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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Could Texas enforce its Currency Exchange Act against the Kickapoo casino's non-Indian manager?
The Texas Department of Banking asked whether it could enforce the Currency Exchange Act against a non-Indian company managing the Kickapoo casino on the Band's reservation. The Attorney General…
Can a Texas city give park land to a state university to build a campus?
State Senator Bill Ratliff asked whether the City of Longview could transfer a 48-acre tract of city-owned land to the University of Texas System to build a campus. The land had been bought in 1985…
Who registers, pre-audits, prepares, and pays claims against a Texas county: the county treasurer or county auditor?
The county treasurer registered claims only after the auditor and commissioners court approved them, then paid registered claims in order. The auditor had the nondelegable duty to pre-audit claims,…
Who controls a county juvenile detention center, the juvenile court or a private company hired to run it?
Bell County had hired a private corporation to run its juvenile detention facility under a management agreement that left the juvenile court only a role of inspection. The county attorney asked how…
How is oil and gas production equipment taxed, and how long can a county collect back taxes on it?
A county attorney asked how counties should appraise and collect taxes on oilfield production equipment (casing, tubing, pump jacks, tanks, surface pipe) sitting on a mineral leasehold, after a…
Can a Texas court make a sex offender put a warning sign in his yard as a probation condition?
A Tarrant County district court had ordered a convicted child-sex offender to post a sign on his home reading 'A PERSON ON PROBATION FOR A CHILD SEX OFFENSE LIVES HERE,' and the district attorney…
Could the Texas Aircraft Pooling Board own and operate an airport for state aircraft, and who could condemn land for it?
The Attorney General concluded that the Aircraft Pooling Board had implied authority to own and operate an airport for state aircraft, but neither that board nor the General Services Commission…
Do Texas police have to destroy a juvenile's records if the case isn't sent to juvenile court?
A district attorney asked how far the Family Code's juvenile-record destruction rule reaches. The Attorney General read section 58.001(c) to require a law enforcement agency to destroy all…
Can a Texas housing authority run Section 8 vouchers outside its own city or county?
A state representative asked whether public housing authorities set up under chapter 392 of the Local Government Code could administer a federal Section 8 housing assistance program for apartments…
Can a Texas city ban or limit cigarette vending machines?
A state representative asked whether a Texas home-rule city could pass an ordinance banning tobacco vending machines, or limiting them to places that keep out anyone under 18. The Attorney General…
Could Texas exempt only The Nature Conservancy of Texas from property tax by naming it in a statute?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Tax Code section 11.23(c), which named The Nature Conservancy of Texas alone, was not a general-law charity exemption and violated the Texas Constitution's…
Can a Texas county pay an official's legal fees for fighting an election contest?
A county attorney asked whether Frio County could reimburse its sheriff for the attorney's fees he ran up defending an election contest after a close primary runoff. The Attorney General said no,…
Can a Texas agency's advisory council be given real power over the agency's rules?
A state senator asked the Attorney General whether Government Code section 417.0041, which lets fire protection advisory councils control rule changes at the Commission on Fire Protection,…
Was Southwest Texas State University's Aquarena Springs amusement park exempt from 1995 property taxes?
The Attorney General could not decide because the answer depended on disputed facts and contract construction. The opinion said state university property was exempt only when used for a public…
Can one person be a municipal judge in two Texas cities at the same time?
A district attorney asked the Attorney General whether one person could serve as a municipal judge in more than one Texas jurisdiction at the same time. The Attorney General concluded that a paid…
Can Texas justice and municipal courts hear underage drinking cases that require alcohol-awareness classes or community service?
Yes. Under the 1995 jurisdiction amendments, the Attorney General concluded that justice and municipal courts could hear the listed minor-alcohol cases because an alcohol-awareness course was…
Do Texas housing authorities have to hold open public meetings?
A state representative asked the Attorney General whether the housing authorities set up under chapter 392 of the Local Government Code, the bodies that run public housing for cities, counties, or…
What eye procedures can a Texas therapeutic optometrist perform?
The acting state health commissioner gave the Attorney General a list of eleven eye procedures the Optometry Board had approved for therapeutic optometrists (removing foreign bodies, scraping the…
Can the Texas State Board of Education set content rules for school textbooks?
The education commissioner and the chair of the State Board of Education asked whether the board could adopt a rule setting general content requirements for the textbooks it approves for public…
Can the Texas Medical Board regulate hyperbaric oxygen therapy?
The executive director of the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners asked whether the board could treat hyperbaric oxygen therapy (sealing a patient in a high-pressure, pure-oxygen chamber) as the…
Do veterans get to keep their Texas state job over others in a layoff?
