Texas Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Texas, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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May a Texas Type A general-law city accept donations of cash or property for city purposes?
Yes. The AG read the Type A general-law city’s statutory power to “take” property as authority to receive donated property, including money, for a municipal purpose. It did not decide whether any…
Can a Texas airport board replace civil-service firefighters with outside staff or contractors?
The AG said a city’s governing body could abolish classified firefighter positions by ordinance only in good faith, and civil-service vacancies had to be handled under the Act’s procedures. The…
Can a Texas school vendor violate the conflict law without a formal bid or signed contract?
Yes. A vendor can 'receive a contract' when a school district awards it an opportunity to provide goods or services, even without formal bidding or a signed agreement. The vendor must have sought…
Must a Texas county prove every listed harm before calling a visible junked vehicle a public nuisance?
No. Under Transportation Code section 683.072, a junked vehicle or part visible from a public place or public right-of-way is a public nuisance; the listed harms are legislative findings, not seven…
Can someone outside a Texas emergency services district serve on its board if the district serves their city?
A qualified voter in a city that receives the district's emergency services may qualify for an appointed board seat even if the city lies outside district boundaries. Owning land outside the…
Can a Texas school district lease its stadium for a concert and let the renter sell alcohol there?
A Texas school district generally may lease facilities for private events if the lease does not interfere with their school purpose. But if the site is public school grounds or a public school…
Can a Texas county pay for an ambulance contract signed without delegated authority or the county auditor's approval?
On the stated facts, the EMS director's sales contract did not bind Kinney County because the commissioners court had neither delegated contracting authority nor later approved it. The AG also said…
Is next-of-kin information held by a Texas medical examiner confidential, and may it be shared with tissue-donation groups?
Article 49.25, § 11(d) let a medical examiner withhold next-of-kin information from required Public Information Act release but did not make it confidential. Indirect identifying information was…
Must a Texas school-board trustee resign to run for justice of the peace, and can one person hold both offices?
No. A school-board trustee was not covered by the constitutional resign-to-run list, and neither the other cited constitutional rules, judicial canon, nor incompatibility doctrine required…
Could a Texas school-district police department serve as the law-enforcement agency for Family Code child-abuse investigations?
No. The Family Code's definition of law-enforcement agency applied throughout Chapter 261 and listed DPS, municipal police, county sheriffs, and county constables, but not school-district police.…
Could a Texas home-rule city spend tax dollars to provide services to a U.S. Army installation under an intergovernmental agreement?
Potentially. A charter-authorized intergovernmental support agreement under Government Code § 793.002 could serve a municipal public purpose, but the City of Socorro had to decide that question for…
Must a Texas county hold an election before moving deputy constable positions from one precinct to another?
Yes, for a county within Local Government Code chapter 120’s population scope. Each constable precinct is a separate law enforcement agency, so moving a deputy position from one precinct to another…
Can a Texas juvenile probation officer release a child without a detention hearing or privately email the judge about a pending case?
A juvenile probation officer acting as an intake officer or another authorized officer of the court must release a child without a hearing or judicial authorization when detention is not warranted…
May a Texas county prohibit deputies from using county vehicles for private security work outside the county?
A commissioners court may adopt a vehicle-use policy for sheriff or constable offices if it does not usurp or unreasonably interfere with their core legal duties; a sheriff or constable may also set…
May the Texas chiropractic board authorize trained chiropractors to perform needle EMG with a nonincisive needle?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a needle electromyography procedure using a nonincisive needle falls within the statutory practice of chiropractic because it evaluates the musculoskeletal…
How much control can a Texas county commissioners court exercise over employees hired by the sheriff, county clerk, or other elected officials?
Not much once a position is authorized. Local Government Code § 151.004 bars a commissioners court from screening candidates, expressing preferences, or otherwise trying to influence which specific…
Can a Texas city require new buildings to install 'electric-ready' wiring even if they run on natural gas appliances?
