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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If Maryland waives its sovereign immunity and loses a contract lawsuit, can the legislature still refuse to pay by cutting the judgment out of the budget?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that although state law let courts enter contract judgments against Maryland and required the Governor to include funds for those judgment…
Can a state legislature take back a petition asking Congress to call a constitutional convention, once it has already sent it?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the General Assembly could constitutionally withdraw its 1975 petition asking Congress to call a constitutional convention on a balan…
Did every officer of a corporation applying for a Maryland liquor license need to personally own stock in the company?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the individual officers who apply for an alcoholic beverages license on behalf of a corporation or club do not need to personally own…
Could a criminal defendant in Maryland claim personal ownership of the trial transcript held by the Public Defender's office?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a trial transcript in the custody of the Public Defender was a public record under the Maryland Public Information Act, not the priva…
Can Maryland pass a law letting people picket, petition, or hand out flyers inside private shopping malls?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that although the First Amendment itself does not give individuals a right to picket or petition on privately owned shopping center proper…
Can Maryland's legislature let federal block grant money bypass the state treasury and the normal budget process?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that federal block grant funds received by the State are "moneys of the State" under the Maryland Constitution, so they must be deposited …
Could a married Maryland woman get a driver's license back in her maiden name without going to court, even after being licensed under her husband's name?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a married woman who had adopted her husband's surname could later obtain a Maryland driver's license in her former name without a cou…
Can a Maryland trust company combine pension money it manages as trustee with money it only holds as an agent or custodian into one common investment fund?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General overruled a 1965 opinion and concluded that a trust company acting as a managing agent or custodian for pension trustees is acting in a "fiduciary" …
Could Maryland pass a hate crime law adding extra punishment for crimes motivated by racial, religious, or ethnic bias without violating the First Amendment?
In this 1983 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a proposed bill imposing extra criminal penalties for otherwise-criminal acts committed because of a victim's race, religion, or nati…
Could Maryland pass a law making a criminal defendant prove he was insane, instead of requiring the prosecution to prove he was sane?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that it would be constitutional for the General Assembly to require a criminal defendant to prove his own insanity, rather than requiring …
Can Maryland bar drug users from state jobs, or would that violate federal disability discrimination law?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the Secretary of Personnel had authority to screen State job applicants for illegal drug use and adopt a rule barring current drug ab…
Can a Maryland county require condominium boards to hold open meetings, or does the state Condominium Act preempt that kind of local rule?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a Montgomery County ordinance requiring open meetings and specific voting procedures for condominium councils of unit owners was not …
When a Maryland historic district commission denies a building permit, how does the appeal process work and how much deference does the reviewing board owe the commission?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the Town of Easton's zoning ordinance, which routes appeals from the Historic District Commission first to the Board of Zoning Appeal…
Can a former Maryland state employee who already left the retirement system file late for disability retirement benefits?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that only a current member of the Employees' Retirement System, or that member's department head, may apply for accidental disability reti…
Does changing how an office is filled, or giving it an across-the-board raise, stop a Maryland legislator from later being appointed to it?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a member of the General Assembly would remain eligible for appointment as Insurance Commissioner even if the legislature changed how …
Can a Maryland county or town ban or restrict the sale and possession of handgun ammunition?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that state law preempts local governments from regulating the possession or sale of handgun ammunition, so neither a proposed Montgomery C…
If an insurance company sells a Maryland mortgage to a bank, does the bank suddenly have to start paying interest on the escrow account?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General reversed a 1975 AG opinion and concluded that when a lender exempt from Maryland's escrow-interest law, such as an insurance company, made a mortgag…
Could Maryland bill parents for their child's stay at a state psychiatric residential center (RICA) if the placement was for special education?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that if a child was placed in a Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents (RICA) solely for educational reasons, the State could see…
