Delaware Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Delaware, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Can I file a FOIA complaint against a city before its deadline to respond to my records request has even passed?
No, according to this opinion. A property owner petitioned before the City of Rehoboth Beach's 15-business-day response window had run, and the AG found that piece premature. On the merits of what…
Does a letter to a city count as a public records request even if it doesn't mention FOIA by name?
Yes, according to this opinion. A resident's letter asking about property assessment figures met FOIA's requirements even though it didn't invoke FOIA by name, so the City of Rehoboth Beach…
Can a governor's office withhold emails from a public records request just because a state legislator or their staff was copied on them?
Not entirely, according to this opinion. The Governor's Office withheld records under two FOIA exemptions: one for materials protected by privilege, which the AG upheld, and one for emails involving…
Does a public board violate open-meetings law if its president has a quiet side conversation with counsel or staff during a meeting?
No, according to this opinion. A legislator complained that the State Board of Education's president had a private sidebar with the board's attorney and asked a staff member to confirm advice during…
Can a state tax agency refuse a public records request for a company's corporate tax exemption application?
Yes, according to this opinion. A requester sought three companies' applications for exemption from Delaware corporate income tax. The Division of Revenue refused, citing the tax secrecy statute,…
Can I file a new FOIA petition asking the Attorney General to reconsider a decision already issued in an earlier case?
Mostly no, according to this opinion. The ACLU of Delaware sent a follow-up letter about State Police's production of cell-site simulator records under a prior AG determination. The AG found that…
Can a police department keep its internal affairs investigation summaries confidential even if its own written policy promises to release them?
Yes, according to this opinion. A journalist asked the Town of Bethany Beach for annual statistical summaries of police internal affairs investigations, which the police department's own written…
Can a county council discuss how a new pay plan affects specific employees in a closed executive session?
Yes, according to this opinion. A resident challenged Sussex County's handling of a new employee pay plan, questioning why its impact on specific employees was discussed in executive session at a…
Can Delaware State Police refuse to release its confidentiality agreement with the FBI about cell-site simulator (Stingray) technology?
No, according to this opinion. A journalist asked Delaware State Police for records about its use of cell-site simulators (devices that mimic cell towers to track phones), including any…
Can a reporter get the medical examiner's conclusion about a person's manner of death through a Delaware public records request?
No, according to this opinion. A reporter asked Delaware's Division of Forensic Science (DDFS) for the autopsy findings, and later just the medical examiner's conclusion on manner of death, in the…
Can a state agency charge me for a duplicate email search after it already searched its own records and found nothing?
Technically no violation, but poor practice, according to this opinion. The Department of Education searched its own email records for a FOIA request, found nothing, but still sent a $300 estimate…
Does a school board have to take a public vote before denying a parent's request, even if it never formally calls for a motion?
Yes, according to this opinion. A parent's attorney asked the Brandywine School Board to expunge a student's discipline record. The Board discussed the request in executive session under a vague…
Can a school board vote in executive session about whether to record that session?
No. The Christina School Board violated FOIA by voting in executive session to recommend that the session not be recorded; votes on public business must occur in public. The AG ordered no remedy…
Can a landlord get paid to remove an abandoned manufactured home if the tenant abandoned it before the landlord ever filed a change-in-use plan?
No, according to this opinion. The Delaware Manufactured Home Relocation Authority (DEMHRA) asked whether it must pay a landlord to remove a manufactured home a tenant abandoned before the landlord…
Is a shared data-processing agency owned by two school districts subject to Delaware's public records law?
Yes, according to this opinion. The New Castle Data Service Center (DSC), a shared administrative agency owned and operated by the Colonial and Red Clay Consolidated School Districts to handle…
Can a Delaware agency refuse to search for emails older than 12 months just because its IT department only retains a year's worth?
No, under the law as it stood in 2015. The AG found that the Delaware Department of Agriculture violated FOIA when it treated its IT department's 12-month email retention as an excuse to stop…
Can Delaware require political parties to put a 'paid for by' disclaimer on campaign ads without violating the First Amendment?
Yes, according to this opinion. Delaware's State Election Commissioner asked whether she could keep enforcing the state's disclaimer law requiring political parties to label campaign advertisements…
Did Dewey Beach violate FOIA in its meetings, emails, and records response about a proposed town hall property purchase?
The AG found two FOIA violations: an untimely, inadequate response to a records request and missing minutes for a public meeting. It found no FOIA violation in the Council's public vote to approve…
Does a nonprofit that gets most of its funding from the state count as a public body under Delaware's open meetings law?
No, according to this opinion. The Cape Henlopen Senior Center, a private nonprofit that gets more than two-thirds of its budget from state and county grants and had the Rehoboth Beach mayor and…
Can a manufactured home owner get relocation assistance from Delaware's Trust Fund to move within the same community?
Yes, according to this opinion. The Delaware Manufactured Housing Relocation Authority asked whether its Trust Fund could cover moving costs for homeowners who relocate within the same manufactured…
Does a government records office have to provide bulk copies of public records in the specific electronic format I request?
