Florida Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Florida, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Did confidential Florida tax returns stay protected when a property appraiser hired a private contractor?
The informal letter did not give a categorical yes or no. It said tax returns remained confidential in the hands of people acting under the property appraiser's supervision and control, but whether…
Could the Florida Attorney General investigate transportation commissioners' financial interests in department contracts?
In 2008, the Attorney General's office said the cited conflict-of-interest provision set no penalty and gave that office no power to investigate or prosecute possible violations. It suggested…
Did a Florida housing authority need the Attorney General to approve its executive director's compensation contract?
In 2008, the Attorney General's office found no state-law requirement for it to approve a housing authority's executive-director contract and declined to rule on this contract's validity. It…
Who could vote on a Florida soil and water district's land-use referendum, and what notice was required?
The 2008 letter said only landowners within the district could vote on a referendum for district land-use regulations. It explained the statute's notice rule and declined to decide whether local…
How did Florida treat marriages performed elsewhere under its 2008 marriage laws?
A 2008 Attorney General letter said Florida generally recognized a marriage valid where celebrated, subject to Florida statutes and public policy. It then described restrictions under the law of…
When did Florida's six-month deadline for investigating an officer's certification begin, and did a missed deadline bar discipline?
The Attorney General said in 2008 that the commission's six-month investigation period began when it received the employing agency's completed disciplinary or internal-affairs report. The commission…
Could a Florida city limit how many tow trucks operated there under the law discussed in 2008?
The 2008 Attorney General letter did not approve a city cap on towing companies. It said federal law generally preempted local rules affecting tow-truck prices, routes, or services, subject to…
Could Naples ban riding unrestrained in pickup-truck beds under Florida's 2008 traffic law?
No. Under the Florida traffic law discussed in 2008, the Attorney General concluded that Naples could not adopt an ordinance banning riders in pickup or flatbed truck beds without restraints because…
When did an elected Florida city council member have to leave a planning commission seat to avoid dual office holding?
The Attorney General concluded in 2008 that an unsalaried planning commissioner elected to the Maitland City Council did not have to resign at the election. He had to resign before assuming the…
Could a Florida city pay officials or employees cash instead of unused group health-insurance premiums?
Yes, under the circumstances described in 2008. The Attorney General said Live Oak could prospectively offer officials and employees cash equal to an unused city insurance premium and could limit…
Could Orange County shift its school surtax between promised projects or build schools with other funds?
The Attorney General said Orange County's school board had to use its 2002 surtax proceeds over the levy to meet the plan's promised repairs or replacements and new-school construction. It could…
Did Florida's Sunshine and public-records laws apply when city council members used a private website?
The Attorney General said in 2008 that council members could post individually or administer a private website, but exchanges among members about foreseeable council business could trigger…
Did renting out a Florida homestead while caring for an ill child end the owner's tax exemption in 2008?
The Attorney General's office declined to decide this owner's exemption because the property appraiser had to assess the facts. It said temporary absence alone did not abandon a homestead, but under…
Could a Florida building official also serve on an independent mosquito-control district board?
Yes, under the constitutional provision analyzed in 2008. The Attorney General said its dual-office prohibition did not cover commissioner positions in independent special districts, so it did not…
Could a Florida county employee who retired early join group health insurance before or after normal retirement age?
The Attorney General said a Public Employee Optional Retirement Program early retiree who did not meet the specified normal-retirement or age-and-service criteria was not eligible to continue group…
Did St. Augustine's port district charter require its commission to act by ordinance or by resolution?
The Attorney General concluded in 2008 that the St. Augustine Port, Waterway and Beach Commission had to exercise its charter powers by resolution. Its enabling legislation repeatedly used that…
Could Clay County use court-technology recording fees for fiber cable carrying both court data and phone traffic?
Yes, for the system described in 2008. The Attorney General concluded that Clay County could spend its restricted court-technology service-charge proceeds on courthouse fiber carrying digital voice,…
Could a Florida community development district pay for residents' holiday events with surplus money or interest?
No. The Attorney General concluded in 2008 that the Lake St. Charles Community Development District lacked authority to spend surplus district funds on holiday social events or food and drink…
Could a Florida housing authority pay its lawyer's Bar dues and offer multiyear contracts or severance?
The Attorney General's office said in 2008 that a housing authority appeared able under state law to pay employed legal staff's Bar dues if its board found an authority purpose and budgeted the…
Who paid a Florida sheriff's cost of transporting a jailed witness to court under the law reviewed in 2008?
The Attorney General's office did not assign the cost to a specific party. In 2008 it found no statute clearly making the sheriff responsible for the court-ordered prisoner-witness trips described…
Could Belleair Beach temporarily hold council meetings in another Florida city while rebuilding city hall?
