Maryland Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Maryland, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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After Maryland cracked down on lenders disguising abusive home-secured loans as "commercial" loans, which lenders had to give borrowers a written reason when they turned down a credit application?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a borrower must be given a genuine, meaningful right to postpone a balloon payment under the new Chapter 115 commercial loan protections,…
Who is legally allowed to witness someone signing a living will in Maryland, and can the lawyer handling their estate be one of the witnesses?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's new living will law required at least two witnesses who personally knew the person signing the declaration, and that anyone who…
Did the money collected by Maryland's new Chesapeake Bay Trust have to be deposited into the State Treasury like other state funds?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the funds of the newly created Chesapeake Bay Trust were "moneys of the State" under Article VI, §3 of the Maryland Constitution, because…
Could Montgomery County require lawn care companies to disclose pesticide risks to customers, or did federal law preempt that kind of local pesticide ordinance?
In this 1985 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Montgomery County's proposed ordinance requiring lawn care businesses to disclose pesticide risks to customers was preempted by the…
When Maryland bailed out its savings and loan associations after the 1985 crisis, was the emergency legislation authorizing state control and bond funding constitutional?
In this 1985 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the emergency legislation enacted during the May 1985 Special Session to respond to the savings and loan crisis, including state…
Can a private letter of wishes attached to a will legally stop a library from publishing papers the will itself left with no restrictions?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a private memorandum H.L. Mencken left to his executors, and a receipt the Enoch Pratt Free Library signed when it received his diaries, had…
After the 1985 Garcia and Loudermill Supreme Court decisions, did Maryland have to change its state employee overtime and firing rules?
In this 1985 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that neither Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority nor Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill required Maryland to…
Can Maryland's Comptroller waive late-filing penalties for a taxpayer just because they have a good track record of filing on time, and can that waiver be done automatically by computer?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the Comptroller could lawfully treat a taxpayer's consistent record of timely filing as "cause" or "good cause" to waive penalty and…
Under Maryland's old Fair Election Practices Act, did contribution limits apply to money given to a PAC instead of directly to a candidate?
In this 1985 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the Fair Election Practices Act's $2,500 aggregate contribution limit applied to money given to a political committee even though…
Did the Supreme Court's ruling striking down Connecticut's Sabbath-observance law also make Maryland's retail day-of-rest laws unconstitutional?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's county-specific statutes letting retail and wholesale employees choose Sunday or their Sabbath as a day of rest were…
Which of Maryland's 1985 restrictions on dentist advertising, like bans on guarantees, painless-treatment claims, and displaying dental appliances, actually held up under the First Amendment?
In this 1985 opinion, applying Supreme Court commercial-speech cases from Virginia Pharmacy through Zauderer, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that dental advertising rules banning deceptive…
If Maryland renumbers its state employee pay grades, does that change who has to file a financial disclosure statement under the Public Ethics Law?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the Department of Personnel's renumbering of the Standard Salary Schedule (old Grade 18 became new Grade 16) was a purely technical…
Could Maryland's Insurance Guaranty Association hire its own private lawyers, or did it have to use the Attorney General's office like a state agency?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that although the question was not free from doubt, the Maryland Insurance Guaranty Association (MIGA) was not a "unit of the State government"…
Can Maryland raise the salary of a sitting liquor board official in the middle of their term by moving them to a newly created position?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Article III, §35 of the Maryland Constitution barred the Frederick County liquor license commissioner and inspector from receiving increased…
When does a Maryland governor have to return a vetoed bill to the legislature after a special session?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the Governor was not required to return bills vetoed during a special session to the House of origin during that same special session, but…
Can a small Maryland town condemn land outside its own borders to build a sewage treatment facility?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the Town of Manchester had express statutory authority under §9-705(5) of the Health-Environmental Article to condemn land outside its…
Can a Maryland Property Tax Assessment Appeal Board raise your property's assessed value on its own, without anyone asking it to?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a Property Tax Assessment Appeal Board (PTAAB) has the statutory power to increase a property tax assessment above what the supervisor of…
Could deaf people serve on Maryland juries in the 1980s, and were they entitled to a sign language interpreter?
