Connecticut Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Connecticut, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Could the human rights commission’s executive director stay after his four-year term without reappointment?
The AG concluded that Louis Martin’s term as executive director of the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities expired July 14, 1998. Neither the earlier statute nor its 1998 amendment…
Could a Connecticut gaming regulator own stock in a supplier of casino slot machines?
The AG concluded that a Division of Special Revenue employee who monitored casino gaming could not own stock in International Game Technology, a slot-machine and gaming-services supplier to the…
Could Connecticut set a 60 mph limit on a highway suitable for more than 55 but less than 65 mph?
The AG said the State Traffic Commission could not use Public Act 98-181 to set a limit between 55 and 65 mph on a multilane limited-access state highway. The act directed 65 mph where a road was…
Was a regional waste authority audited by Connecticut’s state auditors or under municipal audit law?
The AG said the Southeastern Connecticut Regional Resource Recovery Authority was an audited agency under municipal audit law, on the stated receipts assumption. That status removed it from the…
When could Connecticut social services share client information with the child protection agency?
The AG said DSS could disclose client-identifying information to DCF under its valid regulations, including when DCF found imminent danger and requested necessary information, or when DSS itself…
Did an interior designer’s plans for a covered large building always need an architect or engineer’s seal?
The AG said plans for architectural or engineering work on specified buildings had to be sealed by a licensed architect or engineer. Plans limited to interior-design services under § 20-377k,…
Did electrical experts hired to examine fire evidence need Connecticut private investigator licenses?
The AG said electrical-system experts hired by the public safety department to analyze evidence and determine whether a system caused a fire did not need private detective licenses if they were not…
Must a Connecticut agency notify employees when an FOI request seeks many home addresses?
The AG said the comptroller generally had to notify all affected state employees of a broad FOI request for home addresses so they could assert privacy objections. A separate protection for…
Could a state commission reimburse legal fees after the Claims Commissioner and legislature had considered the same claim?
No. The AG said the Criminal Justice Commission could not award a second reimbursement for the same legal fees after the Claims Commissioner and General Assembly had considered the claim. He agreed…
Should registrars send voters’ Social Security numbers to build Connecticut’s master jury list?
The AG said both readings of the new jury-list mandate were plausible: existing numbers might be “available,” but earlier voter notices had not disclosed jury use. He advised proceeding with names…
Could the Mohegan Tribe use contract offsets to reduce its required minimum gaming contribution?
Interpreting the state–tribal gaming memorandum, the AG agreed with the state division that specified offsets applied only above the minimum contribution. The minimum-payment paragraph controlled…
Could the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe replace Connecticut workers’ compensation for its reservation employees?
The AG said the tribe could operate its own workers’ compensation code for employees injured while working on its reservation, including nonmembers. State claims against the tribe required its…
Could Connecticut recover deputy sheriffs’ FICA taxes after paying their share to the IRS?
The AG said the state could seek reimbursement from special deputy sheriffs if it paid their employee share of FICA taxes after failing to withhold it. He expressly excluded a different federal…
Did Connecticut’s mental health patients’ rights law cover psychiatric units in state prisons?
No. The AG concluded that prison mental health units were not “facilities” under the cited patients’ bill of rights, so its treatment procedures did not govern those units. He separately identified…
Could UConn pay construction vendors directly from UConn 2000 bond proceeds?
The AG concluded that UConn 2000 bonds were issued by the university, rather than the state. Their proceeds therefore did not trigger the state-bond payment exclusion, and UConn could pay project…
Could a Connecticut alternative sanctions contractor see a juvenile’s medical and psychiatric detention records?
The AG said contractors serving a delinquent child under the Office of Alternative Sanctions could access that child’s relevant medical and psychiatric detention records. The specific juvenile…
Could a Connecticut telephone company avoid state service rules by splitting into wholesale and retail affiliates?
The AG declined to decide whether federal law preempted Connecticut’s service rules or whether a telephone company could change its obligations by splitting into wholesale and retail affiliates. The…
Could Connecticut withhold workers’ compensation payments for child support?
The AG distinguished two payments. Subsistence allowances from the Workers’ Rehabilitation Unit were not earnings subject to child support withholding. Other workers’ compensation benefits were…
Could a Connecticut regional school district vary monthly town bills and move leftover money into a capital reserve?
The AG said a regional school board could choose when and how much to bill member towns, provided each town’s total stayed within its annual share of net expenses. It could not move unspent money…
Could Connecticut’s ethics commission refund part of a lobbyist registration fee for a year without lobbying?
The AG found no statute authorizing the ethics commission to refund a portion of a lobbyist’s registration fee for a year in which the person did not lobby. He separately explained that his office’s…
Could Connecticut’s comptroller send withheld vendor payments directly to the student loan foundation?
