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 Texas have to let a hospital review its data before the state releases hospital-specific information to the public or a legislator?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Under chapter 108 of the Health and Safety Code, when the Texas Health Care Information Council got a request for public use data about a specific hospital, it…
Can a small Texas city council create a 'city administrator' and give that person the mayor's or a city manager's statutory powers?
The Attorney General concluded it cannot. General-law cities have only the powers the Legislature grants them. The Legislature made the mayor the budget officer of a general-law city (unless the…
If a Texas county underpaid the statutory salary owed to its county court-at-law judges, must it pay the difference?
The Attorney General concluded that, on the facts presented, Angelina County had not complied with either path the law gives a county that collects the special court fees under section 51.702 of the…
Can a Texas prosecutor keep an autopsy report secret during a murder investigation if a justice of the peace holds it?
The Attorney General concluded that an autopsy report held by a justice of the peace as part of an inquest is open to public inspection under section 27.004 of the Government Code, and that no…
Can a Texas sheriff post a list of preapproved bail bondsmen in the county jail if the county has no bail bond board?
The Attorney General concluded that a sheriff in a county without a bail bond board has no authority to post a list of preapproved bondsmen in the county jail. In those counties, bail is governed by…
Can a Texas bank scan the magnetic stripe on a customer's driver's license to verify identity?
The Attorney General concluded no. Section 521.126 of the Transportation Code limits the use of the electronically readable (magnetic stripe) information on a Texas driver's license to law…
Is it a crime in Texas to slaughter horses and export the meat for people to eat overseas?
The Attorney General concluded yes, assuming the operator had the required intent or knowledge. Chapter 149 of the Agriculture Code makes it a crime to sell, possess for sale, or transfer horse-meat…
Can a parent see their child's school counseling records in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that, generally, all of a student's school records are available to the parent, and counseling records may be withheld only under very narrow and unusual…
Can a Texas school board trustee also serve as a political party county chair?
The Attorney General concluded yes. To be a county or precinct chair of a political party, Election Code section 161.005 says a person may not hold an elective office of the federal, state, or…
Can a Texas accounting firm with non-CPA owners incorporate as a regular business corporation or LLC?
The Attorney General concluded yes. A 2001 law (Senate Bill 1358) amended the Public Accountancy Act so an accounting firm could be licensed even though some of its owners are not certified public…
Can someone ordained online claim the clergy exemption from Texas psychologist licensing?
The Attorney General concluded the State Board of Examiners of Psychologists may consider the fact that a person was ordained for a fee over the internet or by mail when deciding whether that person…
Can a grandfathered felon employee keep working at a bail bond business after it's sold to a relative?
The Attorney General concluded yes. A 2001 law (Senate Bill 1119) barred bail bond businesses from employing anyone convicted of a felony or a moral-turpitude misdemeanor within the past ten years,…
Do the 2001 retirement benefit increases for Texas visiting judges apply to judges who already retired?
The Attorney General concluded no. In 2001 the Legislature added a 10 percent increase to the retirement annuity of certain judges who had recently served as visiting judges, codified at Government…
Can a Texas city police officer make traffic stops in the county under a mutual aid agreement?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Two parts of Local Government Code section 362.002 work independently. Subsection (a) lets one local government unilaterally send its officers to help another,…
Is Texas's law requiring country-of-origin labels on imported meat constitutional?
The Attorney General concluded the two halves of the imported-meat chapter fared differently. Subchapter A, which required wholesalers and retailers to label imported fresh meat with its country of…
Can a city officer working as a drainage-district peace officer write traffic tickets in the district?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Section 49.216 of the Water Code lets a water district contract for or employ its own peace officers, with power to make arrests for any offense against the laws…
Can a Texas county civil-service commission award back pay when it reverses an employee's discipline?
The Attorney General concluded yes. A county civil-service commission under chapter 158, subchapter A, and a sheriff's department civil-service commission under subchapter B, each have broad…
Can a Texas bail bondsman collect an attorney's legal fee from a bail bond client and pass it to the lawyer?
The Attorney General concluded no. Section 1704.252(9) of the Occupations Code lets a county bail bond board revoke or suspend a surety's license if the holder pays or divides fees with a person not…
Can the University of Texas charge students a mandatory infrastructure fee without new legislative authority?
The Attorney General concluded the answer turns on the fee's purpose. Section 55.16 of the Education Code lets a university board fix and collect charges from students for the occupancy, use, and…
Where in Texas do I file a UCC financing statement, with the county clerk or the Secretary of State?
The Attorney General concluded that after the 1999 revision of Business and Commerce Code chapter 9 took effect on July 1, 2001, a county clerk must accept financing statements that perfect security…
Can an unlicensed in-house engineer in Texas put 'Engineer' on a business card?
