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 a Texas home-rule city regulate intracity towing and set towing rates, and could the Railroad Commission do the same?
A home-rule city could regulate intracity towing and set rates so long as its rules did not conflict with state law or violate federal antitrust law. The Railroad Commission lacked statutory authority…
Could the Guadalupe Valley Hospital borrow money for equipment and renovations, and could its board approve the loan without separate city and county action?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that the city and county operating an article 4494i joint hospital could borrow for equipment and renovations when repayment from hospital operations was reason…
How did indigent-health-care costs affect a county's 1986 tax rollback threshold, and could the assessor recalculate the effective tax rate after the tax plan took effect?
In 1987, the Attorney General said Hardin County had to include enough in its 1986 tax rate to pay the added costs of the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act, and that portion was excluded when det…
Could the Texas Polygraph Examiners Board conduct oral licensing examinations privately and withhold reusable questions and answers?
Yes, within the opinion's limits. A session used only to ask and answer questions, without board deliberation, was not a meeting under the Open Meetings Act, and unused or reusable written exam materi…
Could a person who moved without interruption from the Veterans Affairs Commission to the Texas Surplus Property Agency Board keep earning Employees Retirement System service credit?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that the Employees Retirement System had to let the board member continue establishing service credit. Although Surplus Property Agency employees were actually …
Did Texas school districts have to give the School for the Blind the names and addresses of visually impaired students' parents?
No statute directly required districts or state agencies to provide those lists. The School for the Blind could request them under the Open Records Act, and the record holder then had to release them …
Did a city have to fund indigent care at a hospital-authority facility created mainly to issue tax-free bonds?
Yes. The hospital was a public hospital under the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act, and the city that created the authority had to provide sufficient funding despite its earlier statement that i…
Could a school trustee resign briefly, let the board renew her daughter's teaching contract, and then win reelection without violating nepotism law?
Not through a short absence. The board could renew the teacher only after the trustee had resigned and a successor qualified, but the daughter would not gain the one-year exemption if her mother retur…
Could a county attorney who handled only misdemeanors collect statutory fees for felony-grade bad checks and forgeries?
Yes. Article 53.08 authorized county attorneys to collect and process qualifying checks, and that authority was not conditioned on accepting felony complaints or participating in felony prosecutions.
Could one person serve at the same time as a school-board trustee and a city council member inside the same school district?
No, on the overlapping Socorro facts. The common-law incompatibility doctrine barred simultaneous service because the city council had supervisory powers affecting school property and trustee duties.
Did the Harris County Attorney have to advise the sheriff's civil-service commission, and could that office also represent the sheriff before it?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that the Harris County Attorney had to give requested written advice to members of the Sheriff's Department Civil Service Commission about official duties and p…
Did interest earned on a Texas prosecutor's hot-check fund stay in that fund or go to county general revenue?
JM-632 concluded that the interest went to the county's general revenue fund rather than remaining in the prosecutor's hot-check fund. JC-0062 later agreed with severing the interest but modified JM-6…
Could the Texas Employees Retirement System let an HMO disregard State Board of Insurance rules or end a dependent's coverage for living outside the HMO service area?
No. JM-631 concluded that ERS could not authorize an HMO to violate insurance-board rules and that a state employee enrolled in an HMO remained entitled to dependent coverage even when the dependent l…
Could out-of-state bank holding companies buy Texas banks without violating the Texas Constitution's ban on foreign corporations exercising banking privileges?
Yes. JM-630 concluded that out-of-state holding companies could own Texas banks because ownership was not the same as operating a bank, but the subsidiary banks had to remain separate and independentl…
Did Texas cities have to fund hospitals created through city hospital authorities for indigent care, and was that requirement constitutional?
Yes. JM-626 concluded that hospitals owned or operated by city-created hospital authorities were public hospitals, that the cities had to provide sufficient indigent-care funding, and that the challen…
Could the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners use appropriated funds to buy liability insurance required to rent a site for a nursing examination?
No. JM-625 concluded that the current appropriations act barred the Board of Nurse Examiners from using appropriated funds to buy liability insurance for the facility rental.
How was Tyler County required to fund a criminal district attorney's office created after the Professional Prosecutors Act's 1979 funding date?
JM-628 concluded that Tyler County had no funding floor based on a 1979 office budget because the criminal district attorney's office did not yet exist. The county instead had to provide the funds nec…
Would Corpus Christi's annexation of the remaining unincorporated part of Nueces County Water Control District No. 4 automatically abolish the district?
No. JM-622 concluded that automatic abolition did not apply because the district had never provided all three listed services, including drainage. Abolition instead required mutual agreement under sec…
Could a Texas health insurer cover some speech and hearing impairments but exclude others because they arose from a birth defect or developmental problem?
No. JM-621 concluded that an insurer could negotiate benefit levels but could not cover only selected speech and hearing problems or exclude impairments based on their cause.
Could the Texas Employment Commission disregard a corporate reorganization as a sham and keep charging the predecessor's unemployment tax rate?