No, according to this opinion. A requester (Zillow) asked the Kent County Recorder of Deeds for about a year and a half of recorded document images on external media. The Recorder instead offered…
Can a government agency charge me thousands of dollars in fees to discourage me from pursuing a public records request?
Not if the estimate is inflated, according to this opinion. A blogger challenged the Department of Education's $6,568.86 fee estimate for a records request about testing-vendor contracts. The AG…
Can a school board discuss and vote on renewing a superintendent's contract in a closed executive session?
No, according to this opinion. The Appoquinimink School Board violated Delaware's open meetings law by discussing the superintendent's contract renewal in executive session (personnel-matter…
Do National Guard firefighters who are classified as state employees have the right to collectively bargain under Delaware law, or only federal law?
Both, according to this opinion. The AG concluded that Delaware National Guard firefighters classified as state employees could use Delaware's Police Officers' and Firefighters' Employment Relations…
Can I get records about individual special-education students through a Delaware public records request?
Not when disclosure could still identify individual students, according to this opinion. The AG found that Individual Educational Plans and related documents for a small group of special-education…
Can a state agency withhold how much money telecom companies pay into a public fund by calling that information a trade secret?
No, not here. The AG found that the amounts two telecom carriers, AT&T and Sprint, paid into Delaware's Broadband Fund were "financial" and "commercial" information but not protected trade secrets…
Does a public body violate Delaware's open meetings law if the hearing room turns out to be too small for everyone who shows up?
Not necessarily, according to the AG. Delaware's FOIA requires a public body to pick a reasonably sized venue when it knows a meeting will draw a crowd, but it does not require the body to guarantee…
Can a citizen use Delaware's FOIA to get records that a private company holds under contract with a state agency?
Not automatically. According to this opinion, a private contractor's own business records only count as FOIA "public records" if the contractor prepared them to carry out the public agency's own…
Can town council members discuss an issue informally over several public meetings without violating the open meetings law?
No violation, according to the AG. Because the Frankford Town Council's discussion of the charter amendment happened across several public meetings, and there was no evidence of any private quorum…
Can a Delaware city charge more than the standard FOIA copying fee based on its own internal rules?
No. The AG found that the City of Wilmington could not charge more than FOIA's standard photocopying fee, 10 cents per page after the first 20 free pages, because its higher internal fee schedule…
What happens if a Delaware public body doesn't post its meeting notices on the state's official calendar?
The board violated Delaware's open-meetings law by not electronically posting notices and minutes on the state's official Public Meeting Calendar, but the AG found the violation didn't harm anyone…
Who legally controls how Delaware invests its state cash, the elected State Treasurer or the Cash Management Policy Board?
The Cash Management Policy Board, not the State Treasurer. The AG concluded that Delaware's constitution gives the Treasurer no inherent investment power, only the receipt, care, and disbursement of…
Can a nonprofit like the ACLU get an inmate's records under FOIA when the inmate himself would be barred from requesting them?
Yes, in this case. The AG found that DOC had to release Alco-Sensor calibration and maintenance records to the ACLU of Delaware because the group was pursuing its own public-interest investigation,…
Can Delaware's prison system keep the identity of its lethal injection drug supplier secret under public records law?
No. The AG reaffirmed its prior ruling that DOC could not use a trade-secret exemption, a state confidentiality statute, its execution protocol, or a state-secret privilege to withhold records about…
Could a reporter obtain the 2013 calls from the Vice President's Delaware home that concerned a possible medical emergency?
No, for these two recordings. The AG upheld New Castle County's refusal because the calls implicated an individual's constitutional and common-law privacy interests in personal health information.…
Is an informal advisory group the governor convenes by invitation subject to Delaware's open meetings law?
Yes. The AG concluded that a 24-member charter school reform group the Governor convened by invitation, without any formal charter or bylaws, still counted as a "public body" under FOIA because it…
Is a state agency exempt from Delaware's open meetings law if it's headed by just one person?
Yes. The AG concluded that DNREC, headed by a single Secretary rather than a multi-member board, qualified as a "body of one" exempt from FOIA's open-meeting requirements, so its choice of hearing…
Can a city redact police officers' names from records about the mayor's security detail?
Yes, in this case. The AG found Wilmington was justified in redacting the names of officers assigned to the mayor's security detail, and of unsuccessful applicants, from personnel-type records under…
Can a county council use generic boilerplate language on every meeting agenda to reserve the right to go into executive session on any topic?
No FOIA violation was found here, but the AG warned that using generic boilerplate language listing every possible executive-session exemption on every agenda, regardless of whether the Council…
Can a school board hire a new superintendent behind closed doors without telling the public it planned to vote?
No. The AG found that the Woodbridge School Board violated Delaware's open-meetings law by not disclosing it would vote on the superintendent's resignation and replacement, and by privately…
Can a school board's vote to extend a superintendent's contract be thrown out for violating the open meetings law?