The head of the state mental health agency asked whether a veteran on the state payroll has an absolute right to keep their job in a layoff (a reduction in force), or only an edge among equally…
Can a Texas public university waive tuition or fees for its employees or their families?
A university chancellor and a state senator asked whether a Texas public university's governing board could waive tuition and fees outside the situations a statute already lists, for example as an…
Can a Texas flood control district use tax money to build parks and trails?
Harris County's county attorney asked whether the Harris County Flood Control District could use tax and bond revenue to build the recreational and environmental improvements authorized by a 1993…
Can my wages be garnished in Texas to collect a defaulted student loan?
Two Texas officials asked about garnishing or withholding wages for unpaid student loans, and the Attorney General gave two answers. First, the state comptroller could not withhold a salary or…
How did Texas school districts have to procure insurance and related administrator services under Education Code section 44.031?
Under the 1996 statute, a school district had to use one of section 44.031’s six best-value procurement methods for a nonexempt contract worth at least $25,000 in a twelve-month period. Insurance…
Can Texas exclude a teacher's driver-education pay when calculating Teacher Retirement System benefits?
A state representative asked whether a 1995 amendment to Government Code section 822.201(c) was constitutional. The amendment excluded payments for teaching a driver education and traffic safety…
Can an optometrist in Texas use cocaine eye drops to diagnose eye conditions?
The Texas State Board of Medical Examiners asked whether the Texas Optometry Board could adopt a rule letting a therapeutic optometrist administer cocaine eye drops for diagnostic purposes. The…
Can a licensed chiropractor in Texas practice acupuncture without a separate license?
The Texas State Board of Acupuncture Examiners asked whether a licensed chiropractor could practice acupuncture without holding a separate acupuncture license. The Attorney General concluded that…
Can Texas suspend an emissions inspection station's license before a hearing without violating due process?
The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission asked whether a federal requirement, that the state immediately and temporarily suspend a vehicle-emissions inspection station's or inspector's…
Who pays for a Texas jail inmate's medical care if the inmate isn't indigent: the county or the hospital district?
Two county officials (a district attorney and a county auditor) asked the Attorney General who must pay when a county jail inmate who is not eligible for indigent health care under chapter 61 of the…
Can a Texas juvenile board run an alternative school for students expelled but not found delinquent?
On behalf of the Harris County Juvenile Board, the county attorney asked whether a county juvenile board may provide educational services at a juvenile justice alternative education program (JJAEP)…
Can a deaf person get a court interpreter to serve on a Texas grand jury or attend a juvenile hearing?
The Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired asked the Attorney General three things about interpreters for deaf and hearing-impaired people in court: who is entitled to one, what…
Is Texas's three-fourths vote requirement to approve a protested subdivision replat constitutional?
Representative Harvey Hilderbran asked whether the three-fourths supermajority vote that Local Government Code section 212.015(c) requires a city planning commission or council to muster before…
Did Texas have to indemnify volunteers, contractors, and state-agency workers who helped a regional poison control center?
Health and Safety Code section 777.007 covered only poison-control-center employees, meaning compensated workers whose work the center had the right to control. It did not cover volunteers,…
Can a Texas Lottery Commission member solicit political contributions as a private citizen?
The Executive Director of the Texas Lottery Commission asked whether a commissioner could solicit or advise political contributions while acting as a private citizen, and whether banning that would…
Could a Texas judge decide how a probationer’s partial payment would be allocated among court costs, fees, and fines?
Under the law in 1996, article 42.12 gave a judge discretion to impose and allocate most court costs, fees, and fines for a defendant placed on community supervision. The required monthly…
Can a Texas school board member take back a resignation before a successor is chosen?
On behalf of the Bridge City Independent School District, Representative Ron Lewis asked whether a school board member who resigns can withdraw the resignation before a successor qualifies for…
When can a Texas county salary grievance committee meet to raise elected officials' pay?
San Jacinto County's Criminal District Attorney, Robert Hill Trapp, explained that the commissioners court approved a $1,000 raise for elected officials for 1995 but failed to give the public the…
Can the Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspect a private prison holding only federal inmates?
Representative Robert Junell asked whether the Texas Commission on Jail Standards can regulate and inspect the Eden Detention Center, a facility the City of Eden leases and operates under contract…
Is Texas's $5 million liability cap for excursion train accidents constitutional?
Representative Clyde Alexander asked whether a 1995 Texas law (article 9030) that caps an excursion train operator's liability at $5 million per occurrence violates the Texas Constitution's open…
Are Texas resource conservation council volunteers protected by charitable immunity?