No. JM-620 concluded that the Texas Employment Commission could not label a reorganized or employee-service corporation a subterfuge and impose the predecessor's experience rate; a transfer required t…
Could a Texas home-rule city prohibit drivers from consuming any alcoholic beverage inside a motor vehicle?
No. JM-619 concluded that Alcoholic Beverage Code section 1.06 exclusively governed possession and transportation of alcoholic beverages, preempting a city ordinance that prohibited drivers from consu…
Could a Texas agency select one long-distance carrier for all its offices with a single letter, and did it owe carriers assigned by default?
Yes, one letter was enough if it listed billed telephone numbers or otherwise clearly defined the covered lines. The department was not directly liable to carriers assigned as defaults, though the opi…
Can a Texas district clerk charge a convicted felony defendant the old conviction fees that article 1025 of the Code of Criminal Procedure once allowed?
No. JM-617 concluded article 1025 had already been impliedly repealed back in 1935, so the 1985 formal repeal changed nothing and a county clerk has no authority to collect that fee from defendants.
Is Texas's reciprocal-preference law that penalizes out-of-state bidders on public contracts constitutional?
Yes. JM-616 concluded article 601g is constitutional. Because the state acts as a market participant when it spends public funds, the reciprocal bidding preference does not violate the Commerce Clause…
Could the Texas parole board require a county jail to hold a parolee on a board warrant, and could it contract to reimburse the county?
The board could direct the sheriff to hold the prisoner, and the county could not refuse even without payment. The board lacked statutory authority to contract with the county to reimburse the incarce…
Can a Texas county probation department bar supervisors from joining the same union as the employees they supervise?
No. JM-614 concluded article 5154c, section 4 guarantees every public employee the right to union membership with no exception for supervisors, so a county adult probation department cannot forbid sup…
Does a Texas peace officer commit a crime by carrying a handgun while off duty or outside the area where his department has jurisdiction?
No. JM-613 concluded a Texas peace officer is a peace officer twenty-four hours a day statewide, so section 46.03 of the Penal Code exempts him from prosecution under section 46.02 for carrying a hand…
Can someone who lives in a housing cooperative, owning corporate stock instead of the home itself, claim the Texas residence homestead tax exemption or homestead protection from forced sale?
No. JM-612 concluded that a cooperative resident owns corporate stock, not the home, so neither the residence homestead property-tax exemption nor the constitutional protection from forced sale applie…
Does registering to vote in Texas make a seasonal winter resident a Texas domiciliary for vehicles, probate, taxes, and marital law?
No. JM-611 said voter registration created a strong presumption of Texas residence but did not by itself establish domicile for every legal purpose; intent, physical presence, and the particular statu…
Can an employee of one Texas county housing authority also work as a bookkeeper or consultant for another housing authority, or own a home in another authority's housing project?
No on both counts. JM-610 read section 6a of article 1269k as an unusually broad conflict-of-interest bar with no out-of-jurisdiction exception, so a housing authority employee cannot do bookkeeping o…
Could Texas health officials regulate a self-employed massage instructor as a massage school and require registration details in every advertisement?
No to both blanket rules. JM-609 said the statute allowed instruction by independent instructors and did not authorize the proposed all-advertising disclosure, although the department could reasonably…
How long does a Texas district attorney have to answer a state prisoner's article 11.07 habeas corpus petition, and when does the clock start?
JM-608 concluded the district attorney gets a full 15 days to answer, and that 15-day clock starts when the district attorney actually receives notice of the writ, not when the petition was filed with…
Who qualified to serve on the Texas nursing-home-administrator licensing board, and did trade-association ties disqualify an appointee?
An educator's university program did not have to lead to a degree, but the AG could not decide the appointee's actual connection as a fact matter. Administrator members had to be currently serving, an…
Can a Texas county issue marriage licenses from a branch office or sub-courthouse instead of the main county courthouse?
Yes. JM-606 concluded that in counties where statutes authorize branch offices or auxiliary courthouses, the county clerk or a duly authorized deputy clerk may issue marriage licenses from those locat…
When a Texas city annexes land inside a rural fire prevention district, does the district keep taxing and serving that area, or is the area automatically removed?
JM-605 concluded the annexed area stays part of the rural fire prevention district until the city formally removes it under section 14b of article 2351a-6. Once the city removes it, the district stops…
Can a Texas city choose a credit union as the depository for its public funds?
No. JM-604 concluded that although a credit union may accept public deposits, the city depository statutes let a city select only a 'banking corporation, association or individual banker,' which does …
Did a county hospital authority's hospital stop being a public hospital when a private corporation leased and operated it?
No. JM-603 concluded that the hospital remained a public hospital because the hospital authority still owned and leased it. Title 3 indigent-care rules applied, including the conditional Hill-Burton e…
Could a nonlawyer office manager represent doctors or their unincorporated association in Texas small claims court?
A doctor could represent himself. A nonlawyer employee could represent the unincorporated association if not employed solely as a collection agent, but could not represent an individual doctor.
Did a Texas sheriff have to create fingerprints or photographs that no agency had made after a DWI conviction?
