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 agencies sign multi-year contracts that paid private vendors for cogeneration systems from future energy savings without creating unconstitutional state debt?
Potentially. The Attorney General said properly drafted legislation and contracts could avoid unconstitutional debt if the vendor had no recourse against state credit and the state's payment duty rema…
Did a Texas district court need a filed lawsuit before it could exercise supervisory control over a county commissioners court?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that article V, section 8 did not give district judges free-standing oversight authority; a lawsuit or other authorized review proceeding had to invoke the district…
Could the Texas State Securities Board adopt a rule that automatically treated certain underwritten stock offerings as fair, just, and equitable based only on share price and total proceeds?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the proposed rule would let the securities commissioner bypass the statutory duty to examine whether an offering was fair, just, and equitable. The commissioner…
Could Galveston County Drainage District No. 2 charge a fee to review construction plans for crossings over its drainage ditches?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Water Code chapter 56 governed the district and gave it no express or necessarily implied authority to charge plan-review fees for ditch crossings.
Did a Texas county have to reimburse the UT Health Center at Tyler for heart treatment provided to an indigent county resident?
Yes, subject to the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act's conditions and limits. State funding rules for indigent tuberculosis patients did not shift the cost of treating a heart condition to the H…
Could one person serve both as an Angelina and Neches River Authority director and a member of Lufkin's planning and zoning commission?
Not if the river-authority director performed services carrying statutory compensation. Both positions were civil offices of emolument, and article XVI, section 40 barred one person from holding both …
Could a Texas municipal or justice court require a resident driver to post an appearance bond just to plead not guilty and obtain a speeding trial?
No. When the driver met article 6701d's conditions and signed a written promise to appear, a court could not require an appearance bond solely because the driver pleaded not guilty and requested a tri…
Did Texas law give people with physical disabilities equal access to buses, trains, airplanes, and other public transportation?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the right applied to public transportation operating in Texas and depended on public use, not whether the transportation received public funding.
Did dismissal or acquittal of a Texas DWI charge prevent suspension of the driver's license for refusing a breath or blood test?
No. The license proceeding concerned refusal to provide a specimen and used a lower civil proof standard, so dismissal or acquittal of the separate DWI charge was not a defense.
Could a Texas county auditor examine inmate trust and jail commissary accounts held and operated by the county sheriff?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the auditor's authority reached all money the sheriff held in an official capacity, even if a particular account did not contain county-owned funds.
Who had to notify landowners about a proposed Texas subdivision plat revision, and did every nondeveloper owner in the subdivision receive notice?
The county commissioners court had the notice duty. It had to notify every nondeveloper owner in the subdivided tract, even when the proposed revision affected only one smaller unit plat.
Did a felony indictment automatically end the appointment of a Texas deputy sheriff protected by a county sheriff's civil-service system?
No. For deputies covered by article 2372h-8, the civil-service commission's dismissal and discipline rules displaced the older automatic-revocation statute. Exempt deputies remained subject to automat…
Could a Texas county build or buy a jail through a multi-year lease-purchase agreement without a special statute expressly authorizing that financing method?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that counties had implied authority to use lease-purchase financing for an essential jail project, subject to every applicable constitutional and statutory requirem…
What counted as a bidder's principal place of business under Texas's reciprocal preference for resident and nonresident public-contract bidders?
It was the state where the bidder maintained an office and conducted a substantial part of its operations. A token Texas office with one employee who only submitted government bids was not enough.
Could Harris County pay district judges extra for serving as weekend and holiday magistrates without reducing the judges' state-funded salary?
No, not once the extra pay exceeded the required $1,000 salary differential below appellate justices. The Comptroller then had to reduce the state salary share by the excess, while a proper automobile…
What did a Texas district clerk have to do with a civil dismissal notice, an attorney withdrawal request, or an unsigned proposed nonsuit order?
The clerk had to perform the ministerial work of filing each document in the case record and entering it in the court's records. That duty included a nonsuit motion and its proposed order even when th…
Did a licensed Texas air-conditioning contractor need a professional engineer's seal for system design work authorized by the contractor licensing law?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the Air Conditioning Contractor License Law created a specific exception to the broader Engineering Practice Act for design work that licensed air-conditioning …
Could a Texas court master appointed under Senate Bill 1321 handle cases under Titles 1, 2, or 4 of the Family Code even though the bill amended a statute repealed by the same legislature?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the same-session amendment survived the statute's codification and repeal because the Government Code savings provision preserved amendments enacted by the leg…
Could a participant in a Texas public university's Optional Retirement Program choose the agent, broker, or company handling the investments or annuities?
No. The Attorney General concluded that chapter 36 of Title 110B gave the governing board, not the participant, authority over Optional Retirement Program vendors. The board could consider participant…
Could a Texas city spend hotel occupancy tax revenue on advertising meant to attract new businesses and permanent residents?
Not merely for business relocation or new residents. The advertising had to be developed and carried out in a way directly related to attracting conventions, visitors, or tourists.
