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 pay state employees cash awards for money-saving suggestions, and could donated agency funds cover the awards without an appropriation?
The awards were constitutional compensation for work outside an employee's assigned duties, but no funds had been appropriated for the 1986-87 awards. Another state agency could not use its donated fu…
Could Texas require first-grade bilingual students with limited English proficiency to take an English-only basic-skills test?
No, not for the students described in JM-458. The opinion concluded that an English-only test was not an appropriate measure of their reading, writing, and math skills and that they were impliedly exe…
Could the Texas engineering board require public agencies to choose an engineer before discussing the proposed fee?
No. JM-457 concluded that the board lacked authority to impose a federal-style two-step selection process and that the proposed rule conflicted with Texas law requiring competence, qualifications, and…
Could a Texas jury infer that the person named on a utility bill knowingly tampered with the meter just because the meter had been bypassed?
Only as a permissive inference supported by the evidence. JM-456 concluded that meter tampering alone was not enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the billed customer was the person who know…
Did Texas violate equal protection by barring the Orange County Attorney from private law practice when some other prosecutors could practice privately?
No. JM-455 concluded that a public prosecutor had no fundamental right to maintain a private practice and that the restriction was reasonably related to efficient and effective administration of justi…
Could Texas optometrists use diagnostic eye drugs under a physician's standing order, and what could the Medical Board regulate?
Yes. JM-454 concluded that the delegation statute was constitutional and let an optometrist use nontherapeutic topical ocular drugs under a valid physician order. The Medical Board could prescribe the…
Could a Texas city withdraw from an existing rural fire prevention district without an election, and when would district taxes stop?
Yes. JM-453 concluded that the withdrawal statute applied to existing districts and required no city election; withdrawal after January 1 took tax effect the following January 1. Existing bond obligat…
Could the Texas Pharmacy Board license a foreign pharmacy graduate whose school lacked U.S. accreditation but who earned equivalency certification?
The board had discretion to do so. JM-452 said the Pharmacy Act neither required nor prohibited licensing such graduates and allowed the board to decide whether foreign-graduate certification showed t…
Could a nonlawyer agent represent a landlord or tenant in a Texas justice-court eviction case?
Yes, in the cases covered by Property Code section 24.009. JM-451 said the agent had to be a natural person, not a business entity, and the agent's authority was presumed unless challenged in justice …
Could a Texas deputy sheriff own an auto garage that repaired county patrol vehicles during his off-duty hours?
Article 988b did not prohibit it because the deputy had no authority to vote on or make the county repair contract. JM-450 cautioned that county purchasing and competitive-bidding requirements could s…
Could a Texas county lease courthouse space and equipment to a private cafeteria, and could it use sealed bids?
The county could lease the space by public auction if the cafeteria did not interfere with courthouse use and served courthouse users. JM-449 said a sealed-bid-only process would defeat the open compe…
Did the Harris County clerk have to collect the appellate-system court-cost fee in probate proceedings?
Yes. JM-448 concluded that probate proceedings were included within the civil suits subject to the fee because the statute expressly listed probate courts and legislative history confirmed that purpos…
Could a Texas county pay an injured employee the gap between workers' compensation benefits and salary, plus accrued sick and vacation leave?
A county could not award the salary gap retroactively, but it could make that supplement part of a prospective compensation policy. JM-447 also concluded that already-earned sick and vacation leave co…
Were Texas Supreme Court long-distance telephone records held by a state service agency subject to the Open Records Act?
JM-446 said no because the service agency held the records as the court's agent and the judiciary was outside the act. The official Texas AG page states that this opinion was later overruled to the ex…
Could the Texas Surplus Property Agency buy supplies and services from its trust fund without using state purchasing procedures?
No. JM-445 concluded that the agency was a state agency subject to the State Purchasing and General Services Act, and neither its enabling law nor the trust fund created an exemption from the purchasi…
Could Texas counties, cities, hospital districts, and school districts buy products or services from disabled-person programs without competitive bidding?
Yes. JM-444 concluded that the specific Human Resources Code exception for purchases from blind or severely disabled persons controlled over the general competitive-bidding statutes for those politica…
Could Texas impose a new $3 crime-victims court cost on traffic offenses committed before the fee took effect?
No. JM-443 concluded that court costs were part of criminal punishment, so applying the new fee to an earlier traffic offense would violate the prohibition on ex post facto laws.
Could a general-law city increase its elected mayor's salary during the mayor's current term?
No. JM-442 concluded that article 1010 absolutely barred changing the mayor's compensation during the term for which the mayor was elected.
Could a municipal or justice court charge traffic defendants or defensive-driving providers an administrative or referral fee under article 6701d, section 143A?
No. JM-441 concluded that section 143A authorized no administrative or referral fee against either defendants or defensive-driving course providers.
Could the Sutton County Commissioners Court set the county auditor's office hours?
No. JM-440 concluded that no applicable statute expressly or impliedly authorized the Sutton County Commissioners Court to set the county auditor's office hours.
