Louisiana Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Louisiana, with full citations and the original source on every page.
No Louisiana opinions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Could Gramercy’s police chief appoint unpaid auxiliary officers and create a police taxing district alone?
The AG said unpaid auxiliary officers still required board approval after the chief’s recommendation. It found no authority for a chief to create a law enforcement taxing district.
Could Cheneyville’s mayor drive a town or police vehicle while conducting town business?
The AG said yes as administrator of town property, unless the town’s aldermen restricted that use by ordinance. It distinguished official business use from a prohibited loan of public resources.
Could Iberville Parish’s full-time public works director also become mayor of Maringouin?
The AG said no. The parish charter created the director position as a full-time appointive office, which could not be held simultaneously with an elected mayor’s office under the dual officeholding…
Could Waterproof mayor's court hear a speeding citation on a state highway inside town?
The AG said mayor's court could hear a citation under a valid municipal traffic ordinance, including a speed rule on a state highway within town that did not conflict with state law. It could not…
Could Florien prohibit its elected police chief from holding another full-time job?
The AG said the village could not impose a blanket ban on the elected chief's other full-time employment. Outside work could coexist with the office if the hours did not overlap or conflict with…
Was Louisiana Technology Park LLC a state instrumentality excluded from sales and use tax liability?
The AG classified both the Research Park Corporation and its wholly owned, controlled park LLC as state agencies or instrumentalities under the sales-tax definition, despite a statute calling the…
Could a Louisiana constable also hold an elected parish council seat?
The AG said the dual officeholding law generally barred the two elected positions. It described a possible charter exception if the special legislative charter specifically authorized the concurrent…
Did Louisiana's elderly affairs office need a contract with each council on aging to distribute donated utility aid?
The AG said no. The office could pass Entergy customer donations to designated councils for needy residents' utility bills if it helped establish objective need criteria; it recommended records of…
Could Franklin Parish use public funds to repair a VFW driveway serving a polling place and council on aging?
The AG said spending parish funds on the privately owned driveway was subject to constitutional challenge, even though voters and older residents used the site.
Could Avoyelles Parish officials help pay for past retirement credit after district attorney employees were not enrolled?
The AG said the district attorney's office could contribute if the employees' missed enrollment resulted from its administrative error. The police jury could fund that share directly, but the AG…
Could an East Feliciana justice of the peace also teach full time at Louisiana Technical College?
The AG said dual officeholding law allowed the teaching role if it was professional educational work. It separately suggested seeking an advisory ruling from the Judiciary Commission on judicial conduct.
Could Hammond police department secretaries, dispatchers, or other non-enforcement staff receive Louisiana supplemental pay?
The AG said purely clerical or non-enforcement staff generally were excluded, but specified classified police secretaries and full-time radio dispatchers could qualify without being commissioned…
Could Springhill pay a school resource officer's expenses when the officer also served schools in nearby towns?
The AG said the federal grant could pay the officer's salary across Ward II. Springhill could pay the remaining expenses if it found the services to its own residents more valuable than the cost,…
If Tallulah's new council district plan lacked preclearance, did the mayor and police chief elections also have to be delayed?
The AG said council candidate qualifying and the council election had to wait for preclearance and then use the next available date. The at-large mayor and police chief qualifying and elections…
Did farm-equipment rules exempt Northwestern State University grounds vehicles from licensing on campus streets?
The AG did not decide whether the grounds equipment qualified for an exemption. It advised consulting the Department of Transportation and Development first and noted its earlier conclusion that…
Could Simmesport's elected mayor also serve on the Avoyelles fire protection district board?
The AG said the mayor could hold a part-time seat on the fire district board if the parish governing authority appointed him. The town could not appoint its own mayor to that district board under…
Could an elected city marshal, constable, or police juror also serve as a deputy sheriff in Louisiana?
The AG said an elected marshal or constable could serve as a part-time deputy sheriff under the general rule considered, while a parish police juror could not hold any sheriff's office or…
Could a Louisiana justice of the peace appoint someone else to serve papers when the constable was available?
The AG said no. When a constable or deputy was qualified, willing, and able to act under the statute, service by another appointee was void; the justice could use another server if the constable or…
Could Pollock annex a nearby subdivision that did not touch the town's existing limits?
The AG said Pollock's proposed annexation required the land to touch the town's boundaries. Its footnote quoted a separate statutory road-right-of-way corridor provision, but the opinion did not…
May Gramercy officers use town police cars for off-duty security, and when may its mayor dismiss a traffic ticket?
The AG said the department could allow off-duty security work using town vehicles, but it could face liability for officers' actions. The mayor could enter a nolle prosequi for a violation before…
Did the petition to recall Baskin's police chief have enough valid voter signatures to call an election?
