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.
Could a Texas Commission for the Deaf member also work for a local deaf council that received a commission contract?
Not if the member had a paid financial interest in the council or authority to contract for it. A paid interest made the commission contract illegal and void, while authority to represent both sides…
Could a Texas recorded document combine a jurat and acknowledgment in one notary paragraph, and did the county clerk have to review the jurat?
Yes. A jurat could be included within an acknowledgment. If the instrument otherwise met Property Code section 12.001's recording requirements, the county clerk's ministerial duty was to record it,…
Did a county auditor or county treasurer have to sign before money could be withdrawn from a court trust-fund account administered by a county or district clerk?
No. The clerk with legal custody of the trust funds drew the check, and withdrawal required an order from the judge of the court where the funds had been deposited. Neither the county auditor nor…
Could Harris County require a construction contractor to perform at least 25 percent of the work with the contractor's own employees?
No. The county's competitive-bidding laws did not authorize that restriction, and a self-performance requirement would improperly limit competition. The county could still reject a particular bid as…
Could a commissioners court set the fees charged by a sheriff or constable for executing criminal warrants?
No. The opinion concluded that commissioners courts could not set those fees in misdemeanor or felony cases. Misdemeanor costs for state offenses had to remain uniform statewide, while the former…
Could a county auditor require travel documentation from commissioners receiving fixed monthly allowances, and which trips could the county cover?
The auditor could not require documentation before paying a fixed monthly allowance. The allowance still had to be reasonably related to official county business and actual expenses.…
Could the Port of Houston Authority license its employees as public security officers instead of using commissioned peace officers?
No. A navigation district may exercise only powers expressly granted or clearly implied, and the legislature required law enforcement on the Authority's property to be done by commissioned peace…
Did Texas Water Commission members have to live in different regions of the state?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Water Code section 5.052 did not create an enforceable geographic residency requirement. Its reference to a different 'section of the state' expressed a…
Could a duplicate Texas traffic ticket serve as the criminal complaint in justice or municipal court, and could the conviction support a habitual-violator suspension?
The Attorney General concluded that a duplicate traffic-violation notice could serve as the complaint for a guilty or nolo contendere plea in either justice or municipal court if it met the…
Could a Texas bail bondsman combine cash and real property to meet the statutory security deposit minimum?
No. The Attorney General concluded that former article 2372p-3 required a Bexar County applicant to choose either the cash option or the property-deed option. Property used under the second option…
Could a former housing authority commissioner or a sitting school board member be appointed to a Texas fire and police civil service commission?
No. Both had held public office within the preceding three years, which the statute barred. But their decisions still stood, because they acted as de facto officers, and only a quo warranto suit…
Who had to pay the $110 temporary Texas CPA license fee increase, and could the accountancy board waive it for older licensees?
Professional corporations and partnerships registered with the board did not owe the $110 increase, because only natural persons hold a CPA certificate. Initial licensees did owe it. The board could…
Could the Texas State Auditor direct executive agencies, write higher-education accounting rules, or audit the Comptroller's revenue estimates?
The Attorney General concluded that the State Auditor and Legislative Audit Committee could investigate and recommend changes, but could not direct how executive agencies administered the law. He…
Could a Texas county commissioners court hold its regular meetings in a county administration building instead of the courthouse?
No. The Attorney General read section 81.005(c) of the Local Government Code as clear and unambiguous: terms of the commissioners court had to be held at the county courthouse, even if the county…
Did Bexar County probate courts keep jurisdiction over mental health proceedings after their former jurisdiction statute was repealed?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that Bexar County's statutory probate courts retained jurisdiction over Mental Health Code proceedings. The repeal also did not remove their authority to docket…
Could a Texas traffic ticket serve as the complaint in a county-court trial de novo after an appeal from justice or municipal court?
It depended on the plea in county court. If the defendant pleaded not guilty, a complaint conforming to article 45.01 had to be filed for the same offense. If the plea was guilty or no contest, the…
Could the Texas Aeronautics Commission regulate an interstate air carrier that also operated flights entirely within Texas?
No. The Attorney General concluded that any carrier transporting passengers or property between Texas and another state fell outside the Texas Aeronautics Act. The Commission therefore lacked…
Could the Texas Railroad Commission approve railroad depot or agency closings for interstate carriers operating intrastate service?
No, not while Texas lacked the federal certification required by the Staggers Rail Act. The Attorney General concluded that federal law preempted Commission authority over depot or agency…
Could a Texas county hospital pay visiting physicians or give salaried staff extra compensation for treating indigent patients?
Not for services performed in those existing roles at the county hospital. Visiting physicians had to serve without county pay, and salaried physicians could not receive extra compensation. The…
Could a Texas county or home-rule city exempt religious, charitable, or educational organizations from local hotel occupancy taxes?