Yes. The AG found that the Capital School District Board's failure to tell attendees it planned to reconvene in a second closed session and then vote violated Delaware's open-meetings law, and…
After a school board's raise vote gets invalidated for a notice problem, does redoing that vote have to preview every detail critics want, like an advance copy of a supporting presentation?
No, under the law as it stood in 2012. After the AG invalidated the Capital School District Board's first vote on a 5% administrator raise for lacking proper notice, the AG upheld the Board's redone…
Is there a deadline for asking Delaware's Attorney General to investigate an old open-meetings complaint?
Yes, in practice, under the law as it stood in 2012. The AG dismissed a resident's FOIA petition over a 2010 wind turbine agreement as untimely because it was filed more than two years after the…
Can a Delaware city withhold police officers' names from public salary records?
No. The AG concluded that Wilmington police officers' salary and compensation records are public under Delaware's FOIA, and that the Law-Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights, which protects officers…
What happens when a Delaware town council repeatedly holds closed-door meetings without explaining why?
The AG reported 28 Dewey Beach open-meeting violations. FOIA required agendas to identify the grounds for closed sessions and major public-meeting issues. The opinion said actions at the affected…
Is a nonprofit society empowered to enforce animal cruelty laws a "public body" under Delaware's FOIA?
Yes, still, the AG confirmed. In this supplemental opinion, the AG clarified that the Kent County SPCA qualifies as a "public body" under Delaware's FOIA specifically because the General Assembly…
Does a mayor's office have to hold open meetings under Delaware's open meetings law?
No, under the law as it stood in 2012. The AG found the Wilmington Mayor's Office is exempt from FOIA's open meeting requirements because its entire decisionmaking authority rests with one person,…
Does a Delaware zoning board have to let the public comment before ruling that a building-permit appeal was filed too late?
No, under the law as it stood in 2012. The AG found the Rehoboth Beach Board of Adjustment's notice of an appeal hearing adequately covered a threshold ruling on whether the appeal was filed on…
Does a nonprofit animal cruelty society have to hold open board meetings if it gets a small state grant?
Yes, the AG found. The Kent County SPCA is a "public body" under Delaware's FOIA because it is empowered by the state to enforce animal cruelty laws and receives a state grant-in-aid, so its board…
Can a Delaware school board post only a 'Tentative Agenda' instead of a final one before its meetings?
No, under the law as it stood in 2012. The AG found the Caesar Rodney School Board violated FOIA by posting only 'Tentative Agendas' (misleadingly implying a final version would follow) and by not…
Do Delaware county sheriffs have the legal authority to arrest people?
No, in the AG's view. Responding to a Kent County Sheriff's own question, the AG concluded that Delaware sheriffs and their deputies have neither constitutional arrest power under the historic…
Can an out-of-state housing authority's corporate arm operate as a public housing authority in Delaware?
No, the AG found. Only a housing authority created and operating under Delaware's exacting statutory process, certified by the Delaware State Housing Authority and appointed by the Governor and…
Can a school board approve a raise for administrators by adding it to the meeting agenda only after the meeting has already begun?
No, under the law as it stood in 2012. The AG invalidated the Capital School District Board's vote granting administrators a five percent raise because the item never appeared on the agenda until…
Can a Delaware agency block a new records request just because it denied a similar one before?
No, the AG found. The Department of Labor violated FOIA by withholding routine wage-law inspection records, citations, and site-visit logs under a blanket "investigative files" exemption without…
Can a Delaware prison inmate use FOIA to get records from the Department of Correction?
No, the AG found. Delaware's FOIA specifically excludes from the definition of "public record" any Department of Correction records where an inmate in the Department's own custody is the one seeking…
Can Delaware's prison system keep the identity of its execution drug supplier secret under FOIA?
No, the AG found. The Delaware Department of Correction had to turn over its purchase, invoice, and transfer records for lethal injection chemicals because none of DOC's four justifications, pending…
Can a Delaware city redact the price terms from a public government contract to protect a vendor's competitors from underbidding?
No, the AG found. The City of Dover violated FOIA by redacting the price and payment terms from its solar energy contract with White Oak, because final negotiated contract prices are not "obtained…
What did the Delaware AG say about a school board's off-agenda repeat vote?
The June 14 vote technically violated FOIA because the issue was not on that meeting's agenda. The AG said no third vote was needed because the June vote repeated a properly noticed May 25 vote. The…
Do Delaware meeting minutes have to summarize what was discussed, or just record who attended and how they voted?
Mostly, under the law as it stood in 2011, no violations at all: the AG found a town's general agenda items, its removal of an item without explanation, its lean meeting minutes, and its handling of…
Can a school board discuss a lawsuit update or pay-period costs behind closed doors in Delaware?
Partly, the AG found. Laurel School Board mislabeled a job-applicant discussion as a personnel matter but didn't have to fix that because the public was otherwise well informed, while its…
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Attorney general opinions in Delaware are written by the Delaware 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.