The Attorney General concluded no. Under the Texas Engineering Practice Act, only a licensed engineer may call himself or herself an 'engineer' or use that term as a professional or business…
Can a Texas county commissioners court reject or cut the presiding administrative judge's budget request?
The Attorney General concluded no. Under section 74.043 of the Government Code, the counties that make up one of Texas's nine administrative judicial regions must pay, out of their general funds,…
Can the Texas Public Finance Authority issue bonds for the Texas State Technical College System?
The Attorney General concluded no. Section 1232.101 of the Government Code, part of the Texas Public Finance Authority Act, gives the Authority 'exclusive' authority to issue bonds only for a…
Is a Texas constable without a permanent peace officer license still a peace officer?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Article 2.12(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure lists 'constables, deputy constables, and those reserve deputy constables who hold a permanent peace officer…
Can a Texas county make contractors disclose their business ties to county officials?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Neither the County Purchasing Act (chapter 262 of the Local Government Code) nor the Professional Services Procurement Act expressly says a county may require…
Can an out-of-state student living in a hotel or dorm in Texas use that address to get a Texas commercial driver's license?
The Attorney General concluded yes, in particular cases. The Transportation Code lets the Department of Public Safety issue a commercial driver's license only to a person who has a domicile in…
Can Texas put a newly created county office on the ballot for less than four years to keep its staggered election schedule?
The Attorney General concluded no as to the term length but yes as to the schedule. A 1999 amendment deleted the staggered-term language from article XVI, section 65 of the Texas Constitution, but…
Can a Texas city and county combine their plat and subdivision rules into one hybrid set for the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction?
The Attorney General concluded yes. In a municipality's extraterritorial jurisdiction (the unincorporated strip around a city), the city and county have overlapping authority over plats and…
Does the Texas DOT have to issue an oversize or overweight vehicle permit if the applicant meets the requirements?
The Attorney General concluded yes, the issuance is mandatory. A 1995 codification of the Transportation Code changed the permit statute's wording from the Department 'shall' issue oversize and…
Can a private collection agency collect a fine a Texas justice of the peace only suggested but never ordered?
The Attorney General concluded no. Article 103.0031 of the Code of Criminal Procedure lets a county or city contract with a private attorney or collection vendor to collect debts and accounts…
Can Texas environmental regulators count a company's violations from before the 2002 compliance-history rule took effect?
The Attorney General concluded yes on both counts. House Bill 2912 (the 2001 Sunset bill continuing the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, the TNRCC) directed the Commission to adopt a…
If a Texas constable misses the 270-day deadline to show a permanent peace officer license, does he lose his office automatically?
The Attorney General concluded the office is forfeited by operation of law but the constable is not automatically removed. Under Local Government Code section 86.0021(b), a constable who fails to…
Does the Texas plain-language loan contract rule apply to bank and credit union loans, or only to Consumer Credit Commissioner loans?
The Attorney General concluded the rule reaches only loans the consumer credit commissioner regulates. Finance Code section 341.502(a) requires that a contract for a Chapter 342 loan, a Chapter 348…
What can the Texas Funeral Service Commission regulate at cemeteries and crematories?
The Attorney General concluded that the Texas Funeral Service Commission's authority over registered cemetery and crematory owners or operators is narrow. In 2001, House Bill 3067 brought cemeteries…
Can the Texas Health Care Information Council use confidential or non-public data to prepare its reports?
The Attorney General drew a line between using data and releasing it. The Texas Health Care Information Council collects hospital and provider data, only a stripped-down subset of which (public use…
Can Texas require elevators to meet the current ASME safety code, or only the older adopted version?
The Attorney General concluded the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation could not require elevators, escalators, and related equipment to meet the current ASME safety codes. Health and…
Does the Texas ban on hiring former water-board members apply to a board created before the law passed?
The Attorney General concluded the statute did not reach the San Antonio Water System. In 2001, the Legislature added Local Government Code section 402.909, which bars a municipality (or its…
Do Texas hospitals need patient consent before reporting their data to the Health Care Information Council?
The Attorney General concluded hospitals do not need written patient authorizations to send required data to the Texas Health Care Information Council. Chapter 108 of the Health and Safety Code…
Can a Texas university use a bank as its depository if a regent works for that bank?
The Attorney General reaffirmed an earlier opinion (JC-0426) and held that Texas Woman's University could not use a bank as a depository when one of its regents was an officer and employee of that…
Can a Texas county auditor sit in on a commissioners court's closed-session meeting with its attorney?
