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 agency require an HIV test to get a professional boxing license?
No, not by rule. The Attorney General concluded that the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation could not require professional boxing applicants to take an HIV test as a condition of licensure, …
Does Texas's religious freedom law let a faith-based school grant degrees without state approval?
No. The Attorney General concluded that chapter 110 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Texas's religious freedom statute, does not exempt a religious degree-granting university from state regula…
Can a volunteer firefighter also serve on the city council in Texas?
Not in Gilmer's case. The Attorney General concluded that a member of the Gilmer Volunteer Fire Department could not also serve on the city council, because the city charter put the fire department un…
Can the Texas Ethics Commission release campaign donors' street addresses on a computer diskette?
No. The Attorney General read section 254.0401(e) of the Election Code to bar the Texas Ethics Commission from releasing a campaign contributor's street or P.O. box address by any electronic means, no…
Can a Texas water district set up a retirement system for its elected directors?
No, for a retirement system. The Attorney General concluded that section 49.069(b) of the Water Code does not let a water district establish a public retirement system for district directors who hold …
Can a Texas county quit the county court judge salary supplement program in the middle of the year?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a county participating in the salary supplementation program for statutory county court judges, funded by the extra court costs and fees collected under section…
What happens to a defendant's cash bail money in Texas when the DA never files charges?
When no criminal case is filed, the sheriff does not send the defendant's cash bail bond to the court clerk, because the statutes that require that step assume a pending case. The Attorney General con…
Can a Texas county move police training funds into its general fund?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the money allocated to local law enforcement agencies under section 1701.157 of the Occupations Code, which funds continuing education for local peace officers,…
Can a Texas university board let regents join a regular meeting by phone?
Not by telephone. The Attorney General concluded that a governing board of a higher-education institution cannot hold a regular meeting with absent members participating from remote locations by phone…
Can a Texas police chief approve a job transfer for his own son or nephew?
Not if the approval involves any discretion. The Attorney General concluded that section 573.062(b) of the Government Code bars a public official from participating in any employment action affecting …
Who is disqualified from serving on a Texas county appraisal review board?
The Attorney General concluded the El Paso board member was ineligible to serve. The decisive point was that, when he was appointed, he was acting as paid legal counsel to the appraisal district, whic…
Can a Texas county fix an invalid appointment by waiting until the appointee becomes eligible?
No, not automatically. The Attorney General concluded that if a county attorney's appointment was invalid when made because the appointee had not lived in the county for the required six months, the d…
Can a Texas state agency create an advisory committee without express statutory authority?
Yes, if the agency's own governing statutes authorize it, expressly or by implication. The Attorney General concluded that chapter 2110 of the Government Code, which is about the cost and effectivenes…
Can a Texas state agency make you use comp time before getting workers' comp benefits?
No, on both counts. The Attorney General concluded that a state agency has no authority to require an injured employee to exhaust accumulated compensatory leave before weekly income benefits begin und…
How does a Texas special-law city like Socorro convert to home-rule status?
The Attorney General concluded that the City of Socorro, a special-law city created by the legislature in 1871, could not amend its charter to become a hybrid special-law/home-rule city by following o…
Can a Texas nursing home use an automated machine to dispense prescription drugs without a pharmacist on site?
The Attorney General concluded no. Under the Texas Pharmacy Act, a machine that sorts, labels, and packages prescription drugs is dispensing them, which makes the facility where it sits a pharmacy tha…
Can a Texas school district keep a permanent substitute teacher whose relative was just elected to the school board?
The Attorney General concluded yes, as a general matter. A permanent substitute, an uncertified teacher hired to fill a vacancy until a certified teacher is found, who is expected to report every day …
Can a Texas municipal utility district hire the spouse of a board member?
The Attorney General concluded no. When a municipal utility district board hired a board member's husband as utility superintendent, the board members who voted for the hiring violated section 573.041…
Who has to show proof of selective service registration to get a Texas state government job?
The Attorney General concluded that section 651.005 of the Government Code, which bars a state agency from hiring someone who would be required to register for the selective service unless that person…
How far back can a Texas county judge recover underpaid salary, and what time limit applies?
The Attorney General reached two conclusions about three Fort Bend County court at law judges who had been underpaid for years. First, no statute of limitations automatically cuts off their back-pay c…
Can a Texas credit union charge the government for the cost of producing records under a grand jury subpoena?