Yes. The registrar certified 71 valid signatures from an electorate of 157, exceeding the 40% threshold the AG applied. The AG said the governor could proclaim a recall election and noted the…
Could a retired Louisiana justice of the peace perform marriages after serving fewer than 18 years?
No. Under the 2001 amendment the AG examined, a retired justice of the peace needed at least 18 years of service and registration under La. R.S. 9:204 to retain authority to perform marriage ceremonies.
Would Louisiana's AG rule on Dubberly's decision to abandon Airport Road while a property owner challenged it?
No. The AG declined to assess the village ordinance because road abandonment involved the local governing body's discretion and the request showed litigation was imminent.
Could Sicily Island reimburse aldermen's legal fees after a lawsuit over an interim mayor ended in settlement?
The AG said the village could not automatically reimburse every party. The Board of Aldermen had to determine which proceedings served the village or involved official duties, whether any defense…
Could Terrebonne Parish's sales tax advisory board hire its own lawyer without council approval?
No. The Louisiana AG said the advisory board could not retain separate counsel on its own; the parish council controlled hiring counsel for the parish and its departments under the home rule charter.
Did Louisiana's automatic first-offender pardon allow expungement of a juvenile sex-offense conviction?
The AG said a contributing-to-delinquency conviction could not be expunged after an automatic first-offender pardon. His analysis assumed a conviction under La. R.S. 14:92(A)(7), a sex offense…
Could a part-time Louisiana legislative assistant also work as an assistant district attorney?
The AG said yes, whether the assistant district attorney role was part time or full time. The legislative assistant's part-time status avoided the dual-full-time prohibition, and the district…
Was a cash advance against a Louisiana lawsuit a consumer loan if repayment depended on recovery?
The AG said the described advance was a consumer loan under the then-current Louisiana Consumer Credit Law. A contingent repayment duty still created an obligation, and the litigant assigned…
Could Gramercy reimburse the mayor's and aldermen's legal fees from their lawsuit against one another?
The AG said reimbursement depended on which work was done in an official capacity for the town and which was personal. He said the town could choose to reimburse qualifying official-capacity fees,…
Could a Louisiana sheriff keep a database of tenants evicted because of criminal activity?
The AG said the proposed database was permissible under the sheriff's general law-enforcement authority and consistent with the Legislature's criminal-information policy. He flagged Title 15…
Could a Louisiana mayor's court put an ordinance defendant on probation?
The AG said a 2001 amendment allowed mayor's courts to suspend a municipal-ordinance sentence and impose unsupervised probation. The probation period could not exceed the maximum jail term for the…
Could a Louisiana water district settle an employee's retirement-credit claim without making an unconstitutional donation?
The AG said a payment under a settlement agreement could comply with the public-funds restriction if the district, with counsel's advice, evaluated its potential liability, the claim, and costs,…
Could a sexual-assault nurse examiner testify to a patient's statements for medical treatment?
The AG said the medical-treatment hearsay exception could cover statements to an appropriately trained nurse examiner, and the patient's availability did not control the exception. He cautioned that…
Could a Louisiana levee district lend staff and equipment to a nonprofit's ship display project?
The AG said no. The district had no identified legal obligation or authority to use public employees and equipment to dig a trench for the nonprofit's historic ship display, even though it served a…
Did Louisiana's retired-officer firearms exception cover an officer who retired from law enforcement in another state?
The AG said the then-current exception covered qualifying retired officers regardless of where they served. He identified a 12-year service minimum, retirement identification, and annual firearms…
Could an Amite councilman redirect unused health benefits or donate his salary for a town park?
The AG said the councilman could not direct the town's savings from health insurance he declined, because those funds remained town property. He could donate salary after the town paid it, subject…
Could the Union Parish Detention Center charge arresting agencies booking fees or stop operating without a dedicated tax?
The AG said the center had to operate even without a special tax because its costs could be budgeted. It could not charge arresting agencies booking fees for state-crime detainees or, because of…
Could a Louisiana public-records requester inspect board members' privately owned computers to find agency emails?
The AG said the request did not justify warrantless monitoring or access to the members' private computers on the facts presented. Electronic communications used for actual board business could…
Was a Louisiana sheriff owed a commission when a creditor accepted a seized car instead of a sale?
The AG said the sheriff earned a commission when the creditor accepted the vehicle in payment while the sheriff held the execution writ. The commission was based on the vehicle's actual value,…
Could Louisiana take over a parish's Hill-Burton hospital obligations after the hospital closed early?
The AG said the state could not constitutionally assume Tensas Parish's outstanding Hill-Burton obligations through its health department. The proposed transfer did not fit the permitted state-debt…
Could Louisiana make one telephone company pass its tax savings to another company's customers?
