Kentucky Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Kentucky, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Could Kentucky public universities offer domestic-partner health benefits under Section 233A?
Under its 2007 reading of Section 233A, the AG said universities could offer health coverage to domestic partners or other household members, but the specific eligibility definitions then used by…
Could a Kentucky District Court hear a criminal case without allowing the county attorney to participate?
No. The AG concluded that a county attorney's statutory duty to prosecute District Court criminal cases carried a right to be present and heard when those cases were called in open court. The court…
When did ordinary laws from Kentucky's 2007 regular legislative session take effect?
The AG said ordinary 2007 regular-session acts became effective at the first moment of June 26, 2007, after 90 full days following final adjournment. It excluded general appropriation measures and…
Did a Kentucky Medicaid recipient employing a consumer-directed caregiver need workers' compensation coverage?
No, for the consumer-directed services described. The AG concluded that KRS 205.5607 exempted the recipient-provider relationship under KRS 205.5606 from the workers' compensation chapter, even if a…
Was Kentucky's 30-mile assistant county attorney residency rule measured by road or straight line?
The AG said KRS 69.300's 30-mile alternative was measured in a straight line from the county line, not by driving distance along roads. The statute also allowed residence in a contiguous county.
Could a Kentucky state retiree working again receive a second public health contribution for cafeteria benefits?
No. The AG said a retiree already participating in state health coverage could not receive another public employer's health contribution through later employment, even if redirected to other…
Could a Lexington-Fayette council member also direct Kentucky's Cabinet ombudsman office?
No. The AG classified the Cabinet for Health and Family Services ombudsman executive director as a state officer and a Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council member as a county officer. It concluded…
When did ordinary Kentucky laws passed in the 2006 regular session take effect?
The AG said ordinary 2006 regular-session acts took effect at the first moment of July 12, 2006, after 90 full days following final adjournment. It excluded general appropriation bills and acts with…
Who paid for emergency screening and HIV prevention during a Kentucky sexual-assault forensic exam?
The AG said an initial emergency-physician screening, STI testing including HIV, and HIV post-exposure prophylaxis when appropriate were part of the forensic exam's basic treatment. The Crime…
Were Kentucky Commonwealth's Attorneys subject to the executive-branch ethics code and commission?
No. The AG concluded that Commonwealth's Attorneys were not among the officers and public servants covered by KRS Chapter 11A and were outside the Executive Branch Ethics Commission's jurisdiction.…
Could Kentucky keep a candidate off the ballot for failing to file a campaign-treasurer form?
No. The AG concluded that a candidate who timely filed the proper nomination document could not be denied ballot access solely for failing to file a campaign-treasurer designation. The candidate was…
Could Kentucky's medical board share KASPER reports with a doctor it investigated or use them at a licensing hearing?
No, absent a court order. The AG said the Board of Medical Licensure could not disclose KASPER reports to an investigated or charged physician or counsel, produce them through hearing discovery, or…
What hearing did a tenured Kentucky school district employee need before dismissal when no later hearing was available?
The AG said a classified school employee with the statutory renewal right needed a meaningful pre-termination hearing if no post-termination remedy was available. It identified reasonable notice,…
Could a Hopkinsville convention center take Kentucky state funds while rejecting the name in the budget line?
No. The AG concluded that the 2005 appropriation for the “James E. Bruce Convention Center in Hopkinsville” could be spent only on a facility bearing that name; the local center could not take the…
When did ordinary bills from Kentucky's 2005 legislative session take effect?
The AG said those 2005 regular-session acts took effect at the first moment of June 20, 2005, after 90 full days had elapsed following final adjournment. General appropriation measures and acts with…
Did Kentucky's Constitution bar the legislature from authorizing gambling beyond lotteries?
The AG said Section 226(3) barred lotteries and similar paid prize schemes decided purely by chance, subject to the Constitution's express exceptions. It concluded that other forms of gambling were…
Could a Kentucky county attorney use delinquent-tax account money for travel to association events?
Yes. The AG concluded that travel to board meetings and other Kentucky County Attorneys Association events could be paid from the county attorney's delinquent real estate tax collection account as…
Could a new agency enter Kentucky's County Employees Retirement System during the 2004–05 health-contract freeze?
No. The AG said the 2004 law barred new Personnel Cabinet health-coverage contracts required for entry into the County Employees Retirement System, creating a temporary moratorium through December…
When did Kentucky treat two union-backed political committees as affiliated for contribution limits?
The AG said two permanent committees were not automatically affiliated just because their sponsoring unions were related. The Registry of Election Finance had to assess their registration and actual…
Could Kentucky hire a private company to operate its state-built Elliott County prison?
