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.
No Texas opinions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Does a Texas city have to extend sewer service to newly annexed areas?
The Attorney General concluded a city cannot literally be forced to provide services to an annexed area. A city does not have to extend sewer lines to newly annexed land unless it provides similar…
Can a Texas savings and loan or other lender charge a fee for filling in the blanks on real estate loan documents that its lawyers prepared?
The Attorney General read the 1987 statute (article 320f) that bars anyone other than a licensed attorney from charging for preparing legal instruments affecting title to real property. Whether a…
Can a Texas county guarantee home loans or housing-finance-corporation bonds for low and moderate income families?
No. The Attorney General concluded a county has no express or implied authority to guarantee mortgage loans made to low and moderate income families, or to guarantee the bonds a housing finance…
In Texas, can a state employee be fired for any reason, or do state workers have job protections?
The Attorney General explained that Texas state employees, like private employees, are generally 'at will,' meaning they can be fired for any reason. But that is only the default. A particular state…
Does a Texas school district have to take competitive bids to hire a construction management consultant?
No, not for the consultant itself. The Attorney General concluded a contract for a construction management consultant's services counts as 'professional services' and is exempt from the competitive…
Can a Texas district clerk charge a filing fee to transfer a child support enforcement case to a new county?
No. The Attorney General concluded a district clerk may not charge a fee for filing papers in a child support enforcement action transferred to a new county under section 11.06 of the Family Code.…
Can Bexar County pay its district judges a salary supplement larger than $12,000 a year?
No. The Attorney General concluded Bexar County has no authority to pay district judges a salary supplement of more than $12,000 a year. Government Code section 32.015 sets the supplement at…
Under a Texas group health plan, can an individual employee reject in vitro fertilization coverage, or only the employer?
Only the employer. A 1987 law required certain Texas group health plans that already cover pregnancy to offer in vitro fertilization coverage. The Attorney General concluded the employer, as the…
Can Texas county clerks and school districts store official records only on optical disks instead of microfilm or paper?
Not yet, as of this 1988 opinion. A 1987 law (House Bill 163) let county clerks and school districts adopt optical disk storage, but the Attorney General read it to carry over the same…
Can a bail bondsman post a life insurance policy as collateral instead of cash under Texas bail bond law?
No, not by itself. The Attorney General concluded that assigning a life insurance policy to the county treasurer does not count as a 'cash equivalent' deposit under the bail bond statute (article…
When a Texas school district spins off its community college to a separate board, can the same trustees sit on both?
No. The Attorney General concluded that when Houston ISD divests its community college by appointing a separate board of trustees under Education Code section 130.016, the district's trustees cannot…
Can a Texas commissioners court require a separate bank account for the county airport fund?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded the Ector County commissioners court may order a separate bank account for the county airport fund created under the Municipal Airports Act (article 46d-11). The…
Can Texas local governments pool their public funds and hand them to a joint agency to invest together?
No. The Attorney General concluded the Interlocal Cooperation Act does not let Texas local governments pool and jointly invest their public funds through a joint agency created under that act.…
Can Texas's workers' comp board approve a settlement that ends an injured worker's right to future medical benefits?
No. Under the workers' compensation law in effect in 1988, once there was a final award of the Industrial Accident Board, a court judgment, or an approved compromise settlement that had not been…
If a Texas city annexes my municipal utility district but does not dissolve it, can the city and the district both tax me for the same services?
The Attorney General concluded that a 1987 amendment letting a city annex a political subdivision while the district keeps existing (up to ten years) does not create unconstitutional double…
When can a former Texas district judge who served less than four years still be assigned to hear cases?
A 1987 law let the presiding judge of an administrative judicial region assign a 'former district judge who has served as judge of more than one district court' even without the usual four years of…
Can a Texas hospital authority spread its deposits across affiliated banks so all funds are FDIC-insured and skip the collateral rules?
No. A hospital authority created by a city under the Hospital Authority Act that picks a depository different from the city's must follow the same municipal-depository rules in Chapter 105 of the…
Can a Texas county commissioner post a bail bond, or pledge his property as a surety, for someone charged in his own county?
No. The Attorney General concluded a county commissioner may not act as a surety on a bail bond for a defendant charged in the commissioner's own county. A bail bond is a contract, and if the…
Can a Texas firefighter pension board run its own office, hire its own administrator and attorney, and control its own records?
Yes, mostly. The Attorney General concluded that the board of trustees of a fire fighters' relief and retirement fund can spend fund money on reasonable administrative expenses, which includes…
In Texas, does a county attorney pro tem have the same power as a regular county attorney to file and sign a criminal information?
Yes. A county attorney pro tem serving under an agreement between two counties has all the powers and duties of the regular county attorney, so he is not excused from filing an information and he…
Can a Texas court require me to put my Social Security number on a will probate application, and is that legal under federal privacy law?
No, not as a hard requirement. The Attorney General concluded that the Federal Privacy Act bars the state from denying probate of a will just because the applicant refuses to give their own Social…
Can a Texas Lloyd's Plan insurance company issue the surety bond a contractor needs to do a public construction job in Texas?
