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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Does a Texas county appraisal district office have to be located in its own county?
Yes, the Attorney General concluded. Tax Code section 6.05 requires an appraisal district's office to be located in the county for which the district is established. There are two exceptions: the…
Can a Texas state licensing agency see criminal records that are sealed by a nondisclosure order?
No, the Attorney General concluded (presuming the agency is not a criminal justice agency). Government Code section 411.081(d) lets someone who completed deferred adjudication get a court order…
What gifts may a Texas Department of Information Resources board member accept from a potential state contractor?
The Attorney General read Government Code section 2054.022(a)(7) to bar a board member or the executive director of the Department of Information Resources from accepting money or anything of value,…
Does a school district pre-K class run with a Head Start agency need a Texas child-care license?
The Attorney General did not give a yes-or-no answer. A child-care facility generally needs a license, but an accredited educational facility that 'operates' a pre-kindergarten program primarily for…
Can a Texas university-system retiree working for another state agency receive two state health-benefit contributions?
No, and the Attorney General explained why. An individual who receives a state contribution as an annuitant (retiree) under the group benefits plan created by chapter 1601 of the Insurance Code may…
Which disabled-veteran property tax exemption applies in Texas, the constitution's or the Tax Code's?
The Attorney General concluded that tax appraisal districts must use the disability-rating schedule and maximum exemption amounts in Texas Constitution article VIII, section 2(b), not the ones in…
Can a Texas lottery vending machine scan your driver's license to check your age?
Yes, the Attorney General concluded. Transportation Code section 521.126 generally makes it an offense to access or use the electronically readable information on a driver's license, but it has an…
Does a Texas health plan have to cover as many mental-health outpatient visits as physical ones?
Yes, the Attorney General concluded. Insurance Code section 1355.004(a)(1)(B) sets a floor: a covered group health benefit plan must provide at least 60 outpatient visits per year for serious mental…
Can a Texas government agency release a vehicle's VIN under the open records law?
Yes, if the VIN stands alone. The Attorney General concluded that Government Code section 552.130, the Public Information Act exception covering driver's licenses, vehicle titles and registrations,…
Can a Texas navigation district regulate and permit waterfront structures within its boundaries?
Yes, within its statutory scope. The Attorney General concluded the Cedar Bayou Navigation District has express authority, under its enabling act and Water Code section 63.153, to regulate…
Can a Texas county hire a company owned by one of its county commissioners?
It is not automatically barred. The Attorney General explained that Local Government Code section 81.002(a), the commissioners' oath, generally prohibits a county judge or commissioner from being…
Are Texas civil-service laws that apply only to cities over 1.5 million (Houston) unconstitutional?
The Attorney General declined to say so as a matter of law. Two Local Government Code sections, 143.088 (a ban on paying for someone to retire or resign from a civil service job) and 143.1041…
Does the open-records 'radio station' exception cover a ham radio license holder in Texas?
Yes, the Attorney General concluded, based on the statute's plain language. Government Code section 552.275 lets a governmental body cap the time it must spend producing records for frequent…
Do vague agenda labels like 'City Manager's Report' satisfy the Texas Open Meetings Act?
No, the Attorney General concluded for the labels in question. Under the Open Meetings Act, a meeting notice must give the date, hour, place, and subject of the meeting, and the subject must be…
Can a Texas county bail bond board discipline a surety over an out-of-county bond?
Yes, the Attorney General concluded. A county bail bond board may revoke or suspend the license of a surety it licensed if the surety violates Occupations Code chapter 1704 or a board rule on a bond…
Is the Texas Association of Appraisal Districts subject to the open records law?
It depends on the facts, the Attorney General explained, and the opinion declined to decide it. Under the Public Information Act, a private organization is a 'governmental body' to the extent it…
Could a business leasing Texas land seek a school property-tax value limit for buildings or equipment it owned?
Yes, under the law examined in 2008. A person that owned a qualifying building, improvement, or item of tangible personal property could apply for the chapter 313 appraised-value limitation even if…
Can a Texas county give a grant or financial aid to a school district or charter school?
Not as a gift, the Attorney General concluded. Article III, section 52(a) of the Texas Constitution bars a county from gratuitously granting its public money or anything of value to an independent…
Can a Texas county bail bond board vote to dissolve itself?
No, the Attorney General concluded. In a county with fewer than 110,000 people, Occupations Code chapter 1704 lets the relevant officials choose whether to create a bail bond board, but the statute…
Does adopting collective bargaining (FPERA) change how many assistant fire chiefs a Texas city's fire chief can appoint?
Adopting the Fire and Police Employees Relations Act did not strip the fire chief of the authority to appoint top assistants; it removed the numerical cap on how many he could appoint. Under Local…
Can a Texas county pay its elected officials a performance bonus for hitting goals set by the commissioners court?
