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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Can a Texas county appoint its county judge as the county budget officer?
The Williamson County Attorney asked the Attorney General whether a county that chooses to operate under subchapter C of chapter 111 of the Local Government Code (the optional method that lets larger …
Does the Texas Lottery Commission have to give disabled residents meaningful access under the ADA?
State Senator Rodney Ellis asked the Attorney General whether the Texas Lottery Commission violates the federal Americans with Disabilities Act if it fails to provide 'meaningful access' to state serv…
When a Texas judicial district is created, must the state fund the new judge's salary?
Governor Rick Perry asked the Attorney General two questions about the newly created 444th and 445th Judicial Districts in Cameron County: whether the courts existed so that he could appoint judges, a…
Does Texas's impact-fee timing rule control a city's fees if the city raised the amounts after June 20, 1987?
Senator Mike Jackson, on behalf of the City of League City, asked whether Local Government Code section 395.016(b), which sets when impact fees adopted before June 20, 1987 may be assessed and collect…
Can a Texas county use road bond money on a city street that connects to a county road on only one end?
Senator Mike Jackson, on behalf of Galveston County, asked whether the county could use road bond funds issued under article III, section 52(b) and (c) of the Texas Constitution to work on city street…
Can a Texas bail bond board grant a temporary license or extension so a surety can keep working after the license expires?
Collin County Criminal District Attorney John R. Roach asked whether a county bail bond board could adopt a local rule that temporarily extends a surety's license past the expiration dates set in Occu…
If a Texas school district misses the deadline to file a truancy complaint, can it still file one for a later absence?
Representative Charlie F. Howard asked two questions about a school district's duty under Education Code section 25.0951(a) to file a truancy complaint after a student's tenth unexcused absence. First…
Can a Texas police association charge its members lower tuition for required continuing education courses?
Timothy Braaten, head of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education (TCLEOSE), asked whether the Texas Municipal Police Association (TMPA), a continuing-education provider…
Is a Texas public employee's net salary public, and does it go in the state spending database?
Comptroller Susan Combs asked which public-employee information had to go into the new public database of state expenditures created by House Bill 3430 in 2007. The Attorney General concluded that a p…
Who decides what financial software a Texas county auditor's office uses, the auditor or the commissioners court?
Johnson County Attorney Bill Moore asked whether the county auditor, under Local Government Code sections 84.901 and 112.001, can choose the financial software for the auditor's own office, pick betwe…
Can a Texas county court at law judge decide felony cases when assigned to a district court?
Kerr County Attorney Rex Emerson asked whether a county court at law judge, assigned by the presiding judge of the administrative judicial region to sit in district court, could render judgment in fel…
Can a Texas justice of the peace also hold a county EMS or other county job at the same time?
Terrell County Attorney Marsha Monroe asked three questions about county officers holding more than one county position. First, the Attorney General concluded that a justice of the peace may also serv…
Does the Texas section 133.154 special court filing fee apply to cases filed in a statutory probate court?
Two district attorneys, Susan Reed of Bexar County and John Roach of Collin County, asked whether the special civil filing fee in Local Government Code section 133.154 (added by the 2005 House Bill 11…
Can a Texas legislator sell insurance to a state university under article III, section 18?
Texas Southern University asked whether a member of the Texas Legislature could provide insurance services to a state university, where the legislator had signed competitively bid insurance contracts …
Can a Texas county clerk put court records online for the public to search?
A Texas House committee chair asked whether the El Paso County district and county clerks could store court documents in an electronic database and make them searchable online. The Attorney General sa…
How is the 10% fee cap for a Texas state-employee charitable campaign manager calculated?
A Texas House committee chair asked whether the 10 percent fee a campaign manager may charge charities in the state employee charitable campaign is measured against the contributions collected in that…
Does federal law override Texas's concealed-carry proficiency certificate rules for retired police?
The Kerr County Attorney asked whether 18 U.S.C. section 926C, the federal law letting qualified retired law enforcement officers carry a concealed firearm, preempts the Texas Occupations Code section…
Does owning part of a holding company make you ineligible for a Texas bingo license?
The Texas Lottery Commission asked whether an applicant for a bingo manufacturer's or distributor's license is ineligible if an individual it must name in the application holds 10 percent or more of a…
Can a Texas district attorney accept private donations to pay office staff?
A district attorney asked whether she could set up a nonprofit to take in donations and use them to supplement her employees' pay. The Attorney General said a prosecuting attorney has no general autho…
Can a BYOB pool hall operate without a liquor license in Texas?
