recreational-marijuana ballot title in 2017?
The AG rejected Berry's proposed ballot title because Section 8 did not make clear which convictions would be expunged or what other convictions would prevent release. She separately urged Berry to…
Does Amendment 97 let an Arkansas city agency fund economic development projects or services through a private recipient?
Generally yes, in concept. AG Rutledge opined that Amendment 97's economic-development authority for cities extends to local governmental agencies that act as arms of the municipality. Whether a…
Why did the Arkansas AG refuse to certify Larry Morris's 2017 recreational-marijuana ballot title?
Rejected. AG Rutledge declined to certify the popular name and ballot title for Larry Morris's proposed 'Arkansas Decriminalization of Recreational Marijuana Amendment' because the underlying…
Could the State of Arkansas pay travel costs for Medical Marijuana Commission members to tour an out-of-state cultivation facility despite Amendment 98's no-reimbursement clause?
Yes, with caution. AG Rutledge concluded Amendment 98 does not prevent the State from paying AMMC members' out-of-state travel directly, but it forbids reimbursing commissioners for expenses they…
Can Garland County hand AWIN radios to a private property owners' association in Hot Springs Village for free, or pay to maintain its dispatch center?
Not as a gift. AG Rutledge concluded Article 12 § 5 of the Arkansas Constitution bars Garland County from donating AWIN radios to the Hot Springs Village Property Owners' Association because the POA…
Did the Arkansas AG decide whether Act 882 of 2015 applies retroactively to undo earlier Malvern annexations?
No decision. AG Rutledge declined to answer because the same questions were already pending in City of Malvern v. City of Rockport, and her office's standing policy is not to opine on matters before…
Are fire-protection services provided to an Arkansas city automatically 'in kind,' and can the city charge the fire station rent?
Fire protection under a § 14-53-101 agreement is not automatically an in-kind service. A city generally may charge rent for use of its property, but the AG could not decide either question for Omaha…
Does a small Arkansas first-class city violate the federal Voting Rights Act by electing some council members at large and others by ward?
Not necessarily. AG Rutledge concluded that a mixed at-large and ward voting system in a first-class Arkansas city is not a per-se Voting Rights Act violation. Vote-dilution claims demand a…
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Attorney general opinions in Arkansas are written by the Arkansas Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.