Yes. The AG concluded that the comptroller could remit sums withheld from state vendor payments to the Connecticut Student Loan Foundation. The statute directed an offset for certain defaulted loans…
Could Connecticut’s lottery sell tickets for a televised bingo-style drawing?
No. The AG concluded that the lottery corporation’s proposed televised, number-calling game was bingo under the governing statute. Its general power to introduce lottery products did not override…
Could Connecticut keep enforcing its blanket ban on assigning lottery prizes after a conflicting statute?
No. The AG found that a statute allowing certain prize payments to others conflicted with the division’s absolute ban on assigning prizes and invalidated that regulation. A later repeal of the…
Could Connecticut divide a state employee’s employment settlement over three years when calculating his pension?
The AG said a state settlement payment resolving a managerial employee’s potential discrimination claims could count as salary for retirement. Dividing it among his three highest-paid years did not…
How far back could Connecticut recalculate a teacher’s disability retirement payments after an election?
The AG said the Teachers’ Retirement Board could treat a recalculation election as filed up to three months earlier if it found that health-related circumstances delayed it. The board had no…
Could a creditor garnish a Connecticut state employee’s expense reimbursement as wages?
No. The AG concluded that reimbursements for expenses a state employee incurred were not compensation for services. The wage garnishment statute reached earnings, so the described non-reportable…
Did Connecticut’s gaming revolving-door rule bar a former regulator from joining a tribal gaming commission?
The AG said the gaming revolving-door statute did not prohibit the division’s former director from heading the tribal gaming commission because that commission was a tribal government regulator, not…
Could Connecticut require an agricultural research board to manage private trusts under state deposit rules?
The AG said Connecticut’s state deposit and oversight rules could not control the Agricultural Experiment Station board when it acted as trustee of private charitable trusts. Once trust money was…
Did a Connecticut employer have to give an employee legislator time off for legislative work or campaigning?
The AG said an employer with at least 25 employees could not penalize an employee legislator for unpaid time spent on reasonably necessary office duties. The legislator made the initial call about…
Could a Connecticut town without a high school pay only part of a student’s tuition at a chosen public high school?
The AG said a school district without its own high school could designate more than one approved high school and could consent to another approved public high school. In either case the district had…
Did Connecticut’s human rights commission retain jurisdiction over unresolved discrimination complaints filed before 1996?
The Attorney General concluded that the commission retained jurisdiction in all five pending or remanded situations presented, so long as it had made a reasonable-cause or no-reasonable-cause…
Could a former Connecticut utility commissioner work for an unregulated subsidiary of a regulated company within a year?
The AG read the one-year post-service employment ban to include an unregulated subsidiary wholly or substantially owned by a regulated public service company or certified intrastate…
Did Connecticut’s higher education commissioner need the governor’s approval to forgive an uncollectible teacher incentive loan?
The Attorney General concluded that the commissioner’s specific authority to forgive an uncollectible Teacher Incentive Loan Program loan was not limited by the general state-debt cancellation…
Could Connecticut parole officers enforce parole conditions on the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan reservations?
The AG concluded that state parole officers had the same authority to enforce parole conditions on Connecticut’s two federal tribal reservations as elsewhere in the state. The answer covered Indian…
Could Connecticut revise a business grant agreement when Dun & Bradstreet split into three companies?
The AG said the state could replace, but not merely amend, its Dun & Bradstreet grant contract to allocate obligations among three companies. The replacement required AG approval as to form. The…
Was a Connecticut fuel-oil dealer’s tank leak cleanup plan regulated as insurance?
The AG agreed that the described H.E.L.P. oil-tank cleanup and replacement plan was not an insurance contract. It was attached to a dealer’s fuel and service agreement, and the customer arrangement…
Could Connecticut pool retirement and other state trust money in one investment fund?
The AG said the treasurer could combine retirement and seven other trust funds in a global investment pool if accounting identified each fund’s share and preserved its governing uses. The…
Did Connecticut’s 1996 criminal-record changes reach already erased transcripts and pending cases?
The AG separated three 1996 changes. The new exclusion for court transcripts did not undo erasure rights already vested by October 1, but applied to pending cases. The three-year delay on physically…
Did Connecticut’s Board of Pardons have to hold a commutation hearing before every scheduled execution?
The AG left the timing of commutation hearings and who could request them to the Board of Pardons’ discretion. He said the board could also convene a hearing without any request, and referred…
Did a new Connecticut off-track betting site need a town referendum, or could the town council approve it?
The AG said Autotote’s request to open an additional off-track betting facility was a site-approval request, not a new license application triggering a referendum. It required the gaming officials’…
Were Connecticut tourism districts exempt from sales tax or automatically subject to state and municipal audit laws?