No. The AG concluded that a private provider could not operate the proposed Elliott County facility because the county lacked the law-enforcement presence required by KRS 197.505(3) and the provider…
Did Kentucky's Prompt Pay Law apply to clean claims from health providers without an insurer contract?
Yes. The AG said Kentucky's Prompt Pay Law covered clean claims from qualifying providers whether or not they contracted with the insurer. The insurer could still pay, deny, or contest a clean claim…
Was the Kentucky cabinet division director in OAG 04-010 a state officer or a state employee?
On the later facts presented, the AG classified this particular Division Director II position as state employment, rather than a state office. It modified OAG 04-010 only on that classification.
Could a Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council member also serve as a Kentucky state cabinet division director?
OAG 04-010 said no, treating the named division director position as a state office and an urban county council seat as a county office. OAG 04-012 later modified that classification after receiving…
Could Kentucky change or end competitively bid state employee health-insurance contracts, and owe lost profits?
The Attorney General said amendments to Kentucky’s competitively bid employee health-insurance contracts had to follow procurement procedures and could not materially defeat competitive bidding.…
Could a bank or hospital bill a Kentucky prosecutor for records produced under a criminal subpoena?
The Attorney General concluded that a nonparty producing records under a Commonwealth’s Attorney’s subpoena could not require the prosecutor to reimburse its ordinary copying and production costs. A…
Would a withdrawn school board candidate leave a Kentucky seat open for write-in votes or appointment?
The Attorney General approved using the August nomination deadline as the deciding point. If all filed candidates withdrew before that deadline, the education commissioner could appoint a board…
Could elected KCTCS faculty and staff regents vote on the president’s salary?
The Attorney General concluded that elected faculty and staff regents should be allowed to vote on pay for the KCTCS president and administrators. A faculty regent could be excluded from voting on a…
Could Kentuckians bet on horse races from home by phone or computer through a racetrack account?
The Attorney General concluded that telephone and computer horse-race wagering was permitted under KRS 230.379 as amended in 1992 when the account already held enough funds, the account holder…
Could a Kentucky couple get a marriage license if one applicant had no Social Security number?
Yes, if the applicant truly had no Social Security number and said so; the opinion did not require a person to obtain one to marry. An applicant who had a number had to provide it, and a clerk had…
Did Kentucky's 2002-04 budget stop the governor from setting starting salaries for new cabinet secretaries?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the budget provision barred annual cost-of-living adjustments for specified high-level positions, but did not displace the governor’s separate authority to…
When did ordinary Kentucky laws from the 2004 legislative session take effect?
The Attorney General calculated July 13, 2004 as the effective date for ordinary acts passed during Kentucky’s 2004 regular session. The opinion excluded general appropriation measures and acts with…
Could Kentucky retroactively stop retirees from collecting a pension while working again?
The Attorney General concluded that Kentucky could not retroactively end the pension treatment available to retirement-system members who had already been reemployed under the “double dipping”…
Could Kentucky Medicaid charge an optometrist copay but waive it for the same service from an ophthalmologist?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Kentucky Medicaid could not charge a copayment when a licensed optometrist performed a covered eye-care service but waive it when an ophthalmologist performed…
Could Kentucky’s governor line-item veto a tax section of a bill that also contained one appropriation?
The Attorney General concluded that the governor’s attempted line-item veto of Section 15 of HB 390 was void. The bill was general legislation with an incidental appropriation in a different…
When did ordinary Kentucky laws passed in the 2003 session take effect?
The Attorney General calculated June 24, 2003 as the effective date for ordinary acts passed during Kentucky’s 2003 regular session. General appropriation measures and acts with emergency or delayed…
Could a write-in candidate win a Kentucky school board seat when nobody filed for it?
The Attorney General concluded that a write-in candidate could run for an at-large school board seat only when a qualified candidate had filed for that opening. When no one filed for a seat, the…
Could a Kentucky school board set the nomination and voting rules for teachers on a superintendent search committee?
No. The Attorney General concluded that teachers had sole authority to conduct the election of their representatives to a superintendent screening committee. A school board could make rules for the…
Could a private group restore a religious historic landmark on University of Louisville property?
The Attorney General concluded that the University of Louisville could authorize a private neighborhood association to restore the Grotto and Garden of Our Lady of Lourdes on university property.…
Who presented charges when Kentucky education investigators referred a school-council complaint for hearing?
The Attorney General concluded that the Commissioner of Education had to appoint or hire an attorney to present charges referred by the Office of Education Accountability for a Board of Education…
When did ordinary laws from Kentucky’s 2002 legislative session take effect?