No. The Attorney General concluded that public-works bonds under article 5160.A must be backed by a 'corporate surety,' and a Texas Lloyd's Plan carrier is an unincorporated association of…
Does the Texas Commercial Feed Control Act apply to a commercial feed lot that boards and feeds another person's cattle?
No. The Attorney General reaffirmed a 25-year-old position: a feed lot that keeps and feeds an owner's stock is performing a service (a bailment known as agistment), not selling or distributing…
Can Texas library grant money go to a regional library system that includes private religious school libraries or for-profit libraries?
Only if the system's members are public libraries. The Attorney General concluded that a regional library system can have as members only public libraries, because only a public library can be…
Could Texas fertilizer regulators send a failed state-lab report to the purchaser before the manufacturer completed independent testing?
In 1988, the Attorney General concluded that the Texas Feed and Fertilizer Control Service had implied statutory authority to send the state chemist's noncompliance report to the fertilizer's…
If a Texas appraisal district's mistake made my property tax late, can the taxing unit waive the penalties and interest?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a central appraisal district counts as an 'agent' of the taxing units it appraises for under Tax Code section 33.011. So when a taxpayer's bill becomes…
Do employees of a private firm hired to collect a Texas taxing unit's property taxes have to register as tax professionals?
Only if the taxing unit's chief tax administrator says so. The Attorney General concluded that field collectors and supervising officers of a private collection firm working under contract for a…
Can a Texas court make me pay a fee to dismiss a no-insurance ticket after I prove I actually had coverage?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the $10 fee the legislature added to article 6701h, requiring a driver to pay before a failure-to-maintain-financial-responsibility charge is dismissed, is…
Can a state agency legally pay a private tipster a cut of the money the state recovers because of their information?
Yes, within limits. The Attorney General concluded that a 1987 law letting the Texas Comptroller contract with informants, and pay them up to 5% of what the state actually recovers, does not violate…
If a teacher gets workers' compensation and paid sick leave for the same work injury, can the school district reduce one to offset the other?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a school district cannot use the offset provision in the public-employee workers' compensation law (article 8309h, section 5) to reduce a teacher's sick-leave…
When two Texas laws passed the same year set different penalties for the same offense, which one applies?
The later-passed one. Two 1985 bills, S.B. 464 and S.B. 980, both rewrote the penalty sections of the Parks and Wildlife Code and set different fines and jail terms for the same…
Can Texas charge lawyers a special occupation tax that exempts older attorneys and those who no longer practice?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the temporary occupation tax the legislature placed on Texas attorneys (running from 1988 through 1990) was constitutional. The tax exempted lawyers 70 and…
After a justice of the peace dismisses my fine-only ticket, can that same court erase the record, or do I have to go to district court?
You have to go to district court. The Attorney General concluded that when a justice of the peace dismisses a fine-only (Class C) case after deferred disposition under article 45.54, the person…
Which Texas county official was responsible for preparing payroll, printing paychecks, and distributing them?
In 1988, the Attorney General concluded that county officers in Harris County had statutory authority to prepare payroll and issue paychecks for employees of their own offices. The county auditor…
Can a Texas county commissioners court give elected and appointed county officials vacation and sick leave, and pay them for unused leave when they leave office?
Yes, but only if the commissioners court actually authorizes it. The Attorney General concluded that a commissioners court may grant vacation and sick leave (and pay for unused leave) to county and…
Does a candidate for a Texas water control and improvement district board have to live inside the district, or is living in the state enough?
Living in the state is enough. The Attorney General concluded that the Water Code sets the qualifications for a water control and improvement district director and requires only that the candidate…
Could a Texas county sign a long-term solid-waste contract, include minimum-delivery or cost-plus terms, and award it without competitive bidding?
In 1988, the Attorney General concluded that a Texas county could enter a long-term solid-waste service contract that bound future commissioners courts, include properly measured damages for a…
To get a patent to public free school land in Texas under the constitution's title-defect provision, does your chain of title have to reach all the way back to the original grant from the state?
No. The Attorney General reconsidered and overruled an earlier opinion, concluding that article VII, section 4A(a)(3) of the Texas Constitution requires a patent applicant to show an unbroken chain…
Can the Texas Medical Board discipline doctors in closed, informal hearings, and does it have to tell hospitals about old complaints against a physician?
The closed 'administrative sanction' hearings no longer work. After 1987 amendments to the Medical Practice Act, the board must enter a formal disciplinary order whenever it finds misconduct, so its…
When a Texas justice court defers a no-insurance fine, can it also defer the $75 court cost, and can it spend the fees it collects the way a prosecutor spends hot-check money?
No on both. The Attorney General concluded that article 45.54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure lets a justice defer the fine but says nothing about deferring court costs, so the $75 cost of court…
Can a Texas county clerk re-record a corrected deed, and is the clerk on the hook for mistakes inside the documents people file?
The clerk's job is ministerial. The Attorney General concluded that each document offered for recording is judged on its own merits: if it meets the Property Code's recording requirements (proper…
Could Texas Racing Commission members send substitutes to meetings, and could the commission fund a laboratory for racehorse and greyhound drug testing?