No. JM-601 concluded that the sheriff had to compile and send identification information already made by a law-enforcement agency, but did not have to generate missing records. Lack of staff or fundin…
Can the Texas Forest Service force pest-control tree cutting on federal or private land, and can it charge the landowner?
Only in limited circumstances. JM-600 concluded that Texas needed federal permission to enforce its forest-pest law on federal land, while a private owner could be required to cut trees or pay control…
Could a Texas county pay new or replacement employees $1,000 less during their first six months?
Yes, under the law addressed in JM-599. The commissioners court could reduce the pay of new or replacement employees during the year, provided the salary did not fall below its January 1, 1972 level; …
Could a Texas city street superintendent also write bail bonds in the same county?
Yes, as a matter of law under the circumstances addressed in JM-598. The AG found no statute barring the street superintendent from writing bail bonds for private individuals, but did not decide wheth…
Could a Texas community college give course credit for optional student work on a political campaign?
Yes. JM-597 concluded that optional campaign work could be offered for course credit if it served the course's educational purposes and any campaign effect was incidental and minimal; a teacher could …
Did Texas nonprofit water supply corporations have to open their meetings and records to the public?
Only corporations receiving state financial assistance under the cited Water Code provisions had to follow both the Open Records and Open Meetings Acts. All article 1434a water supply corporations sti…
Could DART discuss staff evaluations of consultants and competitive bidders in a closed meeting?
No. JM-595 concluded that the Open Records Act's exception for internal memoranda did not create an Open Meetings Act exception, so DART had to discuss consultant and bidder evaluations in open sessio…
Could a Texas county judge also serve as a paid director of a river authority?
No. JM-594 concluded that both positions were civil offices of emolument, so article XVI, section 40 barred one person from holding them at the same time; qualifying as county judge vacated the river-…
Could Texas use revenue from a sales tax on gasoline for purposes other than roads and the uses listed in the constitution?
No. JM-593 concluded that a gasoline sales tax was a tax on motor fuel within article VIII, section 7-a, so its proceeds could be used only for the purposes named in that constitutional dedication.
When did the first appointed members' terms on the Texas World Trade Council expire after the governor appointed them late?
Their initial terms expired February 1, 1987. JM-592 concluded that the statute fixed the term's end date and that late appointments shortened the members' tenure without extending the legal term.
Can a Texas home-rule city annex land in a rural fire prevention district after consenting to that district's creation?
Yes. JM-591 concluded that a home-rule city's earlier consent to a rural fire prevention district did not surrender its annexation power. The city could also withdraw an area from the district under s…
Could a Texas city inspect confidential taxpayer records behind a sales-tax refund that reduced the city's tax allocation?
No. JM-590 concluded in 1986 that the supporting taxpayer information was confidential and that an affected city had no greater access than any other requester. ORD-624 later narrowed language that co…
Can a justice of the peace elected to finish a constable's unexpired term wait until January 1 to take the new office?
No. JM-589 concluded that the winner had to file the required bond, take the oath, and assume the constable's unexpired term as soon as possible after receiving the election certificate.
Can a Texas DPS officer serve on a school board, city council, or other local governing body?
JM-588 concluded that a commissioned DPS officer could not hold a second paid civil office and could not campaign for or hold a partisan local office. Article XVI, section 40 did not by itself bar an …
When did large Texas counties have to begin operating a separate veterans county service office?
September 1, 1985. JM-587 concluded that counties with at least 200,000 residents became subject to the mandatory veterans service office requirements on the amendment's effective date.
Could a former Texas district judge who lost reelection still serve as a visiting judge?
Yes. JM-586 concluded that defeat for reelection no longer made an otherwise eligible former district judge ineligible for assignment under the Court Administration Act.
Who handles county employees' retirement payroll deductions, the county treasurer or the county auditor?
The county treasurer. JM-585 concluded that in counties of 10,000 or more people, the treasurer, not the auditor, is the payroll disbursing officer who deducts and transmits county employees' public r…
Can a Texas government board legally hold its meetings by conference call?
Not under the law as it stood in 1986. JM-584 concluded that a governmental body meeting by telephone conference call would not comply with the Texas Open Meetings Act unless the legislature specifica…
Can a community college board member who works at the district's bank vote on money decisions affecting that bank?
Yes. JM-583 concluded that the School Depository Act allowed a community college trustee tied to the district's depository bank to vote on routine expenditures that reduced the bank's deposits. JM-108…
Which firefighters are eligible to take a promotion exam under Texas civil service law?
All firefighters in the next-lower rank with enough service. JM-582 concluded that under the Firemen's and Policemen's Civil Service Act, any firefighter with at least two years of continuous service …
Can a county government hire someone related to the county judge, and is the Texas nepotism law too vague to enforce?
No, and no. JM-581 concluded that Texas's nepotism statute (article 5996a) is not unconstitutionally vague, and that it barred a county library from employing a first cousin of the county judge's moth…
Does the state prison system have to pay hospital bills for a baby born to an inmate?
No. JM-580 concluded that the Texas Department of Corrections had no legal authority to pay the extra hospital costs of a premature infant born to an inmate. Those costs fall on the child's parents, a…
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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.