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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When does the deadline start for a Texas county officer to file a salary grievance?
The Attorney General confirmed that two earlier opinions, GA-0051 (2003) and GA-0620 (2008), correctly read sections 152.013 and 152.016 of the Local Government Code: a commissioners court must…
When does a Texas restrictive covenant or club-fee requirement run with the land and bind future owners?
The chair of the Sunset Advisory Commission asked seven questions about whether certain restrictive covenants, especially ones requiring property owners to pay fees to a private for-profit club, are…
Does the Texas Ethics Commission have to send a complainant's residency proof to the person they complained about?
Probably not. The Texas Ethics Commission asked whether the document a complainant must attach to a sworn complaint to prove Texas residency or property ownership, such as a paycheck or property tax…
Can a Texas general-law city ban firearm discharge inside its original city limits?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that section 229.002 of the Local Government Code does not prohibit a Type A general-law municipality from adopting an ordinance regulating the discharge of a…
What does land need to qualify as an 'ecological laboratory' for the Texas open-space tax break?
The Attorney General concluded that nothing in the Tax Code requires a chief appraiser to rely on a university's ecological-laboratory research plan and annual report to qualify land as an…
What must be reported to a school when a student on juvenile parole enrolls in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that when a youth on parole from the Texas Youth Commission enrolled in a new school district and had been convicted or adjudicated, the agency had to give the…
Who decides where a medical helicopter lands at a car accident scene, the sheriff or the fire department?
The Attorney General concluded that neither the sheriff's office nor the fire department has the final say on where to land a helicopter at a motor vehicle accident scene. No Texas statute, court…
Can a Texas city require contractors to sign a project labor agreement to bid on public work?
The Attorney General did not give a yes-or-no answer. The opinion concluded that whether requiring a project labor agreement (PLA) as a condition of bidding violates section 271.121 of the Local…
Can a Texas county commissioners court set work hours and dock pay for employees of elected officials?
The Attorney General concluded that a county commissioners court in a populous county may set a 40-hour workweek by rule and likely may withhold partial salaries and benefits from employees who work…
What can a Texas city do if no local newspaper qualifies to publish its legal notices?
The Attorney General concluded that a newspaper used to publish a political subdivision's official notices must meet the requirements of Government Code section 2051.044, including holding a…
Can a Texas court order emergency medical treatment of a jail inmate under Health and Safety Code 773.008?
The Attorney General concluded that section 773.008(2) of the Health and Safety Code does not, by itself, give a court of record the authority to order emergency medical treatment of a local jail…
Can a Texas school district run an on-site health clinic for its employees alongside TRS coverage?
The Attorney General concluded that a school district operating an on-site health clinic that provides optional, direct healthcare services to employees is not offering 'group health coverage,' so…
Can a Texas county make volunteer assistant fire marshals reserve law enforcement officers?
The Attorney General concluded that a volunteer assistant fire marshal is not, just by virtue of the appointment, a reserve law enforcement officer. The Legislature defined 'reserve law enforcement…
What counts as an 'enacted revenue measure' for the Texas State Highway Fund rail appropriation?
The Attorney General concluded that 'enacted revenue measures' in article IX, section 17.10(b)(1) of the 2010-2011 General Appropriations Act means any legislative enactment that provides incoming…
Can a Texas city spend leftover hotel occupancy tax money on general city expenses?
The Attorney General concluded that hotel occupancy tax revenue collected under chapter 351 of the Tax Code must be spent only as that chapter allows, and that chapter 351 bars using the revenue,…
Can a Texas city force a school district to pay for infrastructure like a waterline by ordinance?
The Attorney General gave a layered answer. If the City of Eagle Pass ordinance imposes an 'impact fee' under chapter 395 of the Local Government Code, the school district does not have to pay it…
Can one person be both a water district's general manager and a city's city manager in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that the common-law doctrine of incompatibility does not prevent the general manager of a water district from also serving as the city manager of a home-rule city. The…
Can the Texas State Board of Education pay lawyers from the Permanent School Fund without an appropriation?
The Attorney General concluded that article VII, section 5 of the Texas Constitution does not let the State Board of Education spend Permanent School Fund (PSF) money on attorney fees without a…
Can a probation officer report child abuse found in a confidential presentence report in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that a community supervision (probation) officer may release information from a pre-plea presentence investigation report to the Department of Family and Protective…
Can Texas police use a handheld laser speed camera that records video before a traffic stop?
