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 impose a 3% gross-receipts tax only on out-of-state railroad-car companies while exempting Texas companies doing the same business?
No. JM-83 concluded that taxing only out-of-state railroad-car companies, with no legitimate purpose for the discrimination, violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
Could a Texas county commissioner donate copyrighted court forms to his own county while marketing the same forms to other counties for personal profit?
No. JM-82 treated the accepted donation as a contract and concluded that the commissioner's planned use of Collin County as a sales showcase created an indirect interest prohibited by article 2364.
Could Harris County release the names and addresses of parents whose infants died from sudden infant death syndrome without the parents' consent?
No. JM-81 concluded that the parents' identities were protected by common-law privacy because disclosure would reveal highly intimate or embarrassing family information with no sufficient public inter…
Could Texas retroactively impose new 67% or unanimous voting rules on condominium declarations and deeds that already contained different amendment rules?
Not when the existing condominium deeds or declarations contained contrary provisions. JM-80 said the new rules were not invalid in every application, but retroactive use that changed existing contrac…
Could the Harris County Commissioners Court reject the hospital district's entire budget because it funded a pregnancy-termination clinic?
Yes. JM-79 concluded that the commissioners court's statutory right of final approval allowed it to reject any hospital-district budget, and no statute required the court to state a reason for disappr…
Did federal disability law prevent Texas from requiring school-bus drivers to meet a minimum hearing standard?
JM-78 said federal law did not categorically bar a reasonable hearing standard, but it did not decide whether the particular rule was fully lawful or reasonable on the facts. A cited district-court ru…
Did using former state ad valorem tax funds exempt Texas public-college construction from Coordinating Board approval?
No. JM-77 said Coordinating Board approval was required whether ad valorem tax receipts funded all or part of the project, unless the legislature itself approved the project. It expressly overruled MW…
Could a Texas university faculty member receive a lump-sum payout or use vacation earned while also serving as an administrator?
The employee could use qualifying vacation leave from administrative duties without losing administrative salary, but could not use it for faculty duties. A returning faculty member was not separated …
When Texas's amended bail-bond law referred to crimes committed after 'the effective date of this Act,' did it mean 1973 or 1981?
It meant August 27, 1973, the original Bail Bond Act's effective date. JM-75 said the 1981 complete reenactment did not reset the cutoff for license eligibility, suspension, or revocation.
Could a Texas appraisal district waive the 5% penalty and 10% interest on a taxing unit's late budget payment?
No. JM-74 said an appraisal district lacked statutory authority to waive or rescind the mandatory penalty and interest. LO-95-62 later reaffirmed that conclusion.
Could a Texas sheriff award county-jail good-time credit for days an inmate served before sentencing?
Yes. JM-73 said presentence confinement was part of the sentence for good-time purposes and had to receive equal consideration. An inmate receiving article 5118a good-time credit could not also receiv…
Could an appraisal district replace its chief appraiser with an independent contractor and let the chief appraiser hire his wife as secretary?
No on both points. JM-72 said the Tax Code did not authorize outsourcing the chief appraiser's statutory office, and the chief appraiser's personnel authority made the nepotism law applicable to hirin…
Who controlled money and property donated to or raised by a county historical commission, and could the commission keep its own bank account?
JM-71 treated the commission as the county's agent. The commissioners court controlled acceptance and disposition of donated real property, while all money, including fundraising receipts and interest…
Could a commissioners court control state Professional Prosecutors Act funds paid to a district attorney, and how could those funds appear in the county budget?
JM-70 said the district attorney controlled the state funds for authorized office expenses. The commissioners court could show their availability but could not direct their use or include them in the …
Was a motor-carrier permit or certificate transferred for tax purposes when a creditor took it after default on a secured note, and how was the transfer tax calculated?
Yes. JM-69 treated the assignment after default as a taxable transfer when the creditor could continue service. The tax was 10% of the cancelled debt plus 10% of additional cash consideration—$7,500.1…
Was Senate Bill No. 1's definition of intoxication as an alcohol concentration of 0.10% or more unconstitutionally vague?
