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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Does Arkansas Amendment 33 protect a college board if the school began as a local or private institution?
A board of a current Arkansas state college can receive Amendment 33 protection even if the college was not a state institution in 1943. Powers exercised by a local or private predecessor do not…
Can an Arkansas school release an employee's attendance and leave records under FOIA when the employee objects?
The AG could not decide whether the particular records should be released because he had not seen them. He said attendance and leave records generally should be disclosed under Arkansas FOIA and…
May an Arkansas county buy coffee, bottled water, food for employees or visitors, and meals for jurors?
The AG gave no blanket yes or no for refreshments for county employees, officials, or visitors; the answer depended on authority, public purpose, and the circumstances. State law expressly required…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the ballot title for a proposed medical marijuana initiative in 2013?
The AG found ambiguities in the proposed initiative itself, including a broken cross-reference and unclear defined terms, that prevented him from writing a fair and complete ballot title. He…
Must an Arkansas school district release background-check reports for its security guards under FOIA?
The AG said a hired public employee’s background-check report was generally a personnel record for release after required redactions. It could not decide whether any particular report should be…
Does time working for an Arkansas city count toward its nonuniformed pension after an employee stops contributing?
The AG said service counted toward the fund’s retirement thresholds only when the employee made required contributions throughout that service. It declined to decide this former clerk’s personal…
May an Arkansas mayor attend civil service commission interviews for a police or fire chief?
The mayor could attend a public commission meeting but could ask applicants questions only with the board’s consent. The mayor could not attend a closed executive session.
Could Arkansas police records about an officer’s outside classes be released under FOIA despite his harassment complaint?
The AG said records about the officer’s classes appeared to be personnel records requiring the ordinary privacy review. The requester’s alleged motive did not control FOIA disclosure. Because the AG…
Can an Arkansas city release thousands of requested emails without reviewing them for FOIA exemptions?
No. The city had to examine the emails, withhold or redact exempt information, and release nonexempt public records. Volume alone did not excuse disclosure, and the city could not charge the…
Did the Arkansas AG approve release of a former employee’s entire personnel file with only family and Social Security details redacted?
No such approval was given. The AG had not seen the records or been told the grounds for the former employee’s objection, so it could not decide whether any specific document should be released. It…
Can an Arkansas initiative sponsor get a ballot title certified without submitting the proposed amendment text?
No. The Attorney General returned three proposed popular names and ballot titles without certification because the sponsor had not submitted the text of the proposed constitutional amendments.
Do signatures on an Arkansas city government petition have to be dated after the last general election?
No. For a petition under the city manager statute, the preceding election set the required number of signatures; it did not bar earlier signatures. The AG cautioned that sufficiently old signatures…
Could Arkansas retail liquor stores franchise together if their fees came from nonalcoholic sales?
No. The AG read Arkansas’s retail liquor permit provisions as barring franchise arrangements regardless of which sales funded the fees. It rejected several constitutional objections in general terms…
Why did the Arkansas AG condition approval of a health department interlocal agreement amendment?
The AG approved the amendment only if its drafters resolved a formal inconsistency: a clause said it replaced existing language, but the supposed replacement repeated that language verbatim.
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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.