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 Cleburne remove police-dispatcher jobs from its civil service system without taking protection away from current dispatchers?
Yes, prospectively. JM-325 concluded that Cleburne could remove the dispatcher position from future civil-service coverage in good faith, but could not strip protection already fixed for current emplo…
Could Nueces County pay a nonprofit to run anti-litter education, organize cleanups, and distribute trash receptacles?
Yes, through a controlled contract rather than an unrestricted grant. JM-324 concluded that the county could pay a nonprofit for litter-abatement work if the agreement secured an adequate return that …
How could Rusk County dispose of abandoned road rights-of-way when county records did not show how the land was originally acquired?
After a lawful abandonment, JM-332 concluded that county-owned right-of-way property had to be disposed of through article 1577's procedure, even when records did not reveal the original acquisition m…
Could Texas appropriate interest earned on non-constitutionally dedicated money in the State Highway Fund for general revenue purposes?
Yes. JM-323 concluded that interest on statutory highway-fund money could be severed into general revenue, while interest on constitutionally dedicated revenue and trust funds had to remain with those…
Did the state's FICA contribution for a Galveston County district judge count as salary when calculating county court and probate judge pay?
No. JM-322 concluded that article 695h expressly excluded state Social Security contributions from compensation, so they were not part of the district-judge salary base used for local judicial salarie…
Could Texas divert interest earned on constitutionally dedicated highway funds into general revenue by an appropriations rider or statute?
No. JM-321 concluded that interest followed the constitutionally dedicated highway principal and could not be diverted to general revenue by either an appropriations rider or an ordinary statute.
Could Texas Parks and Wildlife cite a sailboard user under section 31.073 for not carrying a Coast Guard-approved life jacket?
No. JM-320 concluded that a sailboard was not a sailboat for section 31.073, so the department could not use that provision to cite a sailboard user for lacking an onboard lifesaving device.
Did Cass County have to supplement its criminal district attorney's state salary for civil work normally performed by a county attorney?
No. JM-319 concluded that the commissioners court could refuse a supplement, but if it chose to pay one, the amount could not be less than the county compensation paid to its highest-paid district jud…
Did Dallas County need a separate filing system for civil cases appealed from justice courts to county courts at law?
No. JM-318 concluded that justice-court appeals had to be numbered consecutively with other filings and assigned among Dallas County courts at law in the same rotation.
Could a Texas commissioners court approve a subdivision plat and maintain its roads when some landowners had not signed the dedication?
Not on the unsigned plat alone. JM-317 concluded that all owners had to acknowledge the plat, but missing owners could separately evidence an intent to dedicate and the court could then accept the roa…
Could a Texas municipal court try a 15- or 16-year-old for a nontraffic Class C misdemeanor when the child had fewer than three prior convictions?
No. JM-316 concluded that the municipal court had to transfer the case to juvenile court under Family Code section 51.08 unless juvenile-court jurisdiction had been waived.
Did Texas's 1984 increase in financial-responsibility minimums automatically raise the liability limits in auto policies already in force?
No. JM-315 concluded that the new minimums did not rewrite an existing policy's liability limits. A previously adequate policy continued to count as proof of financial responsibility until it ended or…
Could the Texas Department of Corrections classify a returned parole or mandatory-supervision violator as a trusty so the inmate could earn good-conduct time?
Yes. JM-314 concluded that article 6184f restricted outside-prison trusty status after a trusty violated that trust, but did not bar a returned parole or mandatory-supervision violator from a trusty c…
What could a Texas prosecutor pay from an article 53.08 hot-check fund, and did the commissioners court have to approve each expense?
JM-313 concluded that the prosecutor did not need commissioners-court approval and could use the fund for reasonable salaries and expenses of the whole office, not just bad-check work. It barred retro…
Did Texas have to appoint a lawyer for every indigent person charged with a misdemeanor, including a fine-only case in justice court?