The Attorney General concluded that a handheld laser speed enforcement device with a built-in video camera and GPS is prohibited under Transportation Code section 542.2035 if it records a vehicle's…
Can the Texas Health and Human Services Commission define 'affiliate' by rule for its family planning program?
The Attorney General concluded that the Health and Human Services Commission has authority to adopt a rule defining 'affiliate' for its women's health and family planning demonstration project, even…
Can Texas exclude abortion providers' affiliates from its Medicaid Women's Health Program?
The Attorney General concluded that subsection 32.0248(h) of the Human Resources Code, which bars the Health and Human Services Commission from contracting under the Women's Health Program with…
Can a Texas water conservation district transfer its assets to a private individual or company?
The Attorney General concluded that the board of the Sandy Land Underground Water Conservation District has broad statutory authority under Water Code section 36.158 to transfer assets, including…
Can a Texas civil service commission charge firefighters a fee to take a promotional exam?
The Attorney General concluded that a local civil service commission may not charge an applicant a fee to take a fire department promotional examination. Unlike entrance examinations, which Chapter…
Can a part-time municipal judge in Texas also serve on a drainage district board?
The Attorney General concluded that article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution, which forbids holding more than one civil office of emolument at the same time, bars a compensated part-time…
Can someone be a visiting county court judge and a county department director at the same time in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that a person may serve at the same time as a visiting statutory county court judge in Bexar County and as the county's Director of Judicial Support Services. Article…
Can a Texas county judge let a volunteer consultant see county budget records without the commissioners court's approval?
The Attorney General concluded that a county judge acting as the county budget officer does not need the commissioners court's approval before delegating nondiscretionary, ministerial, and…
Where does a city's official newspaper need its second-class postal permit in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that section 2051.044(a)(3) of the Government Code requires a city's designated official newspaper to be entered as second-class postal matter in the county where the…
What is the value limit on a house given away as a prize in a Texas charity raffle?
The Attorney General concluded that under the Charitable Raffle Enabling Act, the value of a residential dwelling offered as a raffle prize is capped at $250,000 whenever the qualified organization…
Can a regional transportation council close a transit station inside a Texas city?
The Attorney General concluded that the Regional Transportation Council, the policy body of the North Central Texas Council of Governments, does not have authority to close the Trinity Railway…
Can a Texas county declare a public road across private land to reach a landlocked property?
The Attorney General concluded that section 251.053 of the Transportation Code, which lets a commissioners court declare a public road so a landowner with no public access can reach a public way, is…
Can a Texas local government invest public funds in a money market or demand account?
The Attorney General concluded that a local government subject to the Public Funds Investment Act (Government Code chapter 2256) may invest its funds in money market deposit accounts, because…
Can a Texas transit authority charge a city that withdrew from it for disabled-rider services?
The Attorney General concluded that Capital Metro could charge the City of West Lake Hills for the special transit services it provides to the City's residents with disabilities, even though the…
Can a Texas school district change its board election from November to the May uniform date?
The Attorney General concluded that Edgewood Independent School District could not move its general election for school trustees from the November uniform election date to the May uniform date.…
Does a county ethics code apply to the district attorney and their staff in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that the El Paso County Code of Ethics, adopted under chapter 161 of the Local Government Code, reaches the District Attorney of the 34th Judicial District and the…
Can a Texas community college buy liability insurance for its child-care center?
The Attorney General concluded that San Jacinto College could buy the liability insurance that Human Resources Code section 42.049 requires for its licensed child-care centers without violating…
Must the Texas Governor appoint an extra member to the Higher Education Coordinating Board?
The Attorney General concluded that the Governor did not have to appoint an additional member to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for the September 1, 2011 to August 31, 2013 period.…
Can a Texas workers' comp insurer pay below the fee guideline for prescription drugs?
The Attorney General concluded that Texas workers' compensation law (Labor Code sections 408.027, 408.028, and 413.011) sets no minimum rate that an insurance carrier must pay to reimburse a…
Is a city-owned airport hangar leased to a private company exempt from Texas property tax?
The Attorney General declined to answer the specific tax questions. Whether the City of Greenville's airport maintenance facilities, leased to the private contractor L-3, are exempt from property…
Can a Texarkana, Texas council member also be a paid firefighter across the line in Arkansas?
The Attorney General concluded that nothing in the two doctrines raised would generally bar a Texarkana, Texas city council member from also working as a paid firefighter for Texarkana, Arkansas. A…
Can a Texas residential appliance installer do electrical work on commercial pools?
