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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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…
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 requirement.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Could the Texas State Preservation Board accept private gifts and donations for restoring the State Capitol when its statute expressly said it could solicit them?
Yes. Reading the statute as a whole, the Attorney General concluded that the express power to solicit gifts necessarily included the power to accept them for the Board's preservation duties.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Could a Texas county lend money to a proposed 9-1-1 emergency communication district before voters approved the district?
The district's board could not borrow or accept county funds before the confirmation election because the district did not yet have its ordinary statutory powers. The opinion left open county…
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.
Did the Texas Open Records Act require access to copyrighted computer records, copying by the requester, and new database searches or programs?
The Attorney General concluded that copyrighted public records remained open for inspection and requesters could make their own copies, although the custodian did not have to furnish copies.…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Could the Texas chiropractic board treat written x-ray questions and x-ray interpretation as separate subjects and require a 60 percent score on each?
No. The board could test x-ray knowledge in written and practical parts, but the Attorney General concluded that x-rays were one subject for the statutory minimum-score rule.
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…
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…
Could the Athens Municipal Water Authority sell or lease small pieces of its lakefront property to homeowners whose houses crossed the authority's boundary?
The Authority could sell land that was not needed to carry out its plans, but whether the parcels met that condition was a factual question the Attorney General did not decide. The cited leasing…
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…
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…
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 superintendent.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Who paid for medical care of an indigent county jail inmate in Texas when the inmate lived outside any hospital district?
The county where the person was jailed. A hospital district covered inmates who lived inside it, but for an inmate whose home area had no hospital district, article 104.002 put the cost on the…
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…
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…
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…
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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.