No. JM-68 concluded that the per-se definition gave drinking drivers constitutionally adequate notice. It replaced a rebuttable presumption with an alternate statutory method of committing DWI while l…
Was the Texas Catastrophe Property Insurance Association's plan of operation an administrative rule, and if so, whose rule was it?
JM-67 said the plan was a rule of the State Board of Insurance, not of the association. The association could only propose a plan; the board's approval adopted it as the agency's broadly applicable st…
Could the Texas State Treasurer use wire transfers to move money between state depository banks and collect money into the treasury?
Yes. JM-66 said an inter-depository transfer kept money within the treasury and under the treasurer's control. The statutory remittance methods were minimum authorized forms, not an exhaustive ban on …
Could Mason County fund the general operations of a privately owned nonprofit hospital or pay it for indigent care and ambulance-related services?
The county could not donate money for the private hospital's general operations. It could contract for authorized county services such as indigent medical care and public-health ambulance functions if…
Did an appropriations rider violate the Texas Constitution by treating two affidavits as adequate proof of citizenship or residency for state-funded health services?
No. JM-64 said the affidavit sentence merely explained the rider's funding restriction and was necessarily connected and incidental to the appropriation. It did not amend other law or enact unrelated …
Did the county judge or county clerk control preparation of a commissioners court's meeting agenda?
Neither. JM-63 said the commissioners court as a whole controlled and could amend its agenda. It could designate an agenda clerk and prescribe submission procedures, but every court member had to be a…
Could lay bail bondsmen appear in bond-forfeiture proceedings and file motions for a bonding company, partnership, or corporate surety?
No. JM-62 said lay bondsmen could represent themselves and their own interests, but could not appear, prepare motions, or request relief for other people, partnerships, bonding companies, or corporate…
How did a county have to hold, disburse, and use state voter-registration reimbursement money?
JM-61 required deposit with the county treasurer in a special county-depository fund, commissioners-court action before disbursement, and use for reasonable registrar expenses directly attributable to…
Did Texas's small-school personnel-unit formula violate state equal protection or the constitutional duty to maintain an efficient public-school system?
No. JM-60 assumed without deciding that strict scrutiny might apply and found the formula justified by compelling resource-allocation needs. It also held that minimum enrollment and distance rules pro…
Were concession rights held by a nonprofit operating a golf course in a Texas state park exempt from property tax?
No. JM-59 said the underlying state land remained exempt because the golf course served a public purpose, but the concessionaire held a separately taxable possessory interest. The Tax Code exempted ce…
Could the legislature require Senate confirmation of executive-agency heads who were not appointed by the governor?
No. JM-58 said Senate confirmation under article IV, section 12 applied to governor-appointed state or district officers. Requiring confirmation of employees, non-state officers, or officers appointed…
Could a county contract with a homeowners association to dedicate county deputy sheriffs or constables to the association's area in exchange for payment?
JM-57 said no under the 1983 law and the particular contract, finding an improper restriction on deployment discretion and constitutional and public-policy defects. GA-0553 later overruled JM-57 to th…
Could a nonlawyer authorized agent represent a landlord or tenant in a justice-court eviction case under former Rule 747a?
No, according to JM-56. It construed 'authorized agents' to mean attorney agents because allowing a nonlawyer to manage the case for another party conflicted with the State Bar Act. A party could stil…
Could outgoing Lavaca Hospital District directors act on ordinary board business after election day but before their successors qualified and took office?
Yes. JM-55 said the outgoing directors remained de jure holdover officers with full powers until their successors qualified. Their expired terms and the board's election-canvass duty did not create a …
Could a judge who completed 20 years of service shortly before age 71 receive the extra 10% retirement annuity by retiring after turning 71?