No. The Attorney General concluded that counties and home-rule cities could not create those hotel-tax exceptions without specific constitutional and statutory authority. The state-law exception did…
Who could sell, lease, or close Northwest Texas Hospital, and did Amarillo hospital district voters have approval rights?
The Amarillo Hospital District board of managers had that authority after finding the action served district residents. A sale or closure could face a petition-triggered voter referendum, but a…
Could a Texas county commissioners court impose a countywide curfew on minors found on public property?
No. The Attorney General concluded that commissioners courts had no general police power and no statute authorized a countywide juvenile curfew. Limited control over county roads, buildings, and…
Could a Texas school employee be paid as an election clerk, and could a county road worker also serve as a paid part-time police officer?
Yes to both questions on the facts presented. An off-duty school employee could be paid for clerking a constitutional amendment election, and a county road worker could also serve and receive pay as…
Did intermittent service as a substitute teacher count as continuous employment under Texas's school-board nepotism exception?
No. The Attorney General concluded that each accepted substitute assignment was separate employment, so intermittent substitute service did not satisfy the continuous-employment exception.
Did Rider 47 unlawfully conflict with the Texas Human Resources Code by blocking appropriated funds for increased hospital and long-term-care costs?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Rider 47 validly limited the use of appropriated funds, so the department could not verify funding for increased provider costs caused by new nonfederal rules.
Could Texas voters use the former Tax Code rollback election to reduce a hospital district's adopted property tax rate?
The Attorney General concluded that they could under the 1988 statute. Article IX, section 9 authorized the legislature to structure hospital-district taxation, so the statutory voter rollback did…
Could the Presidio County Hospital District fund another district's hospital improvements in exchange for indigent medical care?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the district could affiliate with a neighboring hospital district and fund construction or repairs in exchange for care for Presidio County's needy residents.
Could a Texas taxing unit impose the full 15 percent delinquent-tax collection penalty, pay its contract attorney less, and keep the difference?
No. The Attorney General concluded that every dollar collected under Tax Code section 33.07 had to be applied to the contract attorney's compensation. The taxing unit could set a penalty below 15…
Could a Texas sheriff use campaign or officeholder contributions to replace or reimburse a cash shortage in an official account?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that replacing the shortage was an ordinary and necessary expense connected with the sheriff's official duties, not a prohibited personal use of political contributions.
Did Texas cities with more than 10,000 residents have to give police officers a thirty-minute meal break?
No. The Attorney General concluded that thirty minutes was a guideline for a bona fide unpaid meal period, not a required break. A meal period counted as compensable work time if the officer was not…
Could a Texas judge require a probationer to donate to Crime Stoppers or offer a donation instead of community service?
No. The Attorney General concluded that article 42.12, section 6(e), prohibited payments not expressly authorized by statute. Crime Stoppers donations were not an authorized probation payment and…
Did San Marcos city council members employed by Southwest Texas State University have to abstain from voting on the university's street-abandonment request?
No, not under former article 988b as recodified in Local Government Code chapter 171. The Attorney General concluded that the state university was not a statutory business entity, although other…
Did Texas Medicaid and adult protective services records become public after the person named in them died?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the statutory confidentiality provisions continued after death because the statutes contained no lifetime limit. The Department of Human Resources therefore…
Did Texas's ten-percent single-risk exposure limit apply to a casualty or surety insurer authorized to write fire insurance but not actually writing it?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that authorization to write fire and allied lines triggered the limit, whether or not the company had used that authority. The ten-percent cap applied to…
Did Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 45 and its pleading paper-size requirement apply to criminal cases?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Rule 45 applied only to civil actions. Criminal pleadings were governed by the Code of Criminal Procedure rather than the Rules of Civil Procedure.
Could E-1 visa holders or NATO Status of Forces personnel establish Texas residency for in-state university tuition?
Not based solely on those statuses. The Attorney General modified JM-241 after federal immigration officials concluded that E-1 traders and investors and NATO Status of Forces personnel were not…
Could a Texas legislator be paid by the highway department for serving as a special commissioner in an eminent-domain case?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a one-case appointment as a condemnation special commissioner was neither another office or position of profit nor a prohibited state contract, although…
Could a city council member with a substantial interest in a vendor vote to pay its bills or buy sole-source goods from it?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the member had to file an affidavit and abstain from both the vendor's periodic bill payments and a sole-source purchase. The only stated exception applied…
Could an immigrant with conditional permanent residence qualify for Texas resident tuition before the condition was removed?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that federal law still classified the person as lawfully admitted for permanent residence. Conditional residents could therefore seek Texas resident tuition if…
Could a Texas bingo operator award a door prize during the required 30-minute break between bingo games?