No. JM-312 concluded that neither the Constitution nor Code of Criminal Procedure article 26.04 required appointed counsel when the proceeding carried no possible loss of liberty. It did not decide wh…
Could the Texas Legislature create a temporary amnesty that erased accrued penalties on delinquent property and local sales taxes paid in full?
Yes. JM-311 concluded that House Bill 1751 could extinguish accrued tax penalties during a general amnesty period without violating the cited constitutional bars on releasing taxes or public debts, so…
Could a Texas county clerk own part of a title company and manage it part-time without creating a prohibited conflict of interest?
Yes, on the facts presented. JM-310 concluded that the clerk could hold and manage the interest because he would not act for the company in county business or make county contracting decisions, but he…
Could a Texas public university charge an F-1 international student more tuition than Texas residents or other nonresident students?
Texas could charge an F-1 student the nonresident rate because the visa conditions prevented establishing Texas domicile. JM-309 concluded, however, that the state could not charge F-1 students more t…
Could Texas require a public-housing tenant to serve on the local housing-authority board without creating an automatic conflict of interest?
Yes. JM-308 concluded that the Legislature could require a tenant commissioner and that living in an authority project was not an interest in a business entity under article 988b, so residency alone d…
Could a Texas judge require a probationer to donate money to Crime Stoppers or repay rewards connected with the probationer's case?
For felony and ordinary misdemeanor probation, JM-307 allowed an individualized donation or case-related reimbursement when reasonably tied to rehabilitation and public protection. It concluded that m…
Did interest earned on Texas's Unemployment Compensation Fund belong to that fund or to the state's General Revenue Fund?
The interest belonged to the Unemployment Compensation Fund. JM-306 concluded that the fund was an out-of-treasury trust held for employees, so the general statute sending depository interest to Gener…
Was cotton-gin trash exempt from Texas commercial-feed registration, labeling, and inspection rules when a gin sold it for farmers?
Only if the farmer still owned the gin trash and the gin sold it as the farmer's agent. JM-305 concluded that the exemption ended if title passed to the ginner, while trash handled by a farmers' coope…
Could a Texas physician charge a patient separately for drugs supplied for self-medication without operating a licensed retail pharmacy?
Generally no. JM-304 concluded that a physician supplying drugs under section 5.09(a) could not charge separately for their cost because that would be retailing drugs. Section 5.09(b) created a narrow…
Did federal special-allowance payments on Texas student loans count as interest that had to flow through the bond interest and sinking fund?
Yes. JM-303 concluded that the federal lender's special allowance was compensation for use of the loan money and therefore counted as interest under Education Code section 52.17.
Could Texas make out-of-state college students wait more than one year for resident tuition or permanently classify them as nonresidents?
JM-302 said one-year tuition-residency requirements had been upheld, but a longer period raised unresolved constitutional questions. It concluded that permanently freezing an entering nonresident's st…
Could a Texas health insurance policy pay less or impose place-of-treatment rules that effectively excluded chiropractors or other listed practitioners?
No, when the covered service was within a listed practitioner's license. The Insurance Code barred both express payment discrimination and neutral-looking place or manner restrictions that had the sam…
Did depository interest earned on Texas's supplemental retirement fund for law enforcement and custodial officers belong to that fund or to General Revenue?
The interest belonged to the supplemental retirement fund because JM-300 classified it as a trust fund. Interest previously placed in General Revenue could be returned only after a specific legislativ…
Could qualifying Texas cities acquire state-owned riverbeds through annexation, and did that let them commercially remove sand and gravel?
Article 7467a constitutionally relinquished qualifying state-owned riverbeds when cities annexed them under other authority, subject to the permanent-school-fund mineral estate and the public trust. I…
Could Texas refuse or restrict commercial fishing licenses for Arkansas residents because Arkansas limited licenses for Texans?
No. JM-298 said Texas law required sales of nonresident commercial fishing licenses, and retaliation against Arkansas was not a substantial constitutional reason for discrimination.