No. JM-54 said a judge already eligible to retire before age 71 had to retire before that birthday to receive the additional 10%. The any-age exception applied to a judge who was not eligible at 70 an…
Did a married school employee need spousal consent for payroll deductions covering union dues, charitable gifts, loan payments, or insurance premiums?
Only when the deduction operated as security for a valid, enforceable debt. Voluntary, revocable union-dues and charitable deductions were not indebtedness and needed no spousal consent. Loan and insu…
When did Senate Bill No. 94 repeal the Parks and Wildlife Code provisions listed in article 1, section 37, including fur-bearing-animal rules?
Each listed provision was repealed when a Parks and Wildlife Commission proclamation regulating the conduct covered by that provision took effect. The legislature adopted section 61.004's proclamation…
Could a Harris County constable charge the Industrial Accident Board for serving subpoenas issued for administrative hearings?
Yes, if the Harris County Commissioners Court authorized the fee. A new statute let commissioners courts set reasonable sheriff and constable service fees capped at the expense of providing the servic…
Could a Texas business corporation contribute to a nonprofit that performed nonpartisan research requested by a legislative caucus and shared the results broadly?
On the stated assumptions, yes. JM-50 found the contribution not necessarily barred or reportable under the corporate-donation, campaign-finance, lobbying, or bribery laws because the nonprofit did no…
Could a Hardin County district judge raise county-auditor assistants' salaries during the budget year and create a court-coordinator position without statutory authority?
The judge could approve midyear salary increases after a proper auditor application if spending stayed within anticipated revenue and the budget was lawfully amended. The judge could not unilaterally …
Could the Health Department withhold radioactive-waste license applicants' balance sheets, and did it have to treat an information request as continuing into the future?
A balance sheet could be withheld only on facts showing that release would substantially harm the submitter's competitive position; the bidding exception did not apply. The Open Records Act required p…
Could the Texas Animal Health Commission inspect livestock leaving Texas and use Form 2-71 even though the form was not named in statute?
Yes. Section 161.048 gave the commission discretion to inspect any livestock shipment moving within Texas, including outbound shipments. The commission could use Form 2-71, and the inspecting agent di…
Did the Veterinary Medical Examiners Board have to waive its examination for a veterinarian licensed in a state with substantially equivalent requirements?
No. Section 10(b) permitted but did not require a waiver. The board could create reciprocal licensing, continue requiring its examination, and consider any reasonable factor relevant to whether the ap…
Could a school district keep hiring an outside CPA as auditor after the CPA's first cousin joined the school board?
The nepotism law applied even if the CPA was an independent contractor. Continued hiring was permissible only if the CPA had been continuously employed or under contract as auditor for the entire two …
Could Harris County accept a donated swimming pool, charge pool admission and camping fees, and use the revenue to operate the pool?
Yes. JM-44 concluded that the Harris County park board could accept the donated pool, charge admission and camping fees, and use pool-admission revenue for the pool's operation, maintenance, and regul…
Was Texas Property Tax Code section 26.011, which limited certain reappraisal increases, constitutional?
No. JM-43 concluded that section 26.011 violated the Texas Constitution because it could value taxable property below market value without a specific constitutional authorization for special valuation…
Could a Texas school district deposit student-organization activity funds in a credit union instead of its school depository bank?
Yes, for the activity funds described in JM-42. Because no identified statute or administrative rule required those custodial funds to be placed in the school depository, the district could deposit th…
Did Pacifica Foundation's KPFT radio station qualify for a Texas property-tax exemption as a charity or community service club?
No, based on the facts submitted. JM-41 concluded that Pacifica Foundation did not meet the Tax Code's requirements for either a charitable-organization exemption or a community-service-club exemption…
Can a Texas chief appraiser cap a residence homestead exemption at fewer than 20 acres?
No. JM-40 concluded the chief appraiser has no discretion to set a minimum or maximum acreage. The exemption must cover any amount of land up to 20 acres that is used in the residential occupancy of t…
Could Travis County district judges count the tax assessor-collector's car allowance when setting the county auditor's salary?