The AG concluded that each telecommunications provider had to pass its Act 22 tax savings directly to its own customers through lower rates. The Public Service Commission could not use one…
Was the Saints' Superdome lease penalty for leaving early allowed under Louisiana's 1993 stadium law?
The AG said the lease's negotiated damages provision fit within Act 640. He read the act's penalty amount as unclear and stated that the negotiated penalty in the lease was $25 million.
Could a Louisiana district attorneys' retirement member buy credit for National Guard service earned while already in the system?
The AG said overlapping membership alone did not bar a purchase of National Guard service credit, up to the statutory limit. The member could not duplicate credit already received in another public…
Could Evangeline Parish use solid-waste tax money to offset commercial pickup fees?
The AG said the Solid Waste Commission could use the dedicated tax funds for commercial and industrial waste pickup because its act, voter-approved tax purpose, and contract created a duty to serve…
Could a railroad crossing lessee barricade the route used by owners of landlocked Louisiana property?
The AG said the landowners appeared to have a legal right of passage over the shortest, least harmful route to the public road, including the crossing if that route met the test. On the described…
Could Louisiana license a specialty vehicle dealer whose established business was outside the state?
The AG said the Louisiana Motor Vehicle Commission could license a dealer or converter with an established place of business outside Louisiana. The commission could still deny an application if the…
Could a Louisiana parish police jury abolish a 911 communications district it had created?
The AG said West Carroll Parish could abolish its 911 district under the then-current statute, provided its debt was addressed before abolition. The 911 district was optional under the creation law,…
Could Louisiana appeal courts buy uniform shirts for judges and staff from clerk-collected court funds?
The AG said yes. The statute allowed the remaining clerk-collected fees to pay court operational expenses, and shirts bearing court seals for official-duty use fit that purpose.
Could Acadia Parish voters reduce the number of school board members during reapportionment?
The AG said the school board could submit its size to the voters if the board's size was being changed through reapportionment. He reaffirmed an earlier opinion applying that condition.
Did a farmer have to sell products on the farm to qualify for Louisiana's producer sales-tax exemption?
The AG said no. Under the statute he reviewed, 'direct from the farm' described a sale by the producer, not a requirement that the customer buy on the farm premises. A sale by someone other than the…
Could Amite require 72 hours' notice for a special council meeting when state law required 24?
The AG said Amite could require special-meeting notice earlier than the state law's 24-hour minimum if its council considered the ordinance necessary for proper municipal management. The proposed…
Did Ascension Parish's assessor or sheriff have to put demolition costs on property tax bills?
The AG said La. R.S. 33:4754 did not require either Ascension Parish's assessor or sheriff to collect the costs or place them on tax rolls. The statute allowed the finance director or equivalent…
Was a newly elected Louisiana sheriff required to keep dispatching 911 calls under a predecessor's oral agreement?
The AG said the sheriff's office had no general duty to dispatch for the 911 district, and the former sheriff's agreement did not bind the newly elected sheriff. He also distinguished permitted dual…
Could a Louisiana sheriff waive interest and penalties on overdue property taxes, including adjudicated property?
The AG said the sheriff as tax collector generally could not waive delinquent property-tax interest, penalties, or costs, including on adjudicated property. He identified narrow circumstances…
Could a Louisiana housing authority board member also work for the city that appointed them?
The AG said the City of Rayne could employ its housing authority board member if at least one of the two positions was part time. The then-current dual officeholding rule barred holding both as…
Could Louisiana public colleges add a utility surcharge without a two-thirds vote of the Legislature?
The AG said the boards could impose the proposed utility surcharge without a two-thirds legislative vote. He treated utility charges like student housing and food-service charges, which he said were…
Which pay rate applied to a school employee's unused sick leave when entering DROP?
The AG said the unused sick-leave payment available on entering DROP was calculated at the pay rate in effect on the employee's last day of service before enrollment. A higher temporary…
Did Louisiana's Private Security Examiners Board regulate guards employed by private prisons?
The AG said the board had no authority or responsibility to regulate guards working for private prison contractors under the Corrections Private Management Act. The Act expressly exempted those…
Could Louisiana DOTD pay Public Belt Bridge judgments from the Transportation Trust Fund?
The AG said DOTD owed its contract share of bridge-related losses and damages, but could not reimburse judgments or settlements from the Transportation Trust Fund. It would need another funding…
Could Donaldsonville keep its 'commission' government name while moving department supervision from commissioners to the mayor?
The AG said yes. Voters had amended the home rule charter to place department supervision with the mayor, and the charter's use of the word 'commission' did not force compliance with the separate…
Browse Louisiana opinions by topic
Attorney general opinions in Louisiana are written by the Louisiana 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.