Can a city government register its own promotional slogan as a trademark in Maryland?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Baltimore City, and governmental entities generally, qualify as "persons" eligible to register trade and service marks under the Mary…
Can a Maryland town charge every business and profession a local license fee even if the state already licenses them?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a Maryland municipality cannot adopt a blanket ordinance requiring every business and profession within its borders to obtain a local…
Can a Maryland county charter let individual towns opt out of new county laws unless the town asks for them to apply?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a proposed Dorchester County Charter provision, making a countywide local law take effect in an incorporated municipality only if tha…
Could Maryland cap how much people or corporations give to committees supporting or opposing a ballot question?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Article 33's $2,500 limit on contributions to committees formed to support or defeat a ballot question was unconstitutional, because …
If a Maryland judge loses a primary election, how long can they keep serving on the bench afterward?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a Supreme Bench of Baltimore City judge who lost his bid for renomination at the primary election could continue holding office past …
Could Maryland's State Board for Community Colleges split a supplemental funding appropriation by a different formula than it uses for the regular annual budget?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the State Board for Community Colleges acted within its statutory discretion when it distributed a special legislative appropriation …
Can Maryland change a county's boundary line by letting all voters citywide or countywide decide, or does only the area being transferred get a vote?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a proposed bill to let Takoma Park voters decide whether to unify the city into either Montgomery or Prince George's County was uncon…
Could a Maryland non-home-rule county set up its own deferred-compensation retirement plan for elected officials like commissioners and sheriffs?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Cecil County's Board of County Commissioners had no authority to adopt a deferred compensation plan funded by county-paid annuity pre…
Could Maryland lawyers pool small client trust funds into interest-bearing NOW accounts to fund legal aid without violating federal banking law?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that lawyer trust accounts commingled under a new state law and dedicated to funding the Maryland Legal Services Corporation qualified for…
Can a Maryland county give one sport a much lower amusement tax rate than every other sport without violating equal protection?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a proposed Prince George's County ordinance temporarily taxing professional hockey admissions at 0.5% while keeping a 10% rate for vi…
Who gets to keep the bank interest on state welfare funds handled by the Baltimore City Department of Social Services, the state or the city?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a State directive requiring local social services departments to deposit their funds in interest-bearing accounts and remit the inter…
Are the Maryland Legal Services Corporation's board members and staff bound by the state's public ethics law?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the newly created Maryland Legal Services Corporation, its board of directors, and its employees were not subject to the Maryland Pub…
Does a Maryland tax evasion conviction disqualify someone from staying registered to vote or running for local office?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a conviction for willfully evading state income tax was an infamous crime under Article 33, section 3-4(c), which meant the convicted…
Can a Maryland farm owner keep clergy, lawyers, health workers, or other visitors away from migrant workers living in an employer-owned labor camp?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that migrant farm workers residing in camps provided by farmers or growers had the legal right to receive guests, including clergy, medica…
Can a Maryland second-mortgage lender charge the borrower for a title examination on top of a title insurance premium?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a savings and loan association making a secondary mortgage loan could require the borrower to pay for a title examination as part of …
Can a Maryland charter county sell a county-owned building to a private buyer and then lease it back for continued government use?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Harford County could sell county-owned property to a private investor and lease it back long-term, because Article 25A, section 5(B) …
Can Maryland require a circuit court judge to actually live in a specific county, not just anywhere in the multi-county judicial circuit?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the statute requiring all resident judgeships allocated to the Prince George's County Circuit Court to be filled by actual residents …
Could an out-of-state lawyer represent a client in a Maryland health claims arbitration or other administrative hearing without being admitted to the Maryland Bar?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that an out-of-state lawyer could not be specially admitted, pro hac vice or otherwise, to represent a client in the arbitration of a heal…
Are car-buying or referral services like AAA's car-buying program legal under Maryland's vehicle salesman licensing law?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that car buying and referral services like United Buying Service, and a proposed AAA car-buying program, fall within the statutory definit…
Can Maryland let a county pay for its own lawyer for the sheriff instead of using the Attorney General's office?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a bill letting Cecil County pay for a sheriff's attorney could still be constitutional, but only if it was administered as an appoint…