Could a registered Texas fire-sprinkler contractor subcontract system work to an unregistered contractor or unlicensed individual?
The subcontractor had to satisfy article 5.43-3's registration requirements unless a narrow exemption applied. The State Board of Insurance could also adopt rules barring registered contractors from s…
Could a Texas constable enforce vehicle weight limits on state highways or on county roads outside the constable's precinct?
A constable lacked authority under article 6701d-11 to enforce weight limits on state-maintained highways. Under a commissioners court resolution issued under article 6702-1, a Jefferson County consta…
Could a Texas housing authority use HUD's Consolidated Supply Program instead of following state competitive-bidding law?
Not when Texas law required competitive bidding. The housing authority's federal contract did not exempt Consolidated Supply Program purchases from state bidding rules, though the federal program coul…
Who could appoint and remove San Benito housing-authority commissioners, the mayor or the city manager?
The city manager. Because San Benito's charter assigned the manager the duties customarily imposed on the city's executive head, the manager fit article 1269k's statutory definition of mayor for housi…
Could a Texas school district pay a winning trustee's legal fees in a lawsuit contesting the trustee's election?
No. The election contest concerned the trustee's personal claim to office rather than a legitimate school-district interest, so district funds could not pay the trustee's defense. The board could seek…
Did the Texas Rodent and Predatory Animal Control Service need an additional state wildlife permit for its animal-damage-control work?
The Attorney General concluded that the cooperative program authorized by article 192(b) was intended to supply the authority needed for predator and rodent control. The program's operating authority …
Could a Texas nonprofit biomedical research foundation receive a property-tax exemption, and was satisfying Tax Code section 11.23(h) enough by itself?
Assuming the submitted facts were proved, the Attorney General concluded that the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research fell within Tax Code section 11.23(h) and could meet the Texas Constituti…
How did a Texas 911 district calculate a uniform emergency-service fee when telephone customers paid different base rates?
The district had to apply the same percentage rate to each customer's own telephone base rate, rather than charge everyone the same dollar amount. It also could not deny 911 service to a district tele…
How did federal overtime rules apply in 1987 to Texas Youth Commission employees, including live-in houseparents working a 64-hour week?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that state agencies could use the 1985 federal compensatory-time provisions. Youth Commission workers qualified for the law-enforcement exception only if they m…
What happened when Texas property was sold with a tax certificate that incorrectly said no delinquent taxes were due?
The erroneous certificate extinguished the taxing unit's lien against the property and protected the purchaser. The person who owned the property when the tax was imposed remained personally liable fo…
Who controlled a Texas county's drug-forfeiture special fund, the law-enforcement agency or the commissioners court?
JM-678 concluded in 1987 that the law-enforcement office or agency administered the special fund outside the county treasury, subject to a limited transfer for drug programs. The official Texas AG lan…
Did a Texas county's 1987 tax-rate rollback threshold apply to each fund separately or to the county's total property-tax rate?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that the rollback-election threshold applied to the county's total adopted tax rate compared with its total effective tax rate, not separately to each fund's co…
Could a zoning protester count privately owned street or alley land toward the 20 percent area needed to trigger a supermajority city vote?
Yes. Street and alley land owned in fee simple by a protester counted in the land-area calculation even when it was dedicated to the city as a public easement.
Could surplus portions of two tracts deeded to Texas for mental-health facilities be leased, sold, or traded without causing title to revert?
In 1987, the Attorney General declined to decide conclusively whether the two deeds created covenants, conditions, or determinable fees, or whether the State had substantially complied. The opinion in…
Could the Texas comptroller borrow constitutionally dedicated highway money to cover a temporary General Revenue Fund deficit?
No. Article 4344c expressly excluded constitutionally dedicated revenue from interfund transfers, and the Texas Constitution independently barred borrowing or diverting constitutional special funds.
Could the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station contract with a corporation whose parent was half-owned by a Texas A&M regent, if the regent disclosed the interest and abstained?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that Texas A&M's Board of Regents could not approve the proposed research agreement because a regent had a pecuniary interest through the contracting corporatio…
Could residents transfer their neighborhood from Dallas ISD to Richardson ISD without approval from the Dallas school board?
No. Although Education Code section 19.022 created a detachment-and-annexation procedure, section 19.008 required majority approval from the Dallas ISD trustees before any boundary change could take e…
When two 1985 Texas bills created conflicting administrative penalties under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which scheme controlled?
House Bill 1732's penalty scheme controlled in its entirety. The Health Department did not have to combine nonconflicting details line by line from House Bill 2091, though the Board of Health could ad…
Could Texas deny a chiropractor a reciprocal license solely because the chiropractor's home state used basic-science exams instead of required college courses?
Not automatically. Texas could consider its college-course requirements when evaluating reciprocity, but the other state's standards needed to be substantially equivalent rather than identical, and th…
Did Texas impose a rollback tax when land remained in agricultural use but no longer met the intensity standard for open-space appraisal?