Probably not, the Attorney General concluded. A commissioners court controls the county budget and can set compensation for county officers and employees, and a properly pre-approved bonus plan for…
Can a Texas city's municipal court hear an appeal of a dangerous-dog determination, and can it refuse or transfer the case?
Yes, it can hear these cases, the Attorney General concluded. A municipal court created under Government Code chapter 29, even one that is not a court of record, has jurisdiction under Health and…
If a county boundary resurvey moves part of an existing road into a different county, does that county automatically have to maintain it?
No, not on its own, the Attorney General concluded. Slama Road was established in 1902 as an Ellis County road running to the Navarro County line. A 1931 resurvey of the boundary showed the last…
How far can a Texas county require a sexually oriented business to be located from schools, homes, and churches?
There is no single statutory maximum, the Attorney General concluded. Local Government Code section 243.006(a) lets a county prohibit a sexually oriented business within a certain distance of a…
Do Texas public schools and charter schools have to offer the elective Bible course?
No, the Attorney General concluded. House Bill 1287 added Education Code section 28.011, which says a school district 'may offer' elective courses on the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament and…
Can a county's one-year no-rehire policy block a constable from hiring a deputy who recently left another county job?
No, the Attorney General concluded. San Jacinto County's commissioners court adopted a policy making a former county employee ineligible for rehire for one year after leaving. The opinion held that…
Do Texas school districts have to use the state's standard GPA formula for college admissions?
Yes, for admissions, the Attorney General concluded. Education Code section 51.807 directs the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to adopt a standard method for computing a student's high…
Does a Texas wildlife rehabilitation permit let the holder keep any dangerous wild animal without registering it?
No, the Attorney General concluded. Subchapter E of Health and Safety Code chapter 822 bars anyone from keeping a dangerous wild animal (the list includes tigers, lions, bears, gorillas, and similar…
Can a Texas regional transportation authority charge different sales tax rates in different subregions?
Yes, potentially, the Attorney General concluded. The Texas Constitution requires taxation to be equal and uniform, but courts have long held that does not demand absolute equality; it allows…
Are county indigent-health-care bills over budget an unconstitutional debt the county can't pay?
It depends on a fact question, but if the answer is the one suggested, yes, the Attorney General concluded. Texas Constitution article XI, section 7 bars a county from incurring a debt without…
Can a Texas justice of the peace who is a lawyer be appointed to represent criminal defendants on appeal?
No statute forbids it, the Attorney General concluded, but ethics rules may. A justice of the peace in Upshur County, who is a licensed attorney, asked to be put on the criminal appellate…
Can the board directors of a Texas water authority enroll in the district's employee health care plan?
No, the Attorney General concluded. The Lower Neches Valley Authority is a conservation and reclamation district subject to chapter 49 of the Water Code. Section 49.069(c) lets the board provide…
Can a Texas state agency rule exempt a child-care program from licensing if the statute doesn't list that exemption?
No. The opinion read section 42.041(b)'s child-care licensing exemptions as exclusive: Rule 745.117(4) is invalid to the extent it exempts a program the statute does not. The request gave no facts…
Can a Texas city or county limit housing density or lot size through subdivision platting in a city's extraterritorial jurisdiction?
It depends, and the Attorney General would not resolve it. Chapters 212 and 232 of the Local Government Code let cities and counties regulate plats and subdivisions, including in a city's…
Can a Texas Lottery Commission member host or sponsor a political fundraiser or solicit campaign contributions?
Possibly not, depending on the facts. Government Code section 467.025(a)(5) bars a Lottery Commission member from directly or indirectly coercing, commanding, or advising anyone to contribute…
When is a wild animal 'previously captured' so that beating or killing it counts as criminal animal cruelty in Texas?
A wild animal counts as 'previously captured' if it was confined against its will at some point before the cruel act. The Attorney General was asked to define 'previously captured' in Penal Code…
Can a Texas county commissioner also be paid as an employee of the county sheriff's department?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Local Government Code section 81.002(a), which requires a county commissioner to swear not to be interested, directly or indirectly, in a contract with or…
Can a Texas auto shop put a mechanic's lien on a car it never actually repaired?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Property Code section 70.001(a) gives a possessory lien only to a worker 'who by labor repairs' an article, including a vehicle. If a shop performs no…
Does filing a campaign treasurer appointment or hinting at a run force a Texas constable to automatically resign under resign-to-run?
A campaign treasurer filing alone does not trigger automatic resignation under the Election Code, a rule the opinion said a court would likely uphold. Whether this constable announced his candidacy…
Does a Texas county judge lose magistrate powers when the county court loses its criminal and civil jurisdiction?
No. The Aransas County Attorney asked whether the 2001 creation of a county court at law, which stripped the constitutional county court of its probate, juvenile, civil, and criminal jurisdiction,…
Does a Texas school district's TRS contribution use the teacher minimum salary including the temporary 2006 $250 raise?
