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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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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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.…
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')…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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),…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
Can a Texas city spend leftover tax increment funds outside the zone after the zone ends?
The Attorney General concluded that chapter 311 of the Tax Code does not let a city undertake or complete a reinvestment zone project in a way that departs from the board of directors' project and…
Does a Texas commissioners court have to fill a vacant constable position?
The Attorney General concluded that a commissioners court has no enforceable duty to fill a vacancy in the office of constable. Section 87.041 of the Local Government Code says the court 'may' fill…
Can a Texas county borrow money from the State Infrastructure Bank and repay it with property taxes without issuing bonds?
The Attorney General concluded that a Texas county may not borrow money from the State Infrastructure Bank for road and bridge construction and repay the loan with ad valorem property taxes over a…
Can a Texas junior college transfer donor-restricted scholarship funds to a nonprofit foundation?
The Attorney General concluded that scholarship money a donor gives a public junior college for needy students is impressed with a charitable trust, so it is not a general asset of the college.…
If two Texas bills passed the same session both create a state-employee retirement option, which one takes effect?
The Attorney General concluded that section 814.1043 of the Government Code, added by House Bill 3504 to give a temporary early-retirement option to South Texas Hospital workers, has no legal…
Can a Texas county skip competitive bidding for an ambulance service contract?
The Attorney General concluded that a Texas commissioners court may exempt a contract for ambulance service from the County Purchasing Act's competitive-bidding requirement, because ambulance…
Can a Texas tax assessor-collector use motor vehicle inventory tax interest to boost staff salaries?
The Attorney General answered three questions about the Motor Vehicle Inventory Tax Fund. First, a county tax assessor-collector may use interest earned on the fund to supplement the salaries of…
Can a Texas county waive property taxes on a building used by a nonprofit but owned by an individual?
The Attorney General agreed with Cameron County that it could not waive the taxes, penalties, and interest on a building owned by an individual even though a nonprofit organization used it. Penalty…
Can a Texas city grant a new tax abatement on property that already had a ten-year abatement?
The Attorney General concluded that a governmental entity may not grant a new tax abatement on property that already received a full ten-year abatement under chapter 312 of the Tax Code, and that…
Can a Texas state officer or employee bind the state with an oral contract?
The Attorney General concluded that a state officer or employee cannot bind the State of Texas by any contract, oral or written, unless the constitution or a statute gives them actual authority to…
Can a Texas county official close the office for bad weather and still pay employees?
The Attorney General answered three questions for a county auditor. First, absent a state law saying otherwise, an elected or appointed county official has the implied authority to set the…
Can Texas revoke a child-care license over an old criminal conviction?
The Attorney General concluded that, under the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services' current rules, the Department may revoke the license of a child-care facility operator who was…
When must Texas police register a parolee as a sex offender?
The Attorney General concluded that local law enforcement has no discretion when a parolee has a 'reportable conviction or adjudication' under chapter 62 of the Code of Criminal Procedure; the…
Can a Texas county make a bail bond company post a letter of credit for each agent?
The Attorney General concluded that chapter 1704 of the Occupations Code requires a corporate bail bond surety to furnish one letter of credit to get licensed in a county, and a county bail bond…
Can voter-approved bond money pay legal fees for construction arbitration?
The Attorney General concluded that proceeds of bonds voters approved to construct a public improvement may be used to pay legal fees for arbitration of a contract relating to that construction, but…
Does a company keep its state license when it converts to a different type of business entity in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that, as a general rule, a state license held by a Texas corporation continues to be held by the new entity when the corporation converts to a different business form…
Can a county sheriff police a city inside the county without an agreement, and must service be equal because residents pay county taxes?
The Attorney General concluded that a Texas sheriff is the conservator of the peace for the entire county, so he is authorized to provide law enforcement inside an incorporated city within the…
Can a state agency write a bidding specification that only one company's product can meet?
The Attorney General concluded that, as a general rule, the Texas Department of Transportation may not restrict a material specification to suit only one vendor's product when equal-quality material…
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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.