No. Section 23.55 imposed the rollback tax only when the land's use changed; losing special-appraisal eligibility while continuing livestock production was not a change in use.
Could the Comptroller certify appropriations for a new biennium when the current biennium was expected to end with a deficit?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that Texas Constitution article III, §§49 and 49a did not expressly forbid carrying an expected deficit into the next fiscal period. The Comptroller nevertheles…
Could the Texas medical board require extra postgraduate training from foreign medical graduates who qualified under section 5.04?
No. The board could not impose the additional training and other requirements authorized by section 3.04(a)(5) on applicants who qualified under section 5.04, but it could apply the general licensing …
Did a Texas food distributor need Railroad Commission authority to deliver federal commodity food without transportation compensation?
No, under the facts presented. A food distributor that was ordinarily a private motor vehicle owner did not become a regulated contract carrier when its state contract provided no compensation for tra…
Could the Texas Anatomical Board send a donated body to a foreign country?
No. The Attorney General concluded that statutory authority to transport a body to 'another state' meant another state within the United States, not a foreign country.
Could Harris County appoint one special judge to run night and weekend detention hearings for all fourteen county criminal courts?
No. The cited statutes allowed appointment of a special judge for an absent judge in an existing court, but did not authorize a single special judge to represent all fourteen courts in a separate jail…
Could an Ector County commissioners court hire outside counsel to handle criminal bond forfeitures?
No general authority allowed the commissioners court to do so. Bond forfeitures remained criminal cases assigned to the county or district attorney, although a judge could appoint an attorney pro tem …
Could the Texas Railroad Commission confiscate abandoned-well equipment to pay a plugging contractor under section 89.085?
No. The Attorney General concluded that section 89.085 was facially unconstitutional because it allowed confiscation and sale without an adequate hearing that satisfied due process.
Could a city with no existing property tax adopt the additional one-half-percent sales and use tax authorized to reduce property taxes?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that a city imposing no ad valorem tax could not adopt the additional one-half-percent sales and use tax authorized by House Bill 79 because that tax was design…
Which Texas farm-product lien, filing, and criminal provisions were preempted by the federal Food Security Act of 1985?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that 7 U.S.C. §1631 preempted Texas Business and Commerce Code §9.307(a) and (d), which exposed farm-product buyers to secured creditors under less favorable no…
How much could a Texas county charge a community-college district for assessing and collecting its property taxes?
For most junior-college districts, the county could charge a reasonable fee no greater than its actual costs. For a joint-county junior-college district, the parties could agree on compensation capped…
Was the federal parent-corporate guarantee for hazardous-waste facility liability a valid and enforceable obligation under Texas law?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that a parent-corporate guarantee tracking the federal form created an enforceable third-party creditor-beneficiary contract under Texas law. A claimant still n…
Could a Texas city require veterinarians to provide lists of owners whose animals received rabies vaccinations despite a confidentiality rule?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a municipal ordinance enacted under the Rabies Control Act took precedence over the veterinary board's general client-confidentiality rule.
When could the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse inspect treatment facilities, and when did another inspection or national hospital accreditation replace its inspection?
In 1987, the Attorney General said the Commission could inspect an alcohol-treatment facility unless another agency had performed an inspection that substantially complied with its requirements. It co…
Did Rusk County still have an elected county school superintendent after the governing statute was repealed?
No. The office ceased to exist when the last elected superintendent's term expired on December 31, 1982; the county judge could perform the remaining statutory duties as ex officio county superintende…
Could the Texas chiropractic board refuse to let a blind applicant take the licensing examination?
No. The board could exclude an otherwise eligible applicant only for reasons listed in the chiropractic licensing statute, and blindness was not one of those reasons.
Could the Texas Air Control Board require an air permit for an incinerator used entirely onsite in a federal Superfund cleanup?
No, if the incinerator was part of a removal or remedial action conducted entirely onsite and selected and carried out under CERCLA section 121. The opinion said federal law displaced the permit requi…
Which conditions gave a person standing to complain of employment discrimination under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, and did perceived impairments count?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that the Act's definition was not limited to the listed mental and physical conditions and could include chronic illnesses and contagious diseases. A person dis…
Did a Foreign Service officer automatically keep Texas domicile so a dependent child could pay resident university tuition?
No automatic presumption applied. Unlike active military personnel, a Foreign Service officer living abroad was presumed domiciled where the officer lived, although evidence of an intent to retain Tex…
Did free newspaper and television promotional games using randomly selected bingo-style numbers violate the Texas Bingo Enabling Act, and did federal broadcasting law preempt the state rule?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that an unlicensed game awarding prizes from randomly selected numbers or symbols was illegal under the Bingo Enabling Act unless a statutory exception applied,…
Could Public Utility Commissioners independently sign a stay of a hearing examiner's order, and could the commission privately review allegedly privileged material in a contested case?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that the Public Utility Commission had to act as a body in a properly noticed meeting when staying a hearing examiner's interim order; circulating an order for …
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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.