No. The Commissioner of Education asked how to read Education Code section 21.402 when calculating a school district's share of the state's Teacher Retirement System (TRS) contribution. Government…
Does paying for individual health insurance through a pre-tax cafeteria plan make it an employer plan and block Texas Risk Pool eligibility?
It can, but the key questions are facts the Attorney General could not resolve. The senator asked whether paying individual health-plan premiums through a cafeteria plan funded entirely by pre-tax…
Can a Texas county tax assessor-collector pay deputies extra from certificate-of-title fees without commissioners court approval?
No. The Frio County Attorney asked whether the county tax assessor-collector (TAC) could give her salaried deputies extra pay out of the $5 portion of certificate-of-title fees the office collects…
Can a Texas county clerk pay her deputies extra from the records management and preservation fund without commissioners court approval?
Mostly no. The Frio County Attorney asked whether the county clerk could supplement her deputies' pay out of the clerk's records management and preservation fund without going through the…
Does a Texas school district have to pay municipal impact fees for new school construction?
No, not unless it agrees to. The Commissioner of Education asked, for the Spring Independent School District, whether impact fees can be imposed on school district property under chapter 395 of the…
Can a Texas county officer keep collected fees in a personal bank account instead of the county treasury?
No. The Montague County Attorney asked whether county officials who collect fees (the sheriff, county clerk, district clerk, and two justices of the peace) could put those funds in individual bank…
Can a countywide wet/dry vote in Texas change the alcohol rules in a city or precinct that already voted dry?
No. The Brazoria County Criminal District Attorney asked what could be sold, and what county clerks could certify, in three areas (former Justice Precinct 5, the City of Sweeny inside it, and the…
How must a Texas water district value leased lakefront land it is selling to the tenants?
As encumbered by the existing leases. Senator Kip Averitt asked, about the Brazos River Authority's plan to sell Possum Kingdom Lake property to its long-term residential lessees, whether the land…
Can a Texas school district use a 403(b) plan administrator owned by a company that sells investments to its employees?
It depends on the facts. Representative Vicki Truitt asked whether a Texas educational institution (a school district or open-enrollment charter school) violates article 6228a-5, section 9(a)(4)-(7)…
Can Texas stop a parent convicted of a crime against a child from inheriting from that child?
Probably not, in most cases. Governor Rick Perry asked whether Probate Code section 41(e)(3), which lets a probate court bar a parent from inheriting from a child if the parent was convicted or…
After Texas consolidated appraisal districts, who handles property tax protests from before 2008?
The old appraisal district keeps that authority. Representative Fred Hill asked how House Bill 1010, which realigned appraisal district boundaries to county lines and ended the practice of a…
Who is allowed to sign a protest against a zoning change in Texas?
Only owners whose land is both within 200 feet and listed on the city's tax roll. Representative Kevin Bailey asked, after an Austin zoning change, whether everyone owning land within 200 feet of a…
Can a Texas charter school's employees get Social Security coverage through the state?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that an open-enrollment charter school is a 'political subdivision' under Chapter 606 of the Government Code and section 218 of the Social Security Act, which…
Can a Texas county sell road equipment to a private company without competitive bidding?
Generally no. Medina County wanted to end a Caterpillar motor-grader lease by taking title to the grader and passing it to a dealer that paid the county $15,000, treating the move as just a way to…
Can a Texas appraisal district hire a firm that employs the chief appraiser's son?
Yes, the contract itself is allowed, but a separate rule can cost the chief appraiser his job. The Liberty County Central Appraisal District wanted to contract with an appraisal company that employs…
Can a Texas multi-jurisdictional library district levy a property tax without a constitutional amendment?
Probably not. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission asked whether a multi-jurisdictional library district created under Local Government Code chapter 336 can assess and collect ad valorem…
Can a small Texas general-law city payroll-deduct police union dues under a collective bargaining contract?
Yes. The City of Balcones Heights, a Type A general-law city of about 3,000 people, had a collective bargaining agreement with its police officers' association calling for payroll deduction of dues,…
Must a Texas county approve LIRAP vehicle-program payments before paying, despite a five-day deadline?
Yes on the approvals, and the five-day deadline does not override them. Williamson County asked about the Low-Income Vehicle Repair Assistance, Retrofit, and Accelerated Vehicle Retirement Program…
Can Texas ban a foreign company from hauling horsemeat through the state for export abroad?
Probably yes. Chapter 149 of the Agriculture Code makes it a crime to sell, possess for sale, or transfer horsemeat as food for human consumption. Representative Warren Chisum asked whether that ban…
Can people in a needle-exchange program be prosecuted for drug paraphernalia in Texas?
Yes, potentially. In 2007 the Legislature let Bexar County set up a disease-prevention pilot program that could include anonymous exchange of used needles and syringes. But it never wrote any…
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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.