No. Texas Utilities Code § 181.903(b) bars cities from adopting codes that discriminate against a utility service based on its energy type or source, and the AG concluded Austin's 'electric-ready'…
Is an amusement machine that combines a slot-style chance game with a skill-based bonus game still an illegal gambling device in Texas?
Yes. If chance plays any role in whether a player can win something of value, the machine is a gambling device under Penal Code Chapter 47, even when a skill-based mode is also part of the play.…
In Texas, can a Secretary of State election inspector take photos or video at a polling place, and can poll watchers watch the handling and counting of mail-in ballots?
Yes to both. State inspectors are exempt from the polling-place recording ban while doing their official duties, and they're explicitly authorized to gather 'evidence,' which includes photos and…
If I'm a Texas-licensed psychologist, counselor, social worker, or marriage and family therapist, am I covered by SB 14's restrictions on gender-transition care for minors, even though I can't perform surgeries or write prescriptions?
Yes, according to AG Paxton. The Behavioral Health Executive Council's licensees (psychologists, LPCs, MFTs, social workers) are 'health care providers' under Tex. Health & Safety Code § 161.701(2).…
If a person held in a Texas county jail dies in a hospital or while on work release, does state law require an independent outside agency to investigate the death?
Government Code section 511.021(a) requires an outside investigation when a prisoner dies inside a county jail, not at a hospital or on work release. The AG said this reading does not necessarily…
Can a Texas occupational licensing agency accept an applicant's sworn statement that they have no Social Security number, instead of an actual SSN?
No. Family Code section 231.302(c)(1) requires occupational licensing authorities to request, and each applicant to provide, the applicant's Social Security number. The AG concluded agencies cannot…
If voters reject a hospital district's proposed property tax increase, does the district's taxing law conflict with the Tax Code, and does the county have to take over indigent care?
No conflict, and no county takeover. A hospital district's authority to levy a property tax (up to 75 cents per $100) and the Tax Code's truth-in-taxation rule that lets voters reject a rate…
Does a Texas county have to make a contractor carry performance and payment bonds on a road or bridge project, or can the county waive that requirement?
It is mandatory, not optional. Under Government Code section 2253.021(a) (the McGregor Act), a county that signs a qualifying public work contract must require the prime contractor to execute a…
In Texas, when do pretrial bond conditions like a no-contact order actually become enforceable, and do they still apply after a defendant is rearrested?
Bond conditions become enforceable when the defendant actually posts (gives) the bond the magistrate ordered, not when an order is signed and not while the defendant is still in jail. And once the…
Can a Texas county commissioners court rescind the county budget after it's approved and adopt a new one that strips an elected officer's salary increase?
No. There is no statute that lets a commissioners court wholly rescind a finally adopted county budget and replace it. And under the Local Government Code, the court can set or change an elected…
Under the Texas Open Meetings Act, does a home-rule city's charter decide what counts as a quorum, and can fewer than a quorum of council members meet privately to discuss city business?
A home-rule city's charter can define its own quorum for Open Meetings Act purposes, and that definition can include a mayor who only votes to break ties. A gathering of fewer than a quorum usually…
Can a Texas constable use automated speed cameras to mail out speeding tickets without an officer stopping the driver?
No. A constable lacks authority to use an automated traffic-enforcement system to issue speeding citations by mail. Constables only have powers the Constitution or statutes grant them, and the…
Who decides whether a private school can participate in Texas's Education Freedom Accounts program, and what laws disqualify a school?
The Comptroller's Office, not the Attorney General, has the exclusive duty to find the facts that decide eligibility for the Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) program. The AG declined to make…
Can Texas's juvenile Independent Ombudsman interview and inspect on behalf of youth committed to TJJD who are still sitting in a county detention center waiting to be moved?
Yes. The Office of Independent Ombudsman can interview a child who has been adjudicated for a felony and committed to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department even while the child is held in a county…
Does 'advanced recycling' like plastic pyrolysis count as recycling under Texas law, or is it just incineration?