In this 1985 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General said deaf jurors were serving in Maryland and qualified jurors could receive interpreters under federal disability law. Courts had to appoint…
Does it matter under Maryland law whether a state tax on savings and loan associations is meant to regulate them or just to raise revenue?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the distinction between a regulatory tax and a revenue-raising tax mattered only for judging the validity of a local government's tax, not a…
Can a for-profit company lease a building to nonprofit groups to run bingo games and take a big cut of the proceeds as rent?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that an arrangement in which a for-profit corporation leased a building to nonprofit organizations to run bingo games, supplied the equipment,…
Could Maryland require Montgomery County school board members to live in specific residence districts through a state law?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General advised that a bill requiring five Montgomery County school board members to reside in specific districts was constitutional, because the bill…
Are Maryland Juvenile Services Administration records about a child kept confidential the same way juvenile court records are?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Juvenile Services Administration records identifying a child, including intake, counselor, and institutional records, are protected…
Could Maryland public school students hold a voluntary Bible study or prayer group during free time in the 1980s?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Baltimore County schools could permit students to form voluntary prayer or Bible study groups during genuinely free, unstructured…
Could a Maryland county spend its share of the farmland transfer tax on staff salaries, not just on buying preservation easements?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Queen Anne's County could use its one-third share of the agricultural transfer tax not only to match state funds for buying…
Could Maryland constitutionally ban sex-based pricing in insurance, even for policies already in effect?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that legislation banning sex-based pricing in insurance would be constitutionally defensible under the Contract Clause, because…
Did a critical newspaper ad about a congressman have to include Maryland's campaign disclosure 'authority line' if it never mentioned the election?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Maryland's campaign-literature 'authority line' disclosure requirement did not apply to an independently published newspaper ad…
Could Maryland's Mass Transit Administration leave depreciation and interest out of 'operating costs' when calculating its required 50% fare box recovery ratio?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General agreed that the Mass Transit Administration could exclude capital costs like depreciation and interest from 'operating costs' when calculating the…
Could a Maryland school board avoid the state's prevailing wage law by turning down some of the state construction funding it was eligible for?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a local school board could avoid the Prevailing Wage Law by voluntarily funding more than 25% of a school construction project with…
Could Maryland reduce a retired state judge's pension when he was appointed to the federal bench and kept drawing a federal salary?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a state statute reducing judicial pensions for retired judges who accept other government-paid employment applied to a retired…
Did Maryland's hunting guide license requirement apply to employees of guide services, not just self-employed guides?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the state's commercial hunting guide license requirement covered everyone who guides hunters for compensation, including employees…
Could a homeless person register to vote in Maryland in the 1980s without a conventional home address?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a homeless person could register to vote if they presented satisfactory evidence of a fixed, present domicile, even one without a…
Could a Maryland health club refuse membership to a blind or deaf person in the 1980s?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a health club open to the general public is a "public facility" under the White Cane Law, so it could not deny blind or deaf people…
Could a Baltimore City ordinance banning sexual-orientation discrimination coexist with Maryland's 1980s criminal sexual conduct laws?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General advised that a proposed Baltimore City ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation did not conflict with state criminal laws…
Can a Maryland bill be struck down just because its title describes the opposite of what the bill's text actually does?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General declined to approve House Bill 1541 for constitutionality because its title said the bill would include certain sickness and accident disability…
Could a state-funded historic preservation trust rent out a former church for weddings and other religious events without violating the ban on using bond money for religious purposes?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a nonprofit trust that received a state construction bond to preserve a historic former church could rent the hall for occasional…
Could Maryland constitutionally bar the state treasury from depositing funds in banks that lent money to apartheid-era South Africa?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a bill barring the State Treasurer from depositing state funds in financial institutions with loans to the South African government…
Did Maryland workers' compensation cover seasonal and migrant farm laborers in the 1980s?