Representative David Counts asked whether the Charitable Immunity and Liability Act of 1987 (chapter 84 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code) covers a resource conservation and development…
Does a Texas school district have to use the city's required garbage company inside city limits?
Representative Warren Chisum asked whether the Pasadena Independent School District has to use the single garbage hauler the City of Pasadena franchised inside the city, even though the district…
Can a Texas parent teach their teen driver education without a driving-school license?
The Texas Department of Public Safety asked the Attorney General several questions about Senate Bill 964, which let a parent or legal guardian teach a state-approved driver education course to their…
Can a Texas city's weaker adult-business zoning replace a county's stricter rules when it annexes the land?
Senator Don Henderson, chairing the Senate Jurisprudence Committee, asked whether the Local Government Code's annexation rules are unconstitutional because they let a city's weaker sexually oriented…
Can a Texas tax assessor-collector spend escrow interest without commissioners court approval?
Brazos County Attorney James Kuboviak asked whether a county tax assessor-collector may set up a separate account for the interest that builds up on the dealer's motor vehicle inventory tax escrow…
Can a Texas judge charge a fee to perform a wedding and keep the money?
Representative Steve Holzheauser asked whether a judge may perform marriage ceremonies during regular office hours, using public property and public employees, and keep the fee charged for personal…
Could a Texas justice of the peace keep hot-check restitution and fines in a separate checking account before paying them out?
A justice of the peace in a county under 190,000 could place Penal Code section 32.41(e) restitution in a separate account because the money belonged to the dishonored-check holder, not the county.…
Do judges who manage a probation department have to follow the Open Meetings Act in Texas?
Harris County District Attorney John B. Holmes, Jr., asked whether the committee of district and statutory county court judges that oversees the county's Community Supervision and Corrections…
Can a Texas city use public funds or hotel taxes to help build a presidential library?
Texas A&M System Chancellor Barry Thompson asked, for the City of College Station, whether the city could spend public money (including hotel-motel occupancy taxes) on the George Bush Presidential…
Can I still get a pardon after my conviction was set aside at the end of probation in Texas?
Then-Governor George W. Bush asked the Attorney General two questions about article 42.12, section 20 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the provision that lets a judge, at the end of 'regular' or…
Can a deaf juror bring a sign language interpreter into the jury room during deliberations?
Harris County District Attorney Mike Driscoll asked whether an interpreter for a deaf juror could go into the jury room during deliberations, given an apparent conflict between two Texas statutes:…
Can a Texas city enter a telecom joint venture with a private phone company?
Senator David Sibley asked whether the City of San Antonio, acting through its City Public Service Board electric utility, could enter a twenty-five-year contract with ICG Access Services to jointly…
Can a Texas city end a TIF reinvestment zone and recreate it to reset the tax base?
Representative Fred Hill asked, for the City of Dallas, whether a city can terminate a tax increment financing (TIF) reinvestment zone and create a new one with the same boundaries to set a fresh…
Does a Texas county clerk have to file a judgment from a 'common law court'?
A county attorney asked whether a county clerk must file a judgment from a self-styled 'common law court,' the kind used by the 'Republic of Texas' movement. The Attorney General said no. The Texas…
Can a Texas coach work as an athletic trainer without a license?
The Texas Department of Health asked whether someone whose job title is 'coach,' but whose main duties are working on injured athletes, must be licensed as an athletic trainer. The Attorney General…
When does a Texas school district have to use formal competitive bidding for construction?
The Texas Education Agency commissioner asked how two purchasing laws fit together: Education Code section 44.031, which lets a school district pick from six purchasing methods based on best value,…
Can a Texas public school issue driver education completion certificates without DPS approval?
A state senator asked whether the Texas Education Agency must supply driver education completion certificates to a public school whose course was not separately approved by the agency or the…
Can a Texas county put deputy constables under its civil service system?
The Bexar County Criminal District Attorney asked whether a county civil service commission, in a county with a basic civil service system under subchapter A of chapter 158 of the Local Government…
Can Texas refuse a marriage license to someone behind on child support?
Two Texas prosecutors asked whether a 1995 law was constitutional. It required everyone applying for a marriage license to swear, under oath, that they did not owe delinquent court-ordered child…
Is a county jail built through a lease-purchase agreement exempt from property taxes?
Winkler County asked whether the jail and sheriff's office complex it occupies under a lease-purchase contract with a private company is subject to ad valorem (property) taxes. The Attorney General…
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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.