Was a driver entitled to dismissal of a financial-responsibility charge if the borrowed car was uninsured but the driver's own policy covered the trip?
Yes. JM-439 concluded that dismissal was required when the driver produced a valid policy that provided the statutory coverage while operating the borrowed car, even if the owner had not insured the v…
Did the repeal of Texas's later prison good-time law revive an older statute granting sentence credit for overtime work?
No. JM-438 concluded that article 6166x-1 had been impliedly repealed in 1943 and was not revived when the later repealing statute was itself repealed in 1977.
Did a Texas polygraph examiner have to display the examiner's license at every temporary location where tests were performed?
No. JM-437 concluded that the license-display requirement applied to the examiner's normal or fixed place of business, not every location where an examination happened.
Could a Texas county-jail inmate receive both good-time credit and manual-labor credit against the same sentence?
No. JM-436 concluded that a county-jail inmate could receive good-time credit or manual-labor credit, but not both. It overruled MW-497 to the extent that opinion allowed both credits.
Who was responsible for notifying misdemeanor defendants of pretrial hearings and trial settings, and could a prosecutor contact a represented defendant with that notice?
JM-435 concluded that the court, not the prosecutor, was responsible for notice and should not order the prosecutor to serve it. A prosecutor was not ethically barred from giving scheduling notice.
When could a Texas clerk collect the $50 fee for handling civil-case trust funds, who initiated collection, and could the clerk charge more?
JM-434 concluded that collection followed the incurred expense and designation of the responsible party, the county clerk initiated collection, and the fixed $50 fee was the only authorized handling f…
Was Senate Bill 454 valid even though the Texas House Journal suggested the House may have passed a substitute that omitted three new probation-commission members?
Yes. JM-433 applied the enrolled-bill doctrine and treated the authenticated, signed, and enrolled version of Senate Bill 454 as conclusive despite the conflicting journal entry.
Could a Texas county lease crossings under county roads to a common-carrier pipeline company and collect annual payments?
No. JM-432 concluded that a county could reasonably regulate and permit pipeline crossings, but chapter 111 did not authorize leasing those crossings to a common carrier.
Could a county commissioner use county money, paid staff, or courthouse space to collect donations for foreign earthquake victims?
The commissioner could not use county funds or paid staff for the collection. JM-431 allowed incidental courthouse space and volunteer assistance by county personnel on their own time.
Could a county department head raise an employee's salary without a new commissioners-court vote, and could county employee pay change outside the annual budget hearing?
Only if the commissioners court had already approved staffing and budget terms authorizing the promotion and raise. The court could amend pay outside the regular budget hearing, but not retroactively.
Did a school district have to pay the state's retirement contribution on a teacher's pay for a separate extra job, such as driving a school bus?
No. JM-429 concluded that the district paid the state contribution only on pay above the statutory minimum for the minimum-salary job, not compensation for a wholly separate job.
Could counties reduce a district attorney's local budget by the amount of state Professional Prosecutors Act funds or control how those state funds were spent?
No. JM-428 concluded that counties had to maintain their required funding level, while the district attorney controlled the separate state expense funds and could use them for authorized contingencies…
Did the General Appropriations Act's per-diem limits apply when Employees Retirement System trustees were paid from membership fees and investment earnings held in trust?
No. JM-427 concluded that those retirement-system assets were trust funds rather than appropriated funds, so the appropriation rider's per-diem limits did not apply to payments from them.
Could members of the Texas veterinary licensing board receive reimbursement for meals and lodging incurred on official business?
Yes. JM-426 concluded that article 6813f and the General Appropriations Act superseded the board statute's conflicting meals-and-lodging restriction.
Could Montague County pay for a resident indigent child's liver transplant when the child lived outside any public-hospital or hospital-district service area?
Yes. JM-425 concluded that the commissioners court had authority to pay for the resident child's medical services even though no public hospital or hospital district served her area.
Could an MHMR community-center board contract with a nonprofit that employed one of its trustees, and what conflict-of-interest rules applied?
Yes, if article 988b's disclosure and recusal rules were followed. JM-424 treated the nonprofit as a business entity, the trustee as a local public official, and the statute as replacing the older abs…
What happened to a dental-board member's votes and expense payments after the Texas Senate rejected her recess appointment?
After rejection, she was neither a holdover nor a de facto officer. Her later actions were void and potentially affected cases where her vote mattered, and she was not entitled to later travel reimbur…
Can one person in Texas be both a constable and a city police chief, or both a justice of the peace and a city judge?
No. The Texas AG concluded both office pairs are legally incompatible, so taking the second office automatically vacates the first. A constable who becomes police chief loses the constable office, but…
Can a Texas public agency provide physical therapy without hiring a licensed physical therapist, if a doctor supervises?
Yes, within limits. A licensed physician can perform physical-therapy acts under a medical license, and can delegate those acts to unlicensed staff working under the physician's supervision, as long a…
Can Texas dental hygienists smooth roughened root surfaces (root planing) if a dentist delegates the task?
