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.
No Texas opinions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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:…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
Does a Texas city have to insure a municipal pool slide as an amusement ride?
Partly. The Attorney General concluded that a municipality is a 'person' subject to the Amusement Ride Safety Inspection and Insurance Act, and that whether a particular pool slide is an amusement…
Are Social Security numbers in Texas public records confidential?
Yes, at least as the law stood when this opinion issued. The Attorney General concluded that the Social Security number of a living person is confidential and subject to a mandatory exception from…
Do unpaid Texas property taxes count as 'debt' to a county?
It depends on which statute. The Attorney General concluded that under section 154.045 of the Local Government Code (the warrant-withholding rule for larger counties), delinquent taxes that have not…
Do private companies with eminent domain power have to follow Texas open records law?
Yes, for their condemnation records. The Attorney General concluded that under section 552.0037 of the Public Information Act, a private entity that holds eminent domain power but is not a…
How is the Texas Permanent School Fund's market value calculated for school payouts?
The Attorney General concluded that because section 43.020 of the Education Code requires the accrual accounting method, the State Board of Education may not adopt some other accounting method to…
Can a Texas sheriff accept a bail bond when the accused is jailed in another state?
The Attorney General concluded that a Texas sheriff has no authority to accept bail for an offense committed in the sheriff's county when the accused is jailed in another state. Chapters 17 and 23…
Does a Texas city need to show an area is blighted to create a tax-increment reinvestment zone?
The Attorney General concluded that a city may not designate an area as a reinvestment zone under Tax Code section 311.005(a)(5) unless the area is 'unproductive, underdeveloped, or blighted' within…
Does a Texas county have to maintain subdivision roads it accepted but said it wouldn't maintain?
The Attorney General concluded that when a county accepts in writing a public road dedication made in a subdivision plat, that acceptance brings the roads into the county road maintenance system,…
Can Texas prisons require incoming inmates to be tested for HIV?
The Attorney General concluded that the Texas Board of Criminal Justice is authorized to adopt a rule or policy requiring mandatory HIV testing of incoming offenders in both the institutional…
Can a public body let some members of the public into a closed government meeting?
The Attorney General concluded that the Open Meetings Act does not let a governmental body admit selected members of the public into a closed meeting to give input about a public officer or…
Can a Texas constable own a wrecker service that's on the sheriff's rotation list?
The Attorney General concluded that the conflict-of-interest provisions in chapter 171 of the Local Government Code do not prohibit a county constable from owning and operating a wrecker service…
Can a Texas county require its own overweight truck permit on top of the state permit?
The Attorney General concluded that a county commissioners court is not authorized to require the operator of an overweight vehicle to get a county permit when the operator already holds a state…
Does Texas's evidence-based program rule apply to all DFPS child-prevention services?
The Attorney General concluded that the 'evidence-based' program requirement in section 265.004(a) of the Family Code applies only to Department of Family and Protective Services programs that are…
Can a county attorney represent the state in a chapter 593 placement case for a person with an intellectual disability?
The Attorney General concluded that, absent a request from the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS), a county attorney is not authorized to serve as DADS's legal counsel in…
Can a Texas city sell compost and mulch outside its city limits in competition with private businesses?
The Attorney General concluded that a home-rule city may sell compost products outside its city limits. The sale of compost does not generally contravene the U.S. or Texas constitutions or state…
Who can a Texas bingo lessor license be transferred to?
The Attorney General concluded that section 2001.160 of the Occupations Code does not let the holder of a commercial bingo lessor license transfer it to any person other than a corporation the…
Does the Texas Open Meetings Act apply to a county jail population committee?
The Attorney General concluded that an informal group of Nueces County officials and employees who called themselves the Jail Population Control Committee was not subject to the Open Meetings Act.…
Can a Texas commissioners court assign extra duties to an elected county official like the treasurer?
The Attorney General concluded that a county commissioners court can delegate duties that the constitution and statutes do not expressly assign to any particular office (such as running a county…
Can a bail bondsman park a car with advertising on it in a county jail parking lot in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that section 1704.304(c) of the Occupations Code, which bars a bail bond surety or agent from soliciting bonding business in a police station, jail, or other place of…
Browse Texas opinions by topic
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.