The comptroller's chief clerk could sit, vote, and count toward a quorum when the comptroller was unavoidably absent because a statute authorized the clerk to perform the comptroller's official…
Which Texas special districts counted as improvement districts subject to county-auditor control, and who paid for the additional audit staff?
The Attorney General defined an improvement district under article 1667 as a district primarily concerned with permanently enhancing land or natural resources. Hospital, rural fire prevention, and…
Could a Texas county bail bond board regulate lawyers who posted bonds for their own criminal-defense clients or regulate the county pretrial-services agency?
No. The Harris County Bail Bond Board could not require a lawyer to obtain a bail-bond license when the lawyer executed a bond for a criminal defendant the lawyer actually represented, although the…
Did abusive, indecent, profane, or vulgar language in a Texas public place automatically amount to a breach of the peace?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Penal Code section 42.01(a)(1) reached only 'fighting words,' meaning words that, in their factual setting, were likely to cause an average addressee to…
Who held title to a vehicle forfeited for a Texas sheriff's use, how was it sold when no longer useful, and where did the sale money go?
The certificate of title was issued to the law-enforcement department or agency receiving the vehicle, but that did not make the department an owner separate from the county. Once the vehicle was no…
Could a Texas justice of the peace order community service instead of collecting a fine, and who was liable or insured if someone was hurt?
The Attorney General concluded that a justice of the peace could require reasonable community service, with the defendant's agreement, as a condition of deferring a fine under article 45.54.…
Could the Texas Veterans Land Board charge a later paid-in-full deed fee on an older land contract or on a contract assigned to a new purchaser?
Usually, the contract and the statutes and rules in effect when it was made controlled the paid-in-full deed fee. A later fee could not be imposed merely because the documents referred to the law…
Could the city of Denison withdraw on its own from the Greater Texoma Utility Authority, and was the authority unconstitutional if it could not?
No. The Attorney General found no statute allowing Denison to withdraw unilaterally from the Greater Texoma Utility Authority; the governing law instead gave the authority's board procedures for…
Which Texas continuing-care retirement facilities needed certificates of authority, qualified for transition rules, or fell within the new 1987 regulatory act?
Facilities occupied, under construction, or backed by substantial development obligations by September 1, 1987, were entitled to certificates without satisfying section 4(c)'s substantive criteria,…
Was Gregg County's 1955 special road law constitutional, and did the 1983 County Road and Bridge Act replace it?
If the constitutionally required local notice was not published, the parts of the Gregg County law that regulated the commissioners court's quorum and assigned general county-affairs committees were…
Did Texas's 1987 property-tax exemption for non-income-producing recreational boats apply to boats already on the tax rolls?
Yes, but only in taxing units whose 1987 tax rolls had not been certified when the amendment took effect on May 26, 1987. Tax liability was not fixed merely because a boat was listed on the…
Could a Texas county commissioner use county crews, equipment, and materials to build an alley inside a city without specific commissioners-court approval?
No. An ex officio road commissioner had no independent authority to commit county resources. Work on a city street or alley required action by the commissioners court under section 2.010, consent…
Could the Lubbock Emergency Communication District sell 911 service outside its boundaries, charge a joining jurisdiction, and immediately change its board?
The district could contract under the Interlocal Cooperation Act with a nonmember jurisdiction that independently had authority to provide 911 service, and it could charge a joining jurisdiction for…
Did a Texas county have to competitively procure a private company's microfilming and indexing services for the county clerk?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the company contract was neither a personal service, because the commissioners court had not selected specific individuals to perform it, nor a professional…
How much liability insurance could a Texas state agency buy for employees using agency vehicles, and what did the Attorney General review?
Article 6252-19a set no minimum or maximum coverage, and the Texas Tort Claims Act's governmental liability caps did not limit a policy bought under that article. The agency chose a reasonable…
Could Texas Board of Irrigators members recover their actual official travel expenses instead of being limited to the general daily meal-and-lodging cap?
Yes. The 1985 amendment to the board's enabling law retained express authority for actual travel expenses while tying compensatory per diem to the General Appropriations Act. Because that amendment…
Could Sutton County self-fund part of its employee health coverage through an account controlled by an unlicensed private administrator?
No. The arrangement made the county assume part of the deductible risk and therefore functioned as self-insurance. The only statute then authorizing county self-insurance applied to counties with…
Could Texas let directors of a failing state bank sell most of its assets with FDIC help and banking-commissioner approval but no shareholder vote?
Yes. Article 342-803a was a constitutional banking regulation. Shareholders had no general statutory right to approve a bank's asset sale unless they had reserved one by bylaw, and the Banking…
Could an appropriations rider require the Texas National Guard Armory Board to spend construction and maintenance funds through the Adjutant General's Department?
Yes. The Adjutant General's Department had implied statutory authority to build, maintain, and repair military facilities, so an interagency contract did not exceed its lawful duties. Rider 17…
Browse Texas opinions by topic
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.