The Attorney General calculated July 15, 2002 as the effective date for ordinary laws passed in Kentucky’s 2002 regular session. The calculation excluded general appropriation bills and acts with…
Could a Kentucky city tell employees to direct political candidates’ work questions to the city manager?
The Attorney General concluded that a city could require workers to send candidates’ job-related questions to the city manager during work hours. The opinion relied on the rule’s limited scope and…
Could a Kentucky city extend natural-gas lines outside city limits and avoid utility regulation?
The Attorney General said a city could sell surplus natural gas to nonresidents, but lacked general authority to build new city-owned lines solely to serve them. Most city-owned utility operations…
Could a Kentucky school board grant a teacher unpaid leave for any reason?
No. Under the statute analyzed in 2001, a Kentucky school board could grant unpaid leave only for education or professional purposes, illness, maternity, adoption, or other disability. The opinion…
Could KCTCS stop elected faculty and staff regents from voting on group salary and benefits?
The Attorney General said KCTCS should allow its elected faculty and staff regents to vote on general salary and benefit issues affecting groups of employees. The opinion read the statutory…
Could Kentucky teachers give input on a principal’s formal performance evaluation?
Yes, under the rules the opinion analyzed. A superintendent could consider teacher comments tied to the principal’s professional performance criteria, and an approved district plan could require…
Could a Kentucky school board require a new principal to live in the county?
The Attorney General concluded that the Franklin County school board could not require newly hired principals to live in the county. State law assigned principal certification and selection roles to…
Can a Kentucky school district keep a lawsuit settlement secret with a confidentiality clause or court seal?
The Attorney General said a school district’s settlement agreement was a public record, and a confidentiality clause alone did not justify withholding it. A valid statutory exception could apply; if…
Could Kentucky’s community college system force transferred employees into its regular personnel system to get a promotion?
No. Under the law the opinion analyzed, employees transferred from the Cabinet for Workforce Development could choose to join the regular KCTCS personnel system at any time; KCTCS could not compel…
When did ordinary bills from Kentucky’s 2001 legislative session take effect?
The Attorney General calculated June 21, 2001 as the effective date for ordinary laws passed in Kentucky’s 2001 regular session. General appropriation bills and acts with emergency or delayed…
Was Kentucky's prepaid college tuition trust a state instrumentality for federal securities laws?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that Kentucky's prepaid tuition trust was a public instrumentality for the federal securities statutes named in the opinion because it performed an education…
Could Kentucky counties issue industrial revenue bonds for electric generating plants?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the proposed electric generating stations qualified as industrial buildings for Kentucky's industrial revenue bond law because generating electricity was…
Did Louisville have to pay defense costs for a city agent and appointed officer sued over their work?
Yes, on the facts assumed by the opinion. Kentucky law required a local government to defend covered agents and appointed officers against tort claims arising from acts within their work, and…
Could a Kentucky agricultural cooperative issue stock and still organize as a nonprofit?
Yes, if it organized as an agricultural cooperative association under the provisions the opinion examined. The Attorney General said that form was statutorily treated as nonprofit with or without…
Were trustees of Kentucky's public retirement system state officers in 2000?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a Kentucky Retirement Systems trustee held a state office because the legislature created a continuing position with defined public powers and duties. The…
Could a Kentucky deputy sheriff carry a concealed weapon off duty in another county without a permit?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a deputy sheriff on personal, off-duty business outside the sworn county did not qualify for the statute's permit-free concealed-carry exceptions. The…
Could Kentucky's retirement board apply an unclear 2000 pension increase provision?
The Attorney General concluded that Section 4 of a 2000 retirement bill was so unclear about whose benefits and what adjustment it covered that the retirement system could not apply it. The opinion…
When did ordinary bills from Kentucky's 2000 legislative session take effect?
The Attorney General calculated that ordinary legislation from Kentucky's 2000 regular session took effect at the first moment of July 14, 2000. General appropriation bills and acts with emergency…
Could Kentucky authorize local voters to decide changes to public school curriculum?
The Attorney General concluded that Kentucky's legislature could authorize referenda on local public-school curriculum under the constitution's common-schools exception. A bill would still have to…
Could a Kentucky school council spend performance reward money on teacher bonuses in 2000?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a school council, or the principal where there was no council, could use performance reward funds for teacher bonuses as a school purpose. The 1998 amendment…
Could Kentucky's Reform Party use a state presidential preference primary in 2000?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the Reform Party's 1996 presidential vote share fell below the statutory threshold for a political party entitled to a state presidential preference primary…
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Attorney general opinions in Kentucky are written by the Kentucky 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.