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 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 rid…
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 dis…
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 b…
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 governmenta…
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 dete…
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 of …
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 t…
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, even…
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 (prison)…
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 employee, …
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 that …
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 permi…
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 'de…
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 initiat…
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 statu…
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 holder …
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. The…
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 perso…
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 de…
Can a Texas doctor be charged with capital murder for an illegal third-trimester or minor abortion?
The Attorney General concluded that a physician who violates section 164.052(a)(18) of the Occupations Code (restricting third-trimester abortions on a viable unborn child) or section 164.052(a)(19) (…
Can a Texas school district hire a company to run its cafeteria and buy the food?
The Attorney General concluded that a Texas school district participating in federal school nutrition programs may contract with a food service management company that provides food as part of its ser…
Can a charity pay for its bingo workers' health insurance out of bingo money in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that section 2001.458(b) of the Occupations Code prohibits a licensed authorized organization (a charity licensed to conduct bingo) from incurring or paying from its bin…
Can the Edwards Aquifer Authority cut groundwater permits below the legal minimum?
The Attorney General concluded that the Texas Legislature did not authorize the Edwards Aquifer Authority to reduce the groundwater withdrawal rights of two protected categories of permit holders, irr…
Does Texas's low-income housing tax credit plan have to count neighborhood input?
The Attorney General gave a multi-part answer about the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) and its 2006 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) for low-income housing tax credits. Gover…
Can a Texas school district pay city impact fees or build off-site roads for a new school?
The Attorney General concluded that Education Code section 11.168, which bars a school board from entering an agreement authorizing the use of district employees, property, or resources to provide mat…
Can Texas reveal which insurers write commercial coastal property policies?
The Attorney General concluded that section 38.003(d) of the Insurance Code does not prohibit the Texas Department of Insurance from disclosing the identities of companies that write commercial proper…
Do Texas school district lease-purchase deals have to follow the usual procurement rules?
The Attorney General concluded that Education Code sections 44.031 and 44.033, the competitive procurement rules for school district contracts and purchases, apply to a school district's lease-purchas…
Can someone who isn't a family member pick up a towed car from a storage lot using an affidavit?
The Attorney General concluded that the Texas Department of Transportation reasonably read its own rules (43 Texas Administrative Code sections 18.82(3) and 18.92(a)(3)(G)) to allow a person who is no…
Can a Texas county pay performance bonuses to only some of its employees?
The Attorney General concluded that Smith County's proposed incentive bonus plan for certain county employees would not violate article III, section 53 of the Texas Constitution, which bars extra comp…
Do Texas courts charge two separate filing fees when you file a civil lawsuit?
The Attorney General concluded that a district clerk must collect filing fees under both section 133.151 and section 133.152 of the Local Government Code, not just one of them. Section 133.151 is the …
Is a golf cart a 'motor vehicle' for a lawsuit against a Texas school district?
The Attorney General concluded that a Texas court would likely treat a self-propelled golf cart as a 'motor vehicle' under section 101.051 of the Texas Tort Claims Act, the provision that narrows a sc…
Can a Texas county pay the court-appointed attorney's fees in a private child custody case?
The Attorney General concluded that the answer turns on when the suit was filed. For private suits affecting the parent-child relationship filed on or after September 1, 2003 (the effective date of a …
Can a Texas deputy district clerk also work part-time for a private law firm?
The Attorney General concluded that neither article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution (which bars holding more than one civil office of emolument) nor the common-law incompatibility doctrine p…
Where can a Texas chiropractic license applicant take their 90 college credit hours?
The Attorney General concluded that Occupations Code section 201.302(a)(3), which requires a chiropractic license applicant to complete 90 semester hours of college courses at 'a school other than a c…
Does a Texas clerk charge the $37 civil filing fee on a bail bond forfeiture?
The Attorney General concluded that neither of two new court fees adopted by House Bill 11 in 2006 applies to bail bond forfeiture matters. The $37 filing fee under Local Government Code section 133.1…
Is property owned by a city's public-private partnership exempt from Texas property tax?
The Attorney General concluded that there is no automatic answer, only a framework. To be exempt under the Texas Constitution and Tax Code section 11.11(a), property must be both publicly owned and us…
Is my personal-and-business vehicle tax-free in Texas if I don't have to render it?
The Attorney General concluded that being excepted from the rendition requirement is not the same as being exempt from tax. Tax Code section 22.01(k) (added by House Bill 809 in 2005) says an individu…
Is the City of Millican, Texas still legally a city?
The Attorney General concluded that Millican is best treated as a special-law municipality, because although it first incorporated under general law in 1866, the legislature re-incorporated it by spec…
Is a city water rights fee charged to developers an illegal impact fee in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that a water rights fee imposed solely to procure a water supply, rather than to pay for building physical facilities, is not an 'impact fee' under chapter 395 of the Lo…
Can a Texas city spend its bond-type funds on a different water project than first planned?