Did Maryland's 1982 law letting charities raffle off real estate override the usual county permit and licensing rules for raffles?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General approved House Bill 1885, which let bona fide charitable organizations raffle off real property, but warned the General Assembly that the bill's bro…
When two bills in the same legislative session both amend the same statute, does the second one signed cancel out the first?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General advised Governor Harry Hughes that two racing bills, Senate Bill 1042 and Senate Bill 1043, which each amended the same takeout provision of Article…
Could Maryland let school principals search a student based on 'reasonable belief' instead of the stricter 'probable cause' standard?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General approved House Bill 1514, which amended the Education Article to let a principal, assistant principal, or school security guard search a student bas…
Was it legal for Maryland veterinarians to euthanize dogs and cats with T-61 solution, or did that count as a banned 'curariform drug'?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that T-61 Euthanasia Solution was not a prohibited 'curariform drug' under Article 27, §59A, even though one of its three components has a…
Can a Maryland county require owners of existing, already-built swimming pools to add fencing after the fact?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Calvert County had the constitutional and statutory authority to require the fencing of swimming pools that were built or installed b…
Can a public high school officially recognize a Christian student club, like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, as a school organization?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that while a public high school could let a religious student club use school facilities after hours like any other community group, grant…
Could Maryland make it a crime to publish material that defames a whole racial or religious group, like Nazi or Klan hate literature?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that House Bill 1018, which would have made it a crime to knowingly and maliciously distribute written material that defamed the members o…
Could Maryland have required every public school student to pray, read the Bible, or meditate each morning?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Senate Bill 2, which would have required every public school student to affirmatively choose to pray, read the Holy Scripture, or med…
Can Maryland raise the pay of an election board member if the raise takes effect the same day their new term starts?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Article III, Section 35 of the Maryland Constitution, which bars changing a public officer's salary during their term of office, did …
Can Maryland limit a charter county's ordinances from overriding a town's own home rule laws without amending the state constitution?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that limiting how charter county ordinances apply to municipalities within that county does not require a constitutional amendment, becaus…
Could Maryland have required public schools to give equal classroom time to creation-science and evolution?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that House Bill 1078, which would have required public schools to give creation-science and evolution-science equal time, equal textbook p…
If Maryland spouses jointly own a house, does a lender need both signatures to use the house as loan collateral?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that state law did not require a lender to obtain a spouse's or co-owner's signature to make individually-owned or jointly-owned (non-enti…
Could Maryland's Governor issue a binding executive order setting statewide development policy that agencies had to follow?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the Governor had statutory authority under Article 41 to issue a proposed executive order setting statewide physical and economic dev…
If a convicted Maryland official's felony conviction is reversed on appeal, are they owed back pay right away, or only once the appeal is completely final?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the 1979 payment of back pay to former Governor Marvin Mandel was lawful, because Article XV, Section 2 of the Maryland Constitution …
Could a Maryland bank in 1980 raise the interest rate on an existing credit card balance after the state's usury ceiling went up?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that a bank could raise the interest rate on a cardholder's existing credit card balance after Maryland raised its usury ceiling in 1980, …
If Maryland closed or merged a state college, would it lose federal Land Grant Act funding, and what would happen to tenured faculty?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that closing or consolidating a public college that received Morrill-Nelson land grant funding would not jeopardize the State's federal fu…
When a Maryland circuit judge's 15-year term expires and the judge holds over until retirement, when must the newly appointed successor run for election?
In this 1982 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that when a circuit court judge's 15-year term expired and the judge then held over in office under Article IV until reaching mandatory re…
Can Maryland's medical board discipline a doctor for pressuring opposing expert witnesses during his own malpractice trial?
In this 1979 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that the Commission on Medical Discipline had jurisdiction to discipline a physician for pressuring opposing expert witnesses during his o…
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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.