Who had authority to set and review the Lakeway Municipal Utility District's water rates for customers living in the Village of Lakeway outside the district?
The utility district set the initial rates, and the Village of Lakeway could not regulate them. Residents could petition the Texas Water Commission, which had authority to review whether the rates wer…
Were property developers disqualified from serving on a water district board when the district planned to operate a regional sewage system serving households indirectly?
They were disqualified if the regional sewage function became the district's principal function. JM-296 treated indirect household service through local governments as covered, but said the supplied f…
Could a Texas commissioners court create a road district from separate noncontiguous tracts, and could its bonds fund access roads outside the district?
The commissioners court could not create a road district from noncontiguous tracts. Bond proceeds could fund access-road improvements outside the district if the election proposition disclosed that us…
Could Texas officials order privately owned starving animals destroyed to end their suffering?
The Animal Health Commission could not destroy animals solely because starvation caused suffering, although it could act against a disease threat caused by extreme conditions. Certain local officers c…
Did Texas regulate resume, interview-coaching, job-lead, and employer-contact businesses as personnel services?
Yes when the service offered or attempted, even indirectly, to help bring about employment. Whether a particular business met that standard depended on its facts, but a covered service could not charg…
Who paid the cost of producing and copying records in a Texas administrative case, and did the Open Records Act use the same rules?
The requesting party paid copying costs, and the agency could condition discovery on payment of reasonable production costs, including advance payment or a bond. Open-records requests followed differe…
Did a Dallas police and fire pension trustee have a substantial conflict-of-interest stake by owning $2,500 of company stock or participating in deferred compensation?
Owning $2,500 of a company's stock was a substantial interest under article 988b, regardless of the percentage owned. The statutory public-employee deferred-compensation program was not an investment …
Did a felony conviction require Texas to revoke a professional engineer's license?
JM-290 concluded that revocation was mandatory when a registered professional engineer was convicted of a felony while licensed. The Texas Attorney General's official page says JM-482 later overruled …
Could Texas exclude lawful resident-alien veterans from its Veterans Land and Housing Programs because they were not U.S. citizens?
JM-289 predicted that a court would strike down the citizenship requirement. It treated lawful resident-alien veterans as a suspect alienage class and found no compelling state interest for denying th…
Could a school principal keep her position after her husband joined the school board if she had worked for the district more than two years but had been principal only ten months?
She could finish her existing principal contract but the board could not renew it while her husband served because she had held the principal position for only ten months. She could potentially return…
Could a Texas state legislator receive court-appointed counsel fees for defending a prison inmate?
JM-287 did not answer the compensation question. Because court orders had already directed payment and were subject to judicial review, the Attorney General declined to opine on a matter being adjudic…
Could people buy, sell, and carry handguns at a gun show inside a civic center licensed to serve alcohol?
JM-286 did not give a categorical answer because criminal liability depended on the facts. It identified possible defenses for a buyer taking a handgun home and for a dealer controlling leased premise…
Could a Texas taxing unit add the section 33.07 collection penalty to older delinquent taxes or choose a date later than July 1 for the penalty?
No. JM-285 limited the penalty to taxes first becoming delinquent in the adoption year or later, after the required notice, and held that the July 1 attachment date was mandatory rather than adjustabl…
How should Jefferson County Drainage District No. 7 select five commissioners after two of its five municipalities merged?
JM-284 said the district should keep selecting commissioners from the existing geographic areas unless it obtained the federal approval then required for a voting change or the Texas Legislature amend…
When a public high school contracted with a private beauty school, were its cosmetology students private-school students, and how many training hours did they need?
They remained public-school vocational students and qualified through 1,000 cosmetology hours plus 500 related high-school hours rather than 1,500 private-school hours. The beauty school still counted…
Could a Texas state university hire a construction manager before plans were complete and later use a negotiated guaranteed maximum price instead of competitively bidding the project?