The Attorney General concluded no. A credit union served with a grand jury subpoena for a member's records cannot recover from the investigating authority the cost of retrieving and producing those do…
Does the Texas business-aircraft tax allocation law (Tax Code 21.055) apply to past tax years?
The Attorney General concluded that section 21.055 of the Tax Code, which bars a taxing unit from taxing the share of a business aircraft's value attributable to its use outside Texas and sets a depar…
Can a Texas water district lease unused fiber-optic cable capacity to a telecom company?
The Attorney General concluded that the Tarrant Regional Water District is not barred by statute from leasing the excess capacity in a fiber-optic cable (installed to run its water pipeline) to a priv…
Can a Texas budget rider change how emergency medical services and trauma funds are divided among counties?
The Attorney General concluded that Rider 61 was invalid. Health and Safety Code section 773.122 already set the formula for distributing emergency medical services and trauma care funds, based on eac…
Can National Park Service rangers arrest people for state crimes in Texas national parks?
The Attorney General concluded that Senate Bill 965, which added subsection (d) to article 2.122 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, gives commissioned National Park Service law enforcement officers th…
Can a Texas county make the district clerk hand out juror checks instead of the treasurer?
The Attorney General concluded that a district clerk may not deliver juror reimbursement checks; that task belongs to the county treasurer. Delivering a county warrant to the person it is payable to i…
Can a Texas county paint center stripes and install speed bumps on county roads?
The Attorney General concluded that center stripes and speed bumps, when used to regulate, warn, or guide traffic, are traffic-control devices a county may install. Center stripes are allowed and must…
Is a car dealership's prize drawing that requires a test drive an illegal lottery in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that an automobile dealer's promotional contest requiring an entrant to take a test drive as a condition of entering a prize drawing is not a 'lottery' under section 47.…
Where does a Texas county deposit a fine collected after a probation modification?
The Attorney General concluded that money from an 'increase in the defendant's fine' imposed when a court modifies community supervision must go into a special county fund for the community supervisio…
Can a Texas county take over and maintain the private roads in a gated subdivision?
The Attorney General concluded that a county commissioners court may accept a dedication of the private roads in a gated subdivision, but the moment it does, those roads stop being private and become …
Can a Texas county bid on a state highway maintenance contract?
The Attorney General concluded that counties have neither express nor implied statutory authority to bid on state highway maintenance contracts, so they may not do so. A commissioners court can contra…
Can Texas use general revenue to build a museum at UT Permian Basin?
The Attorney General concluded that the 1999 appropriation of general revenue to The University of Texas of the Permian Basin to construct a presidential museum building was barred by article VII, sec…
Can a Texas public board let people comment on topics not listed on the meeting agenda?
The Attorney General concluded that a governmental body may allow public comment at its meetings on matters not specified in the posted notice. After a 1999 amendment, a 'public comment' session is it…
Can a Texas DA be sued or pay a merchant for failing to collect on a bad check?
The Attorney General concluded that a prosecutor's office could not be held civilly liable to a merchant for failing to prosecute, or for negligence in prosecuting, a bad-check collection. Collecting …
Who appoints a Texas county purchasing agent, the commissioners court or a special board?
The Attorney General concluded that the Parker County Commissioners Court was not authorized to appoint a county purchasing agent (or call the position 'agent of contracts' or 'procurement officer') u…
Can a Texas agency waive a statutory insurance fee by rule for single-interest auto policies?
The Attorney General concluded that the Texas Automobile Theft Prevention Authority could not adopt a rule exempting 'single interest' automobile physical-damage policies from the $1 fee that the stat…
Can a Texas school district pay employees to take an early-exit buyout?
The Attorney General concluded that a school district's 'early exit' plan, which pays employees to retire or resign early, is not an unconstitutional gift of public funds as long as each participating…
When must a Texas quarry or pit have a safety barrier near a road?
The Attorney General concluded that the Railroad Commission's rule defining an 'unacceptable unsafe location' under the Texas Aggregate Quarry and Pit Safety Act was a valid, reasonable reading of an …
Can a Texas county clerk take a fee out of a refunded cash bail bond?
The Attorney General concluded that a county or district clerk may withhold an administrative fee from a refunded cash bail bond under section 117.055 of the Local Government Code. Article 17.02 of th…
Can a Texas river authority force septic tank owners to hook up to its sewer system?
The Attorney General concluded that the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, unlike a city, has no authority to compel septic tank users to connect to a sewage disposal system. A river authority may build…
Can a Texas state council use its federal grant money to lobby the legislature?