Generally no. The Attorney General concluded that a bingo occasion included the time before, during, between, and after games while people were gathered to play, so the intermission was likely part…
Could a Texas school district write school-bus specifications so narrowly that only one manufacturer's product qualified?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Foundation School Program bus purchases were governed by the Education Code's competitive-bidding rules, not the general proprietary-purchase procedure in…
Did Texas's 1985 amendment on public interests in private roads apply retroactively to interests a county acquired before the statute took effect?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the 1985 amendment did not make article 6812h retroactive to a county public interest acquired before the statute's effective date, but the opinion did not…
Did Texas university police have to give abandoned and unclaimed property to the county purchasing agent?
No, if the university's governing board had adopted property-disposition rules under the Education Code. The Attorney General concluded that the campus-specific statute controlled over article…
Could the Milam County Commissioners Court cut the elected county attorney's salary after approving it in the annual budget?
No. The commissioners court could not reduce the county attorney's approved salary during that budget year, although it could decide at a later regular annual budget hearing whether to continue…
Could a city psychologist give a police chief an officer's psychological evaluation results without the officer's signed release?
Generally no. The Attorney General concluded that medical and mental-health confidentiality statutes required a written release, despite the city's collective bargaining agreement, unless a…
How detailed did a Texas governmental body's certified agenda for a closed meeting have to be?
It did not have to be a verbatim transcript, but it had to summarize every specific subject actually discussed. Broad labels such as 'personnel' or 'litigation' were not enough, and greater detail…
Could artificial or tube feeding be withheld under a Texas patient's directive against life-sustaining procedures?
Potentially yes. The Attorney General concluded that artificial or tube feeding could qualify as a life-sustaining procedure, but whether it merely prolonged the moment of death depended on medical…
Could a Texas municipal utility district tax only part of the district to repay bonds for improvements benefiting that area?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a defined-area tax met the constitution's equal-distribution requirement when it was fairly proportioned to the benefit received by the taxed property.
Were Texas school-district tax rollback elections constitutional under Tax Code sections 26.08 and 26.085?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the school-tax rollback provisions were constitutional because school-district taxing authority was subject to legislative control, and the elections imposed…
Did Texas's open-beach property disclosure law apply when coastal property was sold through a nonjudicial foreclosure?
Yes, when the foreclosure conveyed a covered real-property interest. The trustee had to give the statutory notice to the actual purchaser for each foreclosure, but the opinion concluded that section…
Could Texas voters transfer a county tax assessor-collector's assessment and collection duties to an appraisal district or another taxing unit?
Generally no. The Attorney General concluded that the legislature could not let voters divest the elected county tax assessor-collector of assessment and collection duties, except for the…
Could the Brazos River Authority place funds in fully FDIC-insured banks that had not qualified as its official depositories?
No. The authority had to use lawfully qualified official depositories, although a selected depository did not need extra bonds or pledged securities for the portion already protected by FDIC insurance.
Could the Texas Rehabilitation Commission require job applicants to provide background records and update an application after a felony guilty plea?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the commission could require criminal-history, traffic, military, and similar records and could require applicants to update their applications after a…
Could the Texas Human Rights Commission or EEOC order a state agency to seal personnel records after an employment-discrimination complaint?
No. The Attorney General concluded that neither commission had specific authority to order a Texas agency to seal records governed by the Open Records Act. A court could order sealing, privacy law…
Could a Texas taxing unit grant its optional homestead exemption to seniors but not disabled homeowners, or vice versa?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a taxing unit could offer the optional residence-homestead exemption to either people age 65 or older or disabled people without offering it to both groups.
Could a hospital-district clinic employee serve on the district's board when the board controlled her job and salary?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the board's authority over the clinic employee's job and salary created a supervisor-subordinate relationship barred by common-law incompatibility.
Could Texas give the Anderson County groundwater district special powers over pumping near a hazardous-waste facility, including requiring injection-well operators to buy district water?
The Attorney General concluded that the special district law was facially valid and contained adequate standards, and that it did not facially conflict with statewide hazardous-waste law.…
Could Texas require out-of-state and Mexican motorists driving in Texas to carry liability insurance meeting Texas standards?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that applying the same financial-responsibility rule to resident and nonresident motorists was a valid highway-safety regulation, absent federal preemption or an…
Could a Texas county clerk file an assumed-name certificate whose acknowledgment was in another language but carried a Hague apostille?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the acknowledgment required for the assumed-name certificate had to be written in English. A Hague apostille authenticated the signature, capacity, and seal…
When could a Texas county pay private lawyers to defend county officials, and could the commissioner suing them vote on the defense?
A county could fund the defense when commissioners found in good faith that the officials acted within public duties and the public interest was at stake. A commissioner suing the officials could…
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.