The AG said tourism districts were neither political subdivisions nor government agencies, so the cited sales tax exemption and Municipal Auditing Act did not cover them. A district could fall under…
Could Connecticut’s consumer counsel stay in office after his term ended while the governor had not named a successor?
The AG concluded that the specific Consumer Counsel term provision controlled over the general officer-term rule. John Merchant’s term had ended on May 20, 1996 despite the absence of a successor,…
Did Connecticut have to use the federal retail-minus formula for telephone wholesale rates despite a utility’s below-cost claim?
The AG said Connecticut’s utility regulator had to set wholesale rates under the federal retail-minus rule. He declined to decide whether the effect was unconstitutional because the impact on…
Were Connecticut special deputy sheriffs owed federal minimum wage and overtime pay for courthouse security work?
The AG concluded that special deputy sheriffs assigned to courthouse security, prisoner detention and transportation were covered employees under federal wage law. He advised paying the federal…
How should Connecticut calculate workers’ compensation cost-of-living increases while two agency rulings conflict?
The AG did not settle the disputed formula. He advised the Second Injury Fund to continue its method after the compensation review board’s Wolfe decision and pursue its appeal of the conflicting Gil…
Where did Connecticut have to put hospital assessment money recovered after the Uncompensated Care Pool lawsuit?
The AG said hospitals had to remit Pool assessments on new revenue received after the New England Health case. The state had to place the money in a special General Fund reconciliation account and…
Could Connecticut’s deputy insurance commissioner decide an acquisition case after the commissioner recused himself?
The AG said the deputy insurance commissioner could exercise the commissioner’s powers after his recusal from an insurer acquisition case. The deputy could read the hearing record and decide without…
Who paid for special education when Connecticut's child welfare agency placed a child with no home school district under the 1995 law?
Under the 1995 act, the Attorney General said a no-nexus child's former district initially paid after a DCF placement. If the child remained uncommitted in placement beyond one year, DCF paid;…
Could a Connecticut town vote to delay property revaluation before doing the appraisal work?
The AG said a municipality could adopt a statutory stay of revaluation implementation without first completing the revaluation. It still had to conduct the revaluation in time to implement it when…
Could a nonresident trustee vote at a Connecticut school district meeting based on trust property taxes?
The AG declined to decide whether a nonresident trustee could vote at a school district meeting based on property now held in trust. He said the answer required local legal analysis of whether the…
How were Connecticut workers’ compensation COLAs calculated for injuries before July 1993?
For workers injured before July 1, 1993, the AG said 1994 and 1995 cost-of-living adjustments had to use the maximum compensation rate formula in force at the time of injury. The later formula did…
Did a wheelchair rider need medical help during the trip for the vehicle to count as an invalid coach?
The AG clarified that a rider was a “patient” for invalid-coach regulation only when the rider needed medical assistance during transportation, along with meeting the statute’s other criteria.…
Could Connecticut withhold a town’s tax-exemption reimbursement because the manufacturer violated environmental law?
The AG said the state had to reimburse Brookfield for a qualifying manufacturing equipment property-tax exemption even though the business had violated an environmental order. Neither the exemption…
Could Connecticut review Amtrak electrification substations after a federal environmental study?
The AG said federal oversight of Amtrak’s rail electrification project did not entirely displace Connecticut Siting Council review of proposed substations and power lines. Congress settled the…
Could Connecticut’s governor elevate a sitting justice to chief justice without a commission recommendation?
The AG said the governor’s nominee for Connecticut chief justice had to come from the Judicial Selection Commission’s list of qualified candidates. An associate justice already serving on the…
Could Connecticut draw on a proposed casino letter of credit after a lawsuit or court order?
The AG said filing a lawsuit alone would not bar a draw under Mirage Bridgeport’s proposed casino letter of credit. As written, however, a court or agency order affecting the planned facilities…
Could Medicaid pay an unlicensed livery company for trips that counted as invalid-coach service?
The AG said Connecticut’s Medicaid program should not reimburse wheelchair livery providers for transportation that met the statutory definition of invalid-coach service unless they held the…
Did a handgun sale started before October 1995 avoid the new permit rule if delivery came later?
The AG said a pistol or revolver purchased or received on or after October 1, 1995 had to satisfy the new permit, eligibility-certificate or listed-officer exception, even if the transaction began…
Could Connecticut approve and regulate a state bank branch inside the Foxwoods casino?
The AG said the proposed branch of a Connecticut bank at Foxwoods would be “in this state,” and state regulation of that independent bank would not be federally preempted on the described facts. He…
Did a busy Connecticut flea market on unimproved land need a state highway traffic certificate?
The AG said a seasonal flea market on an unimproved tract by Route 7 did not need a State Traffic Commission certificate under the development statute, despite heavy traffic and about 1,000 parking…
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Attorney general opinions in Connecticut are written by the Connecticut 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.