No, absent state legislative authorization under the law analyzed in 2008. The Attorney General said Belleair Beach could not temporarily hold official council meetings in an adjacent city during…
Did Florida's Sunshine Law cover a city employee's post-termination hearing before a manager or appeal panel?
In 2007, the Attorney General said Stuart's post-termination hearings before its city manager were outside the Sunshine Law because the manager acted alone under the city's rules. A three-member…
Who appointed members to a Florida juvenile justice circuit board, and could the board add three more?
Under the 2007 statute, county councils appointed the 15 circuit-board members beyond three specified officials. A circuit board could amend its bylaws to increase membership by up to three, but the…
Could a Florida treatment provider's nonlawyer employee file an involuntary treatment petition?
The 2007 AG letter did not decide whether a corporate treatment provider's nonlawyer employee could file its petition. It said the statute was unclear on counsel, while expressly requiring the…
Was a Florida veteran's homestead tax discount based on a VA disability rating or the sum of separate ratings?
The 2007 AG letter read the homestead tax discount as matching the veteran's permanent, service-connected disability percentage determined by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It declined to…
Could a Florida city impose a special assessment for fire protection and emergency medical services?
The AG's office explained that Florida courts permitted special assessments for fire protection when property received a special benefit and the charge was properly apportioned. It also noted that a…
If two Florida community development districts merge, who can vote for the new board?
The AG concluded that the proposed merger would create a new community development district, whose initial supervisors would be elected by landowners under the district-creation rules. The existing…
Can a Florida court clerk charge a collection agency for staff support after referring unpaid court fees?
No. The 2007 opinion found no authority for a clerk to bill the collection agent or attorney for the clerk's administrative support after referring unpaid court debts.
Could a Florida prosecutor choose between two bad-check statutes carrying different penalties?
Yes. The 2007 AG letter said the state attorney could choose which statute to prosecute under when stopping payment on a check with intent to defraud fell under both the farm-products misdemeanor…
Could a Florida county require a written request to remove an item from a meeting's consent agenda?
The AG's office saw no Sunshine Law violation in requiring a written request to the chair to pull a consent-agenda item for public discussion. It cautioned commissioners against discussing the…
Did Florida's AG approve Delray Beach's proposed noise ordinance?
No approval was given. The AG's office declined to review the proposed Delray Beach ordinance, but explained generally that municipal rules could not conflict with state law and flagged Chapter…
Did Florida law require a county to provide fire and emergency medical service everywhere in the county?
The 2007 AG letter found no general constitutional or statutory mandate for a county to provide fire suppression or emergency medical services. It did not resolve whether Columbia County could vary…
Could Clearwater spend infrastructure surtax money repairing a privately owned aquarium whose land could revert to the city?
No. The AG concluded that Clearwater could not use infrastructure surtax proceeds to improve the privately owned Clearwater Marine Aquarium facility. The city's right to recover the land if its use…
Did Florida's 2007 charitable-solicitation law override a city's total ban on roadway fundraising?
No. The AG read the 2007 amendment as exempting certain charities from local permit rules, not forcing Clearwater to allow solicitation where it had no permit program and banned all roadway…
Could Sebring Airport Authority use several continuing professional-services contracts and rebid each project?
The AG concluded that Sebring Airport Authority could have multiple continuing contracts for covered professional services. It could not require firms already under those contracts to bid against…
Did selling phone cards make a Florida computer sweepstakes lawful?
No automatic exemption followed from selling phone cards or filing a game promotion. The AG said a chance-based terminal might qualify as a prohibited slot machine, but local law enforcement had to…
Was every Florida tort claim notice confidential until the related lawsuit ended?
No blanket exemption applied. The AG said a tort claim notice might be part of a confidential risk-management claims file, but the county had to decide in good faith whether a particular notice fit…
Could Ocala lease unused city airport land for nonaviation use for more than 30 years?
Yes, on the facts presented. The AG concluded that Ocala could lease airport land for more than 30 years when the land was no longer needed for aeronautical purposes and the lease was for…
Could a Florida school board build a vehicle shop to maintain city vehicles and use the income for schools?
No. The AG concluded that Flagler County School District could not use its school-purpose powers to build a maintenance facility and service Palm Coast city vehicles just to earn money for its…
When did a Florida property owners association have to open its records and meetings to the public?
The AG concluded that the Compass Lake property owners association was subject to Florida's public records and open-meetings laws when it acted for the county's municipal services taxing unit. The…
Would Florida recognize a Mexican divorce if neither spouse lived in Mexico?