The Attorney General concluded that a 'residential appliance installer' licensed under chapter 1305 of the Occupations Code may work only on residential pools, those installed as a unit in a…
Does county civil service protection cover a court investigator appointed by a probate judge in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that a court investigator appointed by a statutory county probate judge IS covered by the Tarrant County civil service system. Chapter 158 of the Local Government Code…
Can a Texas school district use free open-source textbooks to satisfy the state's classroom set requirement?
The Attorney General answered seven of the State Board of Education's eight questions about 2009 changes to the Education Code. The big points: a university 'open-source' textbook (a free,…
Can the surviving spouse of a Texas officer killed in the line of duty buy health insurance if they had not enrolled before the death?
The Attorney General declined to decide this one. Chapter 615 of the Government Code lets an eligible surviving spouse 'purchase continued health insurance benefits' from the deceased officer's…
Does a Texas home-rule city have to pay impact fees charged by another local government?
The Attorney General concluded that a political subdivision, including a home-rule city, must pay impact fees imposed by another political subdivision under chapter 395 of the Local Government Code.…
Who issues the final decision in Texas motor vehicle dealer cases, the DMV Board or the division director?
The Attorney General answered three questions from the new Texas Department of Motor Vehicles Board. First, the Board issues the final order in contested cases under Occupations Code chapter 2301…
Can a Texas 4A economic development corporation use sales tax money to help an affordable housing nonprofit?
The Attorney General did not give a yes or no. A 4A (now 'Type A') economic development corporation can spend its sales tax revenue only on 'authorized projects' as defined in the Development…
Can a civilian police review board look at officers' personnel files in Texas?
The Attorney General did not give a yes or no. Local Government Code section 143.089(g) lets a police or fire department keep an internal personnel file 'for the department's use' and flatly bars…
Must a Texas county attorney represent the county ethics commission, or can it hire its own lawyer?
The Attorney General concluded that the El Paso County Attorney is required by Local Government Code section 161.061 to represent the El Paso County Ethics Commission in all legal matters, and that…
In a large Texas county, who chooses the outside lawyer for the county's lawsuits, the commissioners or the DA?
The Attorney General concluded that in Dallas County the line runs like this: the commissioners court decides whether to bring or defend a lawsuit, but Local Government Code section 89.001 makes the…
Can Texas require day-care workers to take more training hours than the statute's minimum?
The Attorney General concluded that a court would likely find that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services may, by rule, require more training hours for day-care center and group…
Who gets the money from phone cards sold in a Texas county jail commissary, the sheriff or the county?
The Attorney General concluded that revenue from prepaid phone cards sold in a county jail commissary should be credited to the sheriff, as sole custodian of the commissary fund, for the benefit of…
Can a Texas school district stop a parent from bringing an advocate to deal with their child's education?
The Attorney General could answer only in general terms, because the request did not define 'advocate' or give any context. Where the law specifically allows an advocate, a school district cannot…
Are bingo eight-liner machines that pay out cards or gift certificates legal in Texas?
No. The Attorney General concluded these machines were gambling devices, not the kind of exempt 'noncash merchandise prize.' The opinion explained that an award of a bingo card, paper, card-minding…
What counts as a 'normal course load' for funding Texas virtual school courses?
The Attorney General could not say the definition had to be a four-hour-per-day course load. Education Code section 42.159 pays school districts and charter schools different amounts depending on…
Can a Texas school district change its trustee election date and adjust term lengths?
A court would likely conclude yes. The Attorney General determined that under Election Code section 41.0052, a school district could move its general election for trustees to the November uniform…
How is a hurricane-damaged Texas home reappraised for property taxes after repairs?
It depended on whether the home had been rendered uninhabitable or unusable. The Attorney General explained that if a residence homestead was rendered uninhabitable or unusable by the storm, Tax…
Is a charity Super Bowl squares game illegal gambling in Texas?
No, on the specific facts described. A state representative described a charitable 'squares game': donors buy squares on a grid tied to a major game like the Super Bowl, each square names a charity,…
Does a Texas facility need a license to provide medication abortions?
Two answers. First, the Attorney General concluded that chapter 245 of the Health and Safety Code requires abortion facilities to be licensed, with limited exceptions, and that a 'medical abortion'…
Can a Texas abortion facility give the required 24-hour informed-consent information with a prerecorded phone message or a one-way recorded call?
Probably not. The Attorney General concluded that, although the statute's wording is ambiguous, a court would more likely than not read Health and Safety Code section 171.012 to require a live…
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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.