It counts as recycling. Under the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act, an advanced recycling facility that uses pyrolysis on post-use polymers (plastics) is engaged in 'recycling.' The statute expressly…
Can a Texas city reduce or repeal the local option homestead exemption it adopted, even if voters vote to lower the city's property tax rate?
No. Under Tax Code subsection 11.13(n-1), a city, county, or school district that had a local option homestead exemption in place for the 2022 tax year cannot reduce or repeal it through the 2027…
Are race- and sex-based DEI preferences lawful in Texas public contracting and private employment?
The AG concluded that the public-sector race- and sex-based preferences examined in the opinion fail strict scrutiny. It also concluded that some private-sector DEI practices may trigger liability…
Can a Texas commissioners court hire its own outside law firm to help redraw county election precincts, or does the county attorney control that choice?
The commissioners court can. A Texas commissioners court may select and contract with an outside law firm of its own choice to help it redraw county election precincts under Chapter 42 of the…
Does Texas's State Board of Education have to adopt curriculum standards for religious literature, and can it teach the topic inside other subjects instead of a separate class?
Yes, it must. The State Board of Education is required by Education Code subsection 28.002(c) to adopt, by rule, essential knowledge and skills (TEKS) for religious literature, which the Legislature…
Do Texas county and district clerks need a court order to destroy old juvenile case records, or can they follow a retention schedule?
They can follow a retention schedule. Juvenile case papers held by county and district clerks are not 'permanent records,' so a clerk may destroy them without a court order as long as the office…
Can a Texas district attorney carry a concealed handgun in the courtroom, and can a judge or court security committee ban prosecutors from doing so?
District attorneys and assistant district attorneys who hold a license have an affirmative right, not just a defense, to carry a concealed handgun in state courts, because Penal Code sections 46.02…
Does a Texas state board member have to recuse from votes when a close family member works for an entity with competing interests in the same project?
Yes. Under Government Code section 572.058, a Nueces River Authority board member whose brother-in-law is an executive at the City of Corpus Christi's water utility has a 'personal or private…
Can a Texas county require a permit or set a minimum burial depth when a phone company buries cable along a county road, and who pays if the county cuts it?
No on permits and depth. Chapter 181 of the Utilities Code does not authorize a county to require a permit or set a minimum burial depth for a telephone or telegraph corporation that buries cable in…
Who gets written notice of a Texas zoning change, and do you have to be on the city tax roll to count toward a zoning protest?
Written notice of a zoning-commission hearing goes only to owners within 200 feet who appear on the most recently approved municipal tax roll. But for the 20 percent protest that triggers a…
Can Texas HHSC license and regulate disability-services (ISS) providers as day-activity facilities, and can it set penalties above the statutory limit?
Yes to licensing, no to higher penalties. The Health and Human Services Commission may license and regulate on-site and off-site Individualized Skills and Socialization (ISS) providers that are…
Can a Texas county clerk spend records management and preservation fees on a project that includes the district clerk's records?
Only partly. The records management and preservation fee a county clerk collects under section 118.0216 may be used only for documents filed and recorded with the county clerk. The clerk cannot use…
Where does a Texas county jail have to deposit revenue from inmate phone-card sales, the general fund or the sheriff's commissary account?
It depends on the source. If the phone cards deliver the inmates' required telephone privileges (replacing a PIN debit system), the revenue is county money and must go in the general fund. Only…
How long does a Texas child support lien on a bank account last, and what property does it reach?
A child support lien has no set expiration. It stays in force until all current support and arrearages (with interest, costs, and fees) are paid or the claimant releases it under Chapter 157 of the…
Can a Texas county pay a jail employee's salary out of commissary funds when the jail is run by a private contractor?