The AG's office said it had no power to validate a foreign divorce decree. Based on the correspondent's statement that neither spouse had residence or domicile in Mexico, it informally said the…
Could Niceville annex land separated from the city by navigable water?
The AG's office did not decide whether Niceville could annex the two parcels. It explained that a body of water alone need not defeat contiguity, but the annexation still had to satisfy practical…
Could Miami Beach use a charter referendum to set hospital-district rezoning rules?
The AG's office did not give a final answer because it lacked facts about how many parcels the proposed charter amendment would affect. It warned that a referendum effectively rezoning five or fewer…
Could Davenport amend its city charter to let voters decide taxes, budgets, salaries, and capital projects?
In a 2007 informal letter, the Attorney General's office explained that a city charter initiative could not conflict with state laws assigning tax and budget decisions to the governing body. It saw…
Could Belleair Beach appoint one person as both city clerk and city manager?
No, not as two separate appointments. The AG concluded that Belleair Beach's clerk and manager were distinct charter offices, so one person could not hold both. He said the city could instead amend…
Did Florida school districts have to screen noninstructional employees who could access students or school funds?
Yes. Under the law examined in 2007, noninstructional district employees with access to school grounds while students were present, direct student contact, or access to school funds had to meet…
Could Polk County voters make county land-use rules prevail over municipal density rules through a charter amendment?
Yes. The 2007 opinion concluded Polk County could amend its charter to limit increases in residential density countywide, and a countywide referendum was enough for land regulation; separate…
Could Mount Dora retire a development district's bonds and charge property owners new special assessments?
The 2007 informal letter said Mount Dora had to follow Chapter 190's service-transfer and termination process, including assuming related district debt. It considered a new special assessment…
Could a Bartow planning commissioner speak privately with residents before a quasi-judicial land-use hearing?
The 2007 informal letter gave no blanket yes or no. It said the prejudice presumption would appear to remain absent appropriate procedures under section 286.0115 or an alternative process. Identical…
Could Lauderdale Lakes move its city commission organizational meeting by ordinance after changing its election date?
Yes, for the narrow change considered in 2007. Because Lauderdale Lakes had moved its election to November, the AG concluded it could change the yearly organizational meeting date and the resulting…
Could Fort Lauderdale require city commissioners and lobbyists to follow local charitable-donation ethics rules?
Yes in principle. The 2007 opinion said Florida municipalities could adopt ethics rules that were stricter than, or different from, the state ethics code if complying with both remained possible.…
Could Deltona weigh a city's net benefit before approving voluntary annexation, and could an owner challenge a denial?
Yes to both, as the 2007 opinion framed them. Section 171.044 gave Deltona discretion whether to adopt a voluntary-annexation ordinance, and the AG said considering net benefit was consistent with…
How could Florida county voters petition for single-member county commission districts in 2007?
The 2007 informal letter summarized section 124.011's petition route: signatures from at least ten percent of qualified county electors, a registered political committee with a named chair, the…
Could Layton change Florida's Chapter 162 code-enforcement procedure in a city ordinance?
The 2007 AG letter declined to judge Layton's proposed ordinance. It explained that a municipality choosing Chapter 162 code enforcement had to use its prescribed procedures without local…
Did an existing privately held Florida tax certificate survive when a county bought the property?
Yes, on the assumed facts. The 2007 AG opinion held that a private tax certificate issued while the land was taxable remained valid after the county acquired it. Chapter 197 governed redemption and…
Could Florida enforce its employer sanctions law despite federal immigration-law preemption in 2007?
The 2007 informal letter said federal law expressly preempted state or local civil and criminal sanctions on employers of unauthorized workers, apart from licensing and similar laws. The office said…
Could Calhoun County pay to settle a lien on purchased land after a court discharged it?
The 2007 informal letter found no basis for Calhoun County to pay the proposed lien settlement after the circuit court discharged the lien and the appeal was dismissed. On those facts, the AG's…
Did federal law require Florida to negotiate prohibited casino games to obtain tribal gaming revenue sharing?
No, according to the 2007 opinion. The AG read the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act as requiring negotiations over Class III games the state permitted, not games it specifically prohibited. A tribe…
Did heirs need a new Florida homestead exemption application after inheriting an already exempt home?
Yes, the 2007 letter said the new owners needed an initial homestead exemption application despite the prior owner's exemption and Clay County's waiver of annual refiling. The office could not…
Could a Florida sheriff arrest a seller for price gouging during a declared emergency?
The 2007 letter treated price gouging itself as a civil enforcement matter for specified state offices. It said a sheriff could arrest an emergency seller who lacked the required business tax…
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Attorney general opinions in Florida are written by the Florida 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.