The Attorney General concluded that the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities is a state agency that uses appropriated money, so the lobbying ban in the General Appropriations Act and chapter 5…
Does the Texas Open Meetings Act apply to a joint city-county staff committee?
The Attorney General concluded that a three-member committee of staff appointed by Harris County, the City of Houston, and the Houston Independent School District to coordinate the sale of tax-foreclo…
How much does a Texas county have to pay its county court-at-law judges?
The Attorney General concluded that a county opting to collect the extra court costs and fees under section 51.702 of the Government Code must set its county court-at-law judges' pay under section 25.…
Can a Texas county pay county court-at-law judges from the court fees it collects?
The Attorney General concluded that sections 25.0005 and 25.0016 of the Government Code do not conflict, so a county can comply with both. Section 25.0016 says the excess court fees the state sends ba…
When does a Texas county 'initially' start collecting court fees for the judge salary rule?
The Attorney General concluded that, for the alternative county court-at-law judge salary formula in section 25.0005(e), a county 'initially begins collecting fees and costs under section 51.702' in t…
Does a Texas county clerk have to record a domestic partnership declaration?
The Attorney General concluded that a county clerk is not required to accept for recording a 'declaration of domestic partnership,' a document in which two unmarried people who live together swear the…
Can a city council member keep a tax abatement on property they own?
The Attorney General concluded that the Tax Abatement Act does not stop a property owner from being elected to the city council that granted the abatement, but section 312.204(d) of the Tax Code makes…
Can a Texas mayor or city manager sign a lease that binds the city?
The Attorney General concluded that, as a general rule, a city mayor or city manager acting outside his or her prescribed authority cannot bind the city to a lease for a governmental function when the…
Does writing 'signed under duress' next to my signature void the agreement?
The Attorney General concluded that writing words like 'forced to sign under threat, duress and coercion' or 'non assumpsit to the contents of this document' under a signature on a state document may …
Can a Texas city create a tax increment reinvestment zone in a thriving area?
The Attorney General concluded that a city may not designate a tax increment financing reinvestment zone, including one created through the property-owner petition route in section 311.005(a)(5), unle…
Can a non-veteran be a veterans county service officer in Texas, and how is it challenged?
The Attorney General concluded that a person who is not a veteran of the armed forces is ineligible to serve as a veterans county service officer, except for a widowed Gold Star Mother or unremarried …
Can Texas charge property tax on a travel trailer I already paid sales tax on?
The Attorney General concluded that taxing a travel trailer that has been affixed to land and is taxable as personal property is not, by itself, impermissible double taxation. A trailer attached to a …
What can a Texas county do with the interest earned on motor vehicle inventory tax escrow accounts?
The Attorney General concluded that interest earned on a motor vehicle inventory tax escrow account could be used only to defray the cost of administering the tax-prepayment procedure, not for general…
Does a Texas deputy constable have to live in the precinct where he works?
The Attorney General concluded that no statute or constitutional provision required a deputy constable to live in the precinct for which he was appointed. The Election Code's residency requirement app…
When do Texas county salary increases take effect if the budget is adopted after the fiscal year starts?
The Attorney General concluded that when a county's budget is not adopted until after the new fiscal year has begun, salary increases for county officers and employees took effect on the date the comm…
Can the Texas Legislature appropriate money to a state agency to give to a private out-of-state endowment?
The Attorney General concluded that the Legislature may not appropriate state funds to a state agency to transfer to a private, out-of-state endowment unless the appropriation meets several constituti…
Can a Texas city require street vendors to get a permit, or ban them outright?
The Attorney General concluded that a Type A general-law city could not prohibit the occupation of street vending, but could reasonably regulate the sale of merchandise on its streets, sidewalks, and …
If a Texas police officer is hurt on duty, can the city offset his workers' comp against his full pay?
The Attorney General concluded that when a municipal police officer is injured in the line of duty, the full pay he is entitled to under section 143.073(a) of the Local Government Code completely offs…
Can a Texas city require beginning fire fighters to be U.S. citizens?
The Attorney General concluded that state law does not stop a civil service commission governed by chapter 143 of the Local Government Code from requiring applicants for beginning fire fighter positio…
Can a Texas home-rule city limit how many building permits it issues each year?
The Attorney General concluded that nothing in federal or Texas law stops a home-rule municipality from limiting the number of building permits it will issue in a given period, even without an emergen…
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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.