A district attorney asked whether a downtown Corsicana pool hall could let customers bring and drink their own alcohol (BYOB) without a license from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, and whethe…
Can the Justice Court Technology Fund pay for a constable's computer or training?
A county criminal district attorney asked whether Jasper County's Justice Court Technology Fund, built from fees paid by misdemeanor defendants in justice court, could buy a desktop computer for a con…
When does a Texas county senior tax freeze take effect, and what year is the base year?
DeWitt County voters approved a property tax freeze for homesteads of people 65 or older or disabled at a November 2005 election, but the commissioners court never adopted a resolution to implement it…
Can a Texas city lease or sell part of a city park to a school district to build a school?
El Paso County asked, for the Ysleta school district, whether a home-rule city could lease or sell part of an existing city park to a school district for a new school. The Attorney General said yes on…
Can a former Texas judge become a prosecutor in the same county where she was a judge?
The Dallas County District Attorney asked about a former district judge, now an assistant district attorney in his office, who is prosecuting and supervising Child Protective Services cases in the sam…
Can a Texas appraisal district's in-house lawyer also advise the appraisal review board?
No. Because an appraisal review board hears protests against the appraisal district itself, the district's in-house counsel cannot also serve as the board's lawyer; private legal discussions between t…
Does a candidate for a Texas community college board of regents have to meet a six-month residency requirement?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a candidate for the Del Mar College District Board of Regents must satisfy the Election Code's requirement of having lived in the territory the seat represents…
Can a Texas state board adopt its own rule requiring a supermajority vote to pass something?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the State Board of Education's power to adopt its own rules of procedure does not let it require a supermajority (more than a simple majority) to act. Texas fol…
Can a Texas county contract to provide constable law-enforcement to a private apartment complex or association?
Yes, within constitutional limits. The Attorney General concluded that chapter 351, subchapter D of the Local Government Code, which lets a commissioners court contract to provide county law-enforceme…
Can a Texas county open or operate a hospital clinic in a neighboring county without that county's permission?
Yes, under the right findings. The Attorney General concluded that under Health and Safety Code section 263.022(c), a county that runs a county hospital may purchase or lease a medical clinic in an ad…
Can a Texas justice of the peace also give polygraph tests for the district attorney's office?
The Attorney General did not give a yes-or-no answer, because that call belongs to someone else. It explained that the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, not the Attorney General, is the body that …
If a Texas constable resigns by running for another office, what happens when his precinct is abolished?
The Attorney General concluded that a constable who automatically resigns by declaring candidacy for another office of profit or trust still must hold over in the constable's office until a successor …
How does Texas calculate the school property value deduction for a tax increment financing (TIF) zone?
The Attorney General concluded that under Government Code section 403.302(d)(4), the Comptroller deducts only the portion of a school district's captured appraised value in a tax increment reinvestmen…
Can a Texas taxing unit waive property tax penalties if the appraisal district caused the delinquency?
Only if the deadline is met. The Attorney General explained that Tax Code section 33.011 requires a taxing unit to waive penalties (and lets it waive interest) when the taxpayer's failure to pay on ti…
Can Texas require a veterinarian to register with DPS before dispensing controlled substances?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners had authority to adopt its rule (22 Tex. Admin. Code section 573.43) barring a licensed veterinarian from dispe…
Can a Texas hospital district house and manage a private imaging business inside its own hospital?
Yes, with conditions. The Attorney General concluded that the Angleton-Danbury Hospital District had implied authority under Special District Local Laws Code chapter 1002 to house and manage a private…
Can a Texas county auditor hire outside lawyers without the county attorney's consent?
Yes, on the facts here. The Attorney General concluded that the Henderson County Attorney had no exclusive duty to represent the county in all civil legal matters, so the county auditor's retention of…
Can a Texas county medical examiner charge a tissue procurement organization for using its facility?
No. The Attorney General concluded that section 693.002(b) of the Health and Safety Code does not authorize a county medical examiner to recoup costs from a tissue procurement organization that uses t…
Can a Texas county cremate the body of an unidentified pauper?
No. The Attorney General concluded that even though a county may dispose of a deceased pauper's body by cremation under Health and Safety Code section 694.002(a), section 716.101 flatly prohibits a cr…
How must a Texas sheriff dispose of a vehicle abandoned when its occupants run off?
The Attorney General concluded that Transportation Code chapter 683, the abandoned-vehicle statute, did not govern. A vehicle is only 'abandoned' under that chapter if it sat unattended or illegally f…
Can Texas legalize electronic pull-tab bingo without amending its constitution?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a Texas court would hold that 'bingo' in article III, section 47(b) of the Texas Constitution, the provision that lets the Legislature authorize charitable bing…
Can the same person be a Texas county constable and a groundwater district board member?