In this 1984 bill-review opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Senate Bill 869 would extend workers' compensation coverage to most seasonal and migratory farm workers, but would…
Can Maryland restrict its own legislative staff from campaigning or donating to political campaigns more strictly than other state employees?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a rule banning legislative staff from partisan and nonpartisan campaign activity and candidacy was constitutional on its face and…
Can a small-town mayor still meet a town residency requirement if his spouse lives in a different town?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that, on the specific facts presented, the Mayor of Berlin remained a legal resident of the town under the town charter's residency…
Can Maryland pass emergency legislation changing how absentee ballots are handled without violating the constitutional ban on emergency laws that change an officer's duties?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that an emergency bill adding new absentee-ballot safeguards for boards of canvassers did not violate the state constitution's ban on…
Could Maryland flatly ban an out-of-state bank from buying a Maryland bank in the 1980s?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Maryland's flat statutory ban on a foreign bank becoming a bank holding company here could not constitutionally be applied to block…
Who decides how many deputy court clerks to hire in Maryland, and who pays them, when judges and the state comptroller disagree?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General said circuit court judges set the number of necessary deputy clerks, the Comptroller sets their salaries, and the Clerk pays from available office…
Could a Maryland real estate agent legally give homebuyers merchandise discount coupons without violating the ban on offering 'prizes' to influence a sale?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a real estate marketing program giving every purchaser-client identical merchandise discount coupons did not violate the state ban…
Could a Maryland town be sued for antitrust violations for switching cable TV franchise operators?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the Town of La Plata's decision to end one cable TV company's franchise and grant an exclusive franchise to another was protected…
Could Maryland force State Police officers and correctional officers to retire at a fixed age under 1980s federal age discrimination law?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that state laws mandating retirement of State Police at age 60 and certain correctional officers and maximum security attendants at age…
Are architectural and engineering drawings submitted for a Maryland building permit public records that anyone can inspect?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that construction drawings submitted to a county for a building permit were generally public records open to inspection, but that a…
Can a Maryland county enforce its own zoning rules against a business that already has a state permit to spread sewage sludge?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Baltimore County could generally enforce its zoning regulations on sewage sludge use, including against people who held a state…
Did Maryland's Lotto game revenue go only to counties, or also to the cities and towns within those counties?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Lotto lottery revenue had to be distributed only to Maryland's 23 counties and Baltimore City, not to the state's roughly 166…
Did a new political party's presidential nominee have to file nominating petitions to get on Maryland's general election ballot in the 1980s?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a new political party's presidential and vice-presidential nominees could appear on Maryland's general election ballot after being…
Can a Maryland state legislator solicit donations to pay for a newsletter to constituents, and do campaign finance limits apply to that money?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the Fair Election Practices Act did not regulate contributions solicited for a purely informational 'constituent' newsletter, only…
Did Maryland tax mutual fund dividends even when the fund's income came from tax-exempt federal government bonds?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a mutual fund shareholder's distributions were subject to Maryland income tax even when the fund earned that money as interest on…
Can a Maryland county like Montgomery County pass its own condominium laws, or does the state Condominium Act override them?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the state Condominium Act preempted local condominium legislation unless it fell within one of four specific statutory exceptions,…
Did serving as a law school dean, rather than working at a traditional law firm, count as 'practicing law' for someone running for Maryland Attorney General?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a law school dean's combination of teaching, legal counseling, bar committee work, and legally-informed administrative…
Could a Maryland county set its own mileage reimbursement rate for county commissioners, or were they stuck with the state's 10-cent-a-mile rate?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Cecil County's public local law did not clearly override the state's general mileage statute, so the county commissioners were…
Can a Maryland county turn its regular jail into a 'regional detention center' just by renaming it, to get the shorter 18-month sentencing cap?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a county could establish a regional detention center, or redesignate an existing jail as one, using its ordinary local procedures,…
Can Maryland's Comptroller force county court clerks and registers of wills to pay their employees through the state's Central Payroll Bureau?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the State Comptroller could not require Clerks of the Circuit Courts or Registers of Wills to pay their employees through the…
Can Maryland cut future pension benefits for state employees and teachers without violating the constitutional ban on impairing contracts?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a bill reducing future benefits under the State Employees' and Teachers' Retirement Systems would likely not violate the U.S.…
Could a Maryland town create a special downtown tax district to fund business promotion without specific state legislative authorization?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the City of Hagerstown could not create a special taxing district to finance downtown business promotion and management without new…
Did serving on a Baltimore City park board or a Maryland county personnel board disqualify someone from serving on a judicial nominating commission?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a member of the Baltimore City Board of Recreation and Parks held an unpaid "office of trust" and a member of the Prince George's…
Did Maryland's public records law protect unsolicited letters commenting on a government job applicant's qualifications, not just letters the applicant asked someone to write?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the Public Information Act's exemption for "letters of reference" covered both letters an applicant solicited and unsolicited…
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Attorney general opinions in Maryland are written by the Maryland 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.