The university could separately hire a consultant before plans were complete, but permanent construction still required sealed competitive bids on adequate specifications. A guaranteed maximum price w…
Could a former Texas Public Utility Commission member or employee work for a regulated utility as an outside lawyer or consultant during the statutory cooling-off period?
No. Section 6(i) barred covered former commissioners and employees from representing or performing work for a public utility as an outside attorney or consultant during the applicable two-year or one-…
Could a Texas home-rule city divide the statutory duties of a city secretary between two municipal employees?
Yes. Kingsville could use an ordinance authorized by its charter to assign city-secretary duties to two employees because article 1000 governed general-law cities, not home-rule cities, and article 11…
Did the five years of investigative experience required for a Texas polygraph examiner license have to come immediately before the application?
Yes. The five consecutive years had to be the five years nearest the filing date, without a significant gap between the experience and the license application.
Could a Texas constable appointed to fill a vacancy request a hearing before the county salary grievance committee?
Yes. Article 3912K's reference to an elected county or precinct officer covered the elected office itself, so an appointed constable could request a salary-grievance hearing just as an elected constab…
Did the fixed nursing-school tuition rate apply to accredited associate-degree and vocational-nursing programs at Texas public junior colleges?
Yes, when the accredited program was offered for college credit at a public junior college receiving state supplemental funding. The $50 semester charge was a fixed amount, not merely a minimum; the o…
Did confidential employment-discrimination complaint information stay confidential when the Texas Commission on Human Rights referred it to a local commission?
Yes. Information protected by section 8.02(a) retained its confidential character when transferred through an authorized state-to-local referral, although the protection covered only the information w…
Could a county-backed community action agency receive interest-free loans from the county's depository bank based on the county's credit?
Not if the agency was an arm of the county, because a county lacked general authority to borrow that way. If it was an independent nonprofit, county credit could support its loan only for an authorize…
Did the Texas law limiting payroll deductions from state-funded employees apply to Del Mar Junior College?
Yes. Del Mar was an institution of higher education within article 6813e because public junior colleges were included in Education Code section 61.003, were treated as part of the executive branch, an…
Could the Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspect and approve a Bowie County jail located in an interstate justice center that was not wholly inside Texas?
Yes, if Arkansas enacted the required legislation and the affected counties and cities entered the mandated contracts. The commission could conduct the occupancy inspection, authorize Bowie County's u…
Did a Texas sheriff have to accept a bail bond from a locally licensed bondsman for a person held on another county's warrant or capias?
Yes. A sheriff in the county of arrest had to accept or approve a compliant bond from a bondsman licensed there, even when the detainee was held on an out-of-county warrant or capias; the bond was the…
Could a Texas constable who owned a computer store continue servicing county accounts and make new computer sales to counties?
Article 988b did not bar the contracts because the constable had no legal authority to vote or decide the county's computer purchases. The opinion still recognized separate criminal and common-law con…
Was the Blue Bird Circle's office and resale-shop property exempt from Texas property taxes as charitable property?
No. The organization did not satisfy section 11.18 because its governing documents lacked the required direction transferring assets to the state or another qualifying charitable organization when the…
Could a weekly newspaper serve as the official publication for a Texas municipal utility or water district's bond-sale notice?
Yes. A weekly paper with general circulation could qualify if it met article 28a's newspaper definition and the district strictly followed article 29a and the applicable Water Code notice requirements…
Could Texas charge foreign nationals more tuition at public universities than other students who were also nonresidents of Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that such a law would not survive constitutional challenge. Charging one nonresident group more solely because its members were foreign nationals lacked a stated rationa…
Was a Texas district attorney's office covered by the Open Records Act, and did it have to release prosecution files requested by inmates?
The district attorney's office was a covered governmental body, not part of the judiciary exception. Its files were public information unless specific portions qualified for an exception, and the offi…
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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.