The Attorney General concluded a county commissioners court may let the county auditor attend a closed meeting, but only on conditions, and with a real risk attached. For a meeting closed under…
Do you need a funeral director's license in Texas to sell caskets?
The Attorney General concluded a casket is "funeral merchandise" under Chapter 651 of the Occupations Code, but that selling a casket by itself, even for an imminent burial, is not an act of funeral…
Does Texas's school 'disruptive activity' crime require intent to disrupt?
The Attorney General concluded that section 37.123 of the Education Code, the "disruptive activity" offense, requires proof that the actor intended to bring about one of the prohibited results, not…
Can a Texas county maintain a road the public uses but that was never officially made public?
The Attorney General concluded a county may spend public funds to build, improve, or maintain only a "public road," and may not maintain a private road, except for the narrow constitutional…
Can Texas require HMOs and PPOs to disclose their fee, bundling, and downcoding policies to doctors?
The Attorney General concluded that the prompt-payment provisions added to the Insurance Code in 1999 (article 3.70-3C, section 3A, and article 20A.18B) gave the Texas Commissioner of Insurance and…
Can the Texas governor raise vehicle registration fees on his own to fund emergency services?
The Attorney General concluded that only the legislature may set, appropriate, allocate, and direct the use of state motor vehicle registration fees, so the governor may not raise or appropriate…
Is the Texas racial profiling law unconstitutional because of its bill title?
The Attorney General concluded that Senate Bill 1074, the 2001 law barring peace officers from racial profiling, is not unconstitutional for failing the "title" or "caption" requirement in article…
Can a Texas private club scan a driver's license magnetic strip to build its membership list?
The Attorney General concluded that state law does not let a private club licensed by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission use the magnetic strip on a member's driver's license to capture the…
Who owns a former Texas governor's records and are they still public when sent to a presidential library?
The Attorney General concluded that when a former governor sends his official records to an alternative archive (here, then-Governor George W. Bush designated the George Bush Presidential Library, a…
Do Texas peace officers have to take radar and traffic-law training before they can enforce traffic laws?
The Attorney General concluded that, as the law stood in 2002, a peace officer was not required by section 644.101(d) of the Transportation Code to attend continuing education on enforcing traffic…
How is the justice of the peace picked for a Texas county bail bond board, and can members be removed for missing meetings?
The Attorney General answered three questions about the El Paso County Bail Bond Board. First, the statute that lists a 'justice of the peace' as a board member does not say how that member is…
Can a Texas administrative law judge make a state agency pay the other side's attorney's fees?
The Attorney General concluded that the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) cannot order the Texas Department of Human Services to pay a licensee's attorney's fees after dismissing an…
Can a Texas city spend its 4B economic development sales tax on a park or youth sports field?
The Attorney General concluded that the Gun Barrel City Economic Development Corporation could not use its section 4B sales and use tax to build a youth league football field at the city park,…
When does a portable concrete crusher or batch plant need public notice to relocate under the Texas Clean Air Act?
The Attorney General answered several questions about 2001 amendments to the Texas Clean Air Act. The notice exemption in Health and Safety Code section 382.056(r)(1) lets a portable facility…
Can a Texas school district join with cities and counties in a political subdivision corporation to buy electricity in bulk?
Not for a contract worth $25,000 or more over a twelve-month period. The Attorney General concluded that Education Code section 44.031 gives a school district an exclusive list of nine purchasing…
Can a Texas school district ban corporal punishment and set its own rules for physically restraining students?
Generally yes. The Attorney General concluded that a policy prohibiting corporal punishment and spelling out when staff may physically restrain a student fell within a Texas school district's…
Can the same person be a county treasurer and a school board trustee in Texas at the same time?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that one person could hold both offices at once. Article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution bars holding two civil 'offices of emolument' (paid offices) at…
Can the Texas Commission for the Blind sign federal vending-facility contracts that put state money at risk?
Yes, on the terms the opinion described. The Texas Commission for the Blind contracts with the federal government under the Randolph-Sheppard Act to run vending facilities (including military…
Can a Texas city's economic-development sales tax pay for a road to undeveloped commercial property?
It can, if the road promotes business development. Lake Jackson voters approved a half-cent 4B sales tax under the Development Corporation Act of 1979 to fund infrastructure for new or expanded…
Can a Texas public board hold an official meeting outside the United States?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the Texas Open Meetings Act prohibits the University of Texas System Board of Regents from holding a meeting of a quorum of its members in Mexico. The Act…
Where do I file a UCC termination statement in Texas, with the county clerk or the Secretary of State?
With whichever office holds the original. The Attorney General concluded that under Business and Commerce Code section 9.707(e), if a financing statement was originally filed with the county clerk…
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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.