No. JM-39 concluded a car allowance is an expense reimbursement, not compensation, so it could not be counted in the salary cap for the auditor. A valid salary order also stayed effective even though …
Can a Texas community mental health center let employees pay union dues through payroll deduction?
Yes, but it is not required to. JM-38 found the MHMR center is not a 'state governmental body' barred from making deductions, and it has permissive authority to offer union-dues payroll deductions if …
Are oral history interviews collected by a Texas public university open to the public under the Open Records Act?
Generally yes. JM-37 concluded oral history interviews acquired by a state university as part of its official activities are public information, though specific exceptions could shield portions, or in…
Can the public get student evaluations of Texas university faculty used for tenure and pay decisions?
Usually not as to the students. JM-36 concluded student evaluations of faculty may be withheld under section 3(a)(14) of the Open Records Act if they identify individual students, and sometimes under …
Does a Texas junior college district have to help pay for the county appraisal district?
Yes. JM-35 concluded that Blinn College, as a taxing unit, must contribute to the county appraisal district's costs under section 6.06 of the Tax Code and pay for appraisal services performed after Ja…
If a retired Texas judge is elected to the bench again, does he keep drawing his judicial retirement annuity?
No. JM-34 concluded the annuity is suspended while a former retiree holds a covered judicial office, he must again contribute to the system, and on later retirement his benefits are recomputed as if t…
Can a Texas law require appointments to a state commission to consider race, sex, religion, or national origin?
No, not as to those categories. JM-33 concluded a directive to weigh race, creed, sex, religion, or national origin in appointments to the State Library and Archives Commission was unconstitutional, b…
Can a Texas legislator take a part-time teaching job at a state university if private donated funds pay the salary?
Only as an unpaid volunteer. JM-32 concluded a House member may volunteer as a part-time instructor without violating the constitution's bar on holding another position of profit; it did not approve a…
On appeal of a driver's license probation-violation finding, can a Texas county court re-try whether the driver was a habitual traffic violator?
No. JM-31 concluded the trial de novo on a probation-violation appeal is limited to whether a probation condition was violated. The earlier findings that the driver was a habitual violator and that hi…
Could Texas fund telephone devices for the deaf through a surcharge on everyone's phone bills?
No, as drafted. JM-30 concluded House Bill 1002 was an unconstitutional grant of public money to individuals under article III, section 51 and article XVI, section 6 of the Texas Constitution.
Can a Texas city council choose a bank as its depository when most council members own stock in that bank?
No. JM-29 concluded a general law city council cannot enter a depository contract with a bank when a majority of council members are stockholders, because article 2529c bars stockholder-members from v…
Can the Texas Public Utility Counsel represent itself in court, and can the Attorney General represent it against the Public Utility Commission?
The public utility counsel may appear in court only if the Attorney General certifies he cannot represent it and permits it under his supervision. And the legislature may authorize the Attorney Genera…
After Travis County changed its fiscal year, how much of the 1983 pay raise could county officials actually get?
Only a pro-rata share. JM-27 concluded the raises were not invalid, but because the county moved its fiscal year, officials were entitled during the new fiscal year to only a pro-rata part of the 1983…
Can Texas require county treasurers to take continuing education and remove them for not completing it?
Yes. JM-26 concluded the legislature may require elected county treasurers to complete an annual course of instruction and may authorize their removal for failing to do so, consistent with article V, …
Can the Texas Legislature name who fills a new district judgeship it creates, and strip a district attorney of authority in one county?
No to naming the judge. JM-25 concluded a vacancy in a district judgeship must be filled by the governor's appointment, and the legislature cannot designate the person. But the legislature may divest …
Can the Southwest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf get state appropriations without the funding restrictions that bind public junior colleges?
Yes. JM-24 concluded the institute is not a 'public junior college,' so the section 130.003 restrictions do not apply. It may receive state appropriations and gifts as long as its board runs it in com…
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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.