No. The Attorney General concluded that article XVI, section 40(a) of the Texas Constitution, which bars anyone from holding more than one civil office of emolument at the same time, prevents one pers…
Can a Texas navigation district adopt an over-65 or disabled homestead tax freeze?
No. The Attorney General concluded that article VIII, section 1-b(h) of the Texas Constitution, which lets certain taxing entities freeze property taxes on the homesteads of people who are disabled or…
Can an acting city manager also serve on a metropolitan transit authority board in Texas?
Yes, in the situation presented. The Attorney General concluded that the common-law doctrine of incompatibility does not bar an acting city manager who serves under an employment agreement, at the ple…
Can a charity get a Texas property tax exemption for a building it can't yet occupy?
It depends on the facts, and the chief appraiser decides. The Attorney General explained that an unoccupied building is not automatically disqualified from the charitable property tax exemption: under…
Can a Texas assistant police chief also serve as the city administrator?
Not at the same time. The Attorney General concluded that League City's Assistant Chief of Police, who took a paid leave of absence to act as interim City Administrator, was not in a civil service pos…
Does a Texas school district have to switch to four-year trustee terms for joint elections?
Sometimes, yes. The Attorney General concluded that Education Code section 11.0581 requires an independent school district to hold its trustee elections jointly, on the same uniform election date as a…
Can a Texas county take money from a jail inmate's account for past medical bills?
Yes, with due process. The Attorney General concluded that a county may deduct from a county-jail inmate's commissary or trust account the funds needed to recover the cost of medical, dental, or healt…
How can a Texas county legally sell seized eight-liner gambling machines?
By competitive bid or auction, not a private bulk sale. The Attorney General concluded that article 18.18 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which allows forfeited gambling contraband to be destroyed …
Can a Texas open-enrollment charter school have its own police department?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the Education Code does not authorize an open-enrollment charter school to operate or maintain a commissioned police force. Section 37.081 gives that power to a…
Can a pardoned person collect wrongful-imprisonment compensation if they served a concurrent sentence for another crime?
Yes, in this situation. The Attorney General concluded the Comptroller may approve a chapter 103 wrongful-imprisonment claim even though the claimant served a concurrent prison sentence for an unrelat…
Can a Texas teacher or school employee be paid to serve on a city council?
Generally not as a salary. Under article XVI, section 40(b) of the Texas Constitution, a person paid by the state can serve on a local governing body but cannot receive a salary for that service, with…
Can a Texas city loan public money to a private developer for a housing project?
Yes, if the project promotes economic development. The Attorney General concluded that article III, section 52-a of the Texas Constitution and Local Government Code section 380.001 let a city make a l…
Can a Texas city use assessment money to build a seawall on private property?
Not without first getting a legal interest in the land. The Attorney General concluded that a city cannot build and fund a seawall under the public improvement district assessment laws (Local Governme…
Is an eight-liner that pays out on a stored-value card a gambling device in Texas?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a stored-value card a player can use to buy merchandise works as a medium of exchange, which makes it a cash equivalent rather than a 'noncash merchandise priz…
Can a Texas city ban registered sex offenders from living near schools and parks?
It depends on the type of city. The Attorney General concluded that a home-rule municipality may adopt an ordinance keeping registered sex offenders from living a set distance from places where childr…
Can Texas ban mail-order hearing aid sales?
No, those rules are federally preempted. The Attorney General concluded that two Occupations Code provisions, one requiring an audiological evaluation before a mail-ordered hearing aid is fitted (with…
Can you get a free transcript for a Texas driver's license suspension appeal if you can't afford it?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) does not have to provide a free transcript of a driver's license suspension hearing when someone appeals, eve…
Can a Texas county pay an official's criminal defense legal fees?
It can choose to, but it doesn't have to. The Attorney General concluded a Texas county has no statutory or common-law duty to pay for the criminal defense of its officers and employees (the duty to p…
Is land leased by a Texas development corporation to private businesses tax-exempt?
Maybe not, and the exemption may be vulnerable. The Attorney General concluded that under the Development Corporation Act, land and improvements that qualify as 'projects' under section 4B(a) are elig…
Can a Texas county clerk use the records management fee to buy historical documents?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the records management and preservation fee a county clerk collects under section 118.011 of the Local Government Code may not be used to purchase original reco…
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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.