Yes. After a 1985 amendment, the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners may adopt a rule letting dentists delegate root planing (smoothing roughened root surfaces) to hygienists working under the denti…
Could a Texas physician be liable for giving a patient a medical exemption from the seat-belt requirement, and would a release prevent liability?
The statute did not give physicians express immunity. Any claim still depended on proving negligence, and whether a signed release was valid depended on the circumstances of that release.
Does a Texas hospital district lose its property tax exemption if it rents out a building it owns?
No. The Texas AG concluded that collecting rent does not, by itself, strip a hospital district of tax-exempt status on property it owns, as long as the property is used for public purposes. Whether it…
Can Texas public officials be personally sued for damages under the state antitrust law for actions they take in office?
It depends on the office. Judges and legislators have absolute immunity from damage suits under the Texas antitrust act. Other officials with discretionary duties have qualified immunity and can be he…
Can a Texas district judge run for another office mid-term without automatically resigning the bench?
Yes. The Texas AG concluded that the state's automatic resign-to-run rule (article XVI, section 65) lists many county and precinct offices but not district judges, so a sitting district judge could ru…
Will a court-appointed lawyer get paid for representing an indigent parent jailed for not paying child support in Texas?
Not under the criminal-case fee statute. The Texas AG concluded that article 26.05 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which pays appointed lawyers in criminal and habeas cases, does not cover a civil …
Can Texas exclude short-appointment university faculty from the sick-leave benefit other state employees receive?
Yes, mostly. The Texas AG concluded that a 1985 appropriations-act rider excluding faculty with appointments under 12 months from the state sick-leave benefit did not conflict with general law or viol…
If a town incorporates inside an existing Texas rural fire prevention district, does it escape the district's taxes?
No. The Texas AG concluded that a town that incorporated within the boundaries of an already-established rural fire prevention district stayed part of the district, so its property remained subject to…
Can Texas prorate the annual license fee or tax on coin-operated amusement machines when the license covers less than a full year?
No. The Texas AG concluded that the Amusement Machine Commission could not prorate the fee for an initial license or registration certificate, or the annual occupation tax on coin-operated machines, b…
If a jail inmate's money is stolen by an escaping prisoner, who has to pay it back?
The county. The Texas AG concluded that a county is responsible for repaying money a jail holds in safekeeping for its inmates, even when an escaping prisoner takes it, because holding and returning t…
How soon must a Texas county officer hand collected funds to the county treasurer, and what does the deadline mean?
The Texas AG read the 1985 version of article 1709a to require county officers to deposit funds with the county treasurer by the next business day when possible, but they did not violate a clear statu…
What court fees can a Texas district clerk charge in child-custody and support cases, and can they charge when the attorney general represents a parent?
The Texas AG concluded that a district clerk could not charge an extra filing fee for a motion to modify or enforce a custody or support order, because the initial filing fee already covered those mot…
Does a Texas justice of the peace automatically resign by running for city council?
Yes. The Texas AG concluded that a general-law city council seat is an 'office of trust' under the state constitution's resign-to-run rule (article XVI, section 65), so a justice of the peace who anno…
Can a Texas city give land to the state for a public college, and can the college condemn land it needs?
A city can convey land to the state for a technical institute, but a conveyance exempt from bid procedures still cannot be for less than fair market value, and the questions about whether a binding co…
Does a state budget grandfather clause for probation-department car allowances cover paid trainees, not just probation officers?
Assuming the rider was valid, the Attorney General read the grandfather clause to protect anyone employed by a local probation department on May 31, 1985, not just probation officers. Because anyone w…
When the state files an elder-abuse report in a guardianship case, who pays the court filing fee?
The county clerk must collect a filing fee, but the Attorney General treated it as a cost of the guardianship proceeding. That means the ward's estate pays the fee, and the county pays if the estate c…
Can a state agency put its vending-machine and pay-phone income into an employee fund for flowers and gifts?
No. The Attorney General concluded that vending-machine and pay-phone income from a building occupied by the Texas Rehabilitation Commission is public money that must go into the state treasury, unles…
Can a special state law strip one county of its power to borrow against its road fund and punish commissioners who vote for debt?
The Attorney General concluded that the parts of the 1947 Limestone County road law barring the county from creating debt against its road-and-bridge fund, and imposing civil and criminal penalties on…
Can a home rule city shorten its park board members' terms or fire them at will?
No. Galveston could not shorten the two-year terms of its Park Board of Trustees, because the state statute that created the board fixes a two-year term running from the date of appointment and overri…
Does being a Texas Rehabilitation Commission client disqualify a disabled veteran from the Hinson-Hazelwood college fee waiver?
No. The Attorney General concluded a person is not automatically ineligible for the Hinson-Hazelwood Act's college fee exemption just because he is a client of the Texas Rehabilitation Commission. The…
Can a bill about big-city development plats be struck down because its title doesn't mention extraterritorial jurisdiction?
No. The Attorney General concluded the title of the 1985 plat-approval law (chapter 568) adequately expressed its subject and did not violate the single-subject and title rule in article III, section …
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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.