The Attorney General concluded that the City of Copperas Cove may use the proceeds of its 2001 certificates of obligation for 'improvements to the City water and wastewater system,' including the repa…
Can a Texas deputy sheriff drive a county patrol car for off-duty security jobs?
The Attorney General concluded that a sheriff may let deputies use county patrol vehicles for off-duty security work without reimbursing the county only when the use satisfies the public-purpose doctr…
Can Texas deny your driver's license renewal for missing court on any charge?
The Attorney General concluded that the chapter 706 'failure to appear' program, which lets the Department of Public Safety deny a driver's license renewal, is not limited to traffic tickets, but it i…
Can a small Texas town annex a strip of roadway right-of-way next to the city limits?
The Attorney General concluded that a Type A general-law city with fewer than 5,000 residents can annex land it does not own only if that land sits inside its half-mile extraterritorial jurisdiction; …
Does an open meetings notice have to say a city council will vote on a motion, not just discuss it?
The Attorney General concluded that the Open Meetings Act requires a city to give advance notice of the topic that will come before the council, here a 'personal endorsement' motion, so a reader is al…
Can a county agency keep providing foster care and case management for CPS after Texas privatized those services?
The Attorney General concluded that after Senate Bill 6's overhaul of child protective services, the Department of Family and Protective Services may not contract with a governmental entity, such as H…
What can a Texas county attorney spend hot check fund money on?
The Attorney General concluded that money in a county attorney's hot check fund may be spent only to defray the salaries and expenses of the prosecutor's office, at the attorney's sole discretion, and…
What are the rules for Texas homestead preservation districts and their tax-increment reinvestment zones?
The Attorney General read Chapter 373A, the 2005 law (which by its population criteria applied only to Austin) that lets a qualifying city create homestead preservation districts and reinvestment zone…
Can a Texas county hire a road administrator instead of a licensed road engineer?
The Attorney General concluded that under section 252.304 of the Transportation Code, a county commissioners court running a county road department generally must appoint a licensed professional engin…
Does a Texas hospital district have to run an emergency ambulance, and can it pay incentives to recruit a doctor?
The Attorney General concluded that a county hospital district is not legally required to run emergency ambulance service; ambulance service is a discretionary, ancillary function, so the Sabine Count…
If a Texas county abandons a road, who gets the drainage easement, and does the county have to sell it?
The Attorney General sorted out which of three statutes governs when a county gives up a drainage easement or right-of-way. If the easement is part of a public road, then under Transportation Code sec…
Can a county use federal Justice Assistance Grant money to pay sheriff or constable overtime?
The Attorney General concluded that a county taking part in Operation Linebacker may not use Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) funds to compensate its sheriff or constable, including for overtime. A Gove…
Can Federal Reserve notes be used as collateral for Texas state repurchase agreements?
The Attorney General clarified an earlier opinion (GA-0324) and concluded that Federal Reserve notes are eligible collateral for the state's direct security repurchase agreements. Under federal law, F…
Can a Texas school board trustee also serve as county clerk?
The Attorney General concluded that a school district trustee is not, as a matter of law, barred from simultaneously serving as county clerk of the county where the district sits. The constitutional b…
Can a Texas hospital district operate a nursing home or long-term care facility and levy taxes to pay for it?
The Attorney General concluded yes. The East Coke County Hospital District, a district created in 1969 by a special law under article IX, section 9 of the Texas Constitution, had authority to operate …
Can a Texas constable run animal control on his own, without the county commissioners court approving it?
The Attorney General concluded a constable cannot make himself the animal or rabies control authority. If a constable has reason to believe an animal is being cruelly treated, the cruelty statute (cha…
If a Texas county jailer is also a deputy sheriff, does he need a private security guard commission to moonlight as an armed guard?
The Attorney General did not give a yes-or-no answer, because it turns on the facts of each person's job. The Private Security Act exempts only full-time peace officers from its commissioning requirem…
Can a Texas store scan and save your driver's license when you buy cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine?
The Attorney General concluded yes. A general law (Transportation Code section 521.126) makes it a crime to read and store the data on a driver's license magnetic stripe, but it has an exception for a…
Does a retired federal Customs and Border Protection officer meet Texas firearm standards to carry concealed under federal law?
The Attorney General did not answer the underlying question. A 2004 federal law, the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act, lets a qualified retired law enforcement officer carry a concealed firearm in …
How much can a Texas county court at law judge be paid, and is the salary capped relative to a district judge?
The Attorney General read the two salary statutes together. For Gregg County, the maximum a statutory county court at law judge may be paid is 90 percent of the total annual salary a district judge in…
In a Texas parental-rights termination case, does an indigent parent get free transcripts of hearings and depositions, and who pays?
The Attorney General gave a layered answer. For pretrial (non-appellate) transcripts of hearings and depositions, there is no statute or case directly on point, so the test is the U.S. Supreme Court's…
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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.