The commissioners court cannot use commissary proceeds to pay a county employee's salary to staff the jail as a budgetary operating expense. The sheriff or designee controls the funds and may use…
Can a Texas commissioners court move a position and its funding out of the county attorney's office, create its own attorney position, and defund an existing civil attorney slot?
Generally yes, with one hard limit. A commissioners court controls the county budget and may transfer a position and its funding away from the county attorney if those duties are not the county…
Can a Texas county penalize a dog owner for a public nuisance because the dog barks too much?
No. The AG concluded a county commissioners court has no general police power and no statute gives it authority to penalize a dog owner for excessive barking. The Rabies Control Act lets a county…
Can the Texas Supreme Court require county and district clerks to connect their case management systems to the re:SearchTX records database?
Yes. The AG concluded Government Code section 74.024 gives the Supreme Court broad authority to adopt administrative rules that are necessary or even just desirable for running the court system, and…
Can a Texas court order the DPS or the state vital statistics office to change the sex listed on a driver's license or birth certificate?
Not in the way described to the AG, the opinion concluded. The Department of Public Safety asked whether district courts can issue orders, in uncontested ex parte cases, that direct DPS and the…
What exactly must a Texas school board vote on to comply with the SB 763 school chaplain law?
The board has to vote on whether to authorize a 'school chaplain position', the substantive role created by SB 763, where the chaplain provides chaplain-related support, services, and programs to…
Can a Texas county commissioner also serve as the chief of the local volunteer fire department?
Yes. The Texas Constitution's ban on holding more than one office expressly excepts county commissioners, so it does not apply. And the common-law incompatibility doctrine does not bar the dual…
Can the same person be the administrative assistant for both a Texas county judge and the county attorney?
Yes, as a threshold matter. Neither the constitutional ban on holding two offices nor the common-law incompatibility doctrine prevents it, because an administrative assistant is an employee, not a…
Can a guardian make a mentally incapacitated ward use a lawyer, or represent the ward themselves in court?
It depends on the type of case. A probate court's finding that someone is incapacitated does not by itself decide whether the ward can represent themselves in a criminal case; that call belongs to…
Can the Texas Ethics Commission give itself more time to act on a complaint by adopting a tolling rule?
No. The Government Code gives the Commission a hard 120-day deadline to either propose a settlement or dismiss a complaint after a respondent answers, and the only tolling the statute allows is…
Can a Texas taxing unit recover attorney's fees in a delinquent property tax suit if it did not impose the extra collection penalty?
Yes. A taxing unit that contracts with a private attorney to collect delinquent taxes can recover attorney's fees under Property Tax Code § 33.48 (15% of the taxes, penalties, and interest due) in a…
Can a Texas county use county workers and equipment to dig and close graves in private cemeteries?
Mostly no. The AG concluded a county cannot enter an interlocal agreement under Government Code chapter 791 with a private (non-governmental) cemetery organization. A county's burial authority under…
Can a Texas student-athlete use prescribed testosterone for gender transition and still compete under the UIL steroid rules?
No. The AG concluded that providing steroids (including testosterone) to a minor to transition the minor's biological sex is not a 'valid medical purpose' under Education Code section 33.091,…
Does federal ERISA law override Texas's pharmacy benefit manager and pharmacy-contracting rules, even for health plans based outside Texas?
Probably not. The AG concluded that a Texas court would likely hold ERISA does not preempt the two sets of Insurance Code rules added by House Bills 1763 and 1919 (subchapters M and L of chapter…
Can off-duty Texas sheriff's deputies be hired directly for private security work without commissioners court approval?
It depends on whether the work is 'county business' or genuinely private. The AG explained that only the commissioners court may contract on the county's behalf for law enforcement services that…
Can a juvenile defendant's lawyer get the underlying records behind a Texas juvenile probation social history report?
Not through ordinary criminal discovery, but yes by subpoena. The AG concluded that a local juvenile probation department (Tarrant County Juvenile Services) is not 'the state' under Code of Criminal…
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Attorney general opinions in Texas are written by the Texas 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.