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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Can a Texas constable also serve as a deputy sheriff and enforce truck-weight limits?
The AG concluded yes. No statute, the Texas Constitution's dual-office ban (article XVI, section 40), nor the common-law incompatibility doctrine stops a constable or deputy constable from also…
When does postmortem toxicology testing in Texas need Forensic Science Commission accreditation?
The AG concluded it depends on why the test was ordered. A lab doing postmortem toxicology at a medical examiner's or forensic pathologist's request is a 'crime laboratory' needing Forensic Science…
Can a Texas county deduct money from a worker's paycheck for using tobacco?
The AG concluded that no provision of the Local Government Code lets a county dock an employee's salary without consent just because the employee uses tobacco. But a county does have authority to…
When can Texas police release or withhold body camera footage to the public or city officials?
The AG drew different lines for different requesters. For the public, body-camera video that is or could be criminal evidence runs through the Public Information Act; an agency may withhold it under…
Can a Texas officer watch other officers' body camera video before giving a statement?
The AG concluded the officer gets to choose. Occupations Code subsection 1701.655(b)(5) requires a law enforcement agency's body-camera policy to entitle an officer to access any recording of an…
Does the $6 unpaid-toll fee cap apply to public entities operating Texas toll lanes for TxDOT?
The AG concluded the cap applies to those operators too. Senate Bill 312 limited the administrative fee the Texas Department of Transportation may add to an unpaid toll invoice to $6, with no more…
Can a Texas veteran get a VA cash-out refinance loan on their home?
The AG concluded no. A Texas 'cash-out' loan is a home equity loan, and the Texas Constitution lets a home equity loan be secured only by the homestead itself. Because a U.S. Department of Veterans…
Can a Texas county pay a commissioner's salary out of the road and bridge fund?
The AG concluded it depends on where the money in the fund came from. A county may move property tax revenue out of the road and bridge fund into the general fund and use it to pay a commissioner's…
Can a small Texas city let the chamber of commerce use city workers and equipment for community events?
The AG concluded it can, but only if the city council makes the right findings first. The Texas Constitution's gift clause bars giving away public money or resources for a private purpose. A city…
Can a Texas county leave the county judge out of its longevity pay policy?
The AG concluded a county can, with one condition. A county commissioners court has discretion to decide who gets longevity pay, and excluding the county judge is allowed even if the reason is that…
Does federal ERISA law override Texas rules on small-employer health reimbursement arrangements?
The AG concluded a court would likely say yes, but only for one type of plan. After Congress created the qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangement (QSEHRA) in 2016, the AG read…
Can a Texas water utility agency make a developer limit impervious cover to get water service?
The AG gave a partial answer. A public utility agency created under Chapter 572 can contract with private developers for water service on terms its board considers appropriate, as long as it stays…
Can a Texas school district pay to drive students and staff to the polls?
The AG concluded that, without an educational purpose, paying to transport students to polling places likely violates the Texas Constitution's gift clause, and the same goes for transporting…
Can a licensed Texan carry a handgun at church, and do churches pay private security fees for volunteer guards?
The AG concluded that, despite a Penal Code provision that on its face bans handguns at a church, a license holder may carry there unless the church gives effective oral or written notice forbidding…
Can a Texas county appraisal district move a school district's boundary line?
The AG concluded it cannot. A tax appraisal district has no authority to detach property from one school district and add it to another, that process belongs to the school districts and the county…
Does a Texas county treasurer or commissioners court control the money in a court's registry account?
The AG concluded neither one controls it the way the county controls its own funds. Money paid into a court's registry is held in trust and does not belong to the county, so it sits in a separate…
Can a county's contract collection attorney go after unpaid restitution owed to a crime victim?
The AG concluded it can. Article 103.0031 of the Code of Criminal Procedure lets a commissioners court hire a private attorney or vendor to collect a list of criminal items, and that list expressly…
Can a county budget officer also be a staff employee of the county judge or commissioners court?
The AG concluded yes, the common-law incompatibility doctrine does not bar it. A county budget officer and an assistant budget officer can also hold employee jobs working for the county judge and…
Can a Texas general-law city collect HOA dues for a homeowners association through its water bill?
The AG concluded it cannot. A Type A general-law city has only the powers the State expressly grants plus those reasonably necessary to carry them out, and no statute gives such a city authority to…
Does a voting machine that also prints a marked paper ballot still count as a direct recording electronic voting machine in Texas?
The AG concluded yes. Under the Election Code, a 'direct recording electronic voting machine' is one designed for a direct vote by touching a screen that records votes electronically. Adding a…
Can a Texas municipal utility district use surplus funds to fix or replace residents' cluster mailboxes?
The AG concluded it cannot. A municipal utility district can exercise only the powers the Legislature has clearly granted, tied to the water and natural-resource purposes behind its creation.…
Can a Texas doctor prescribe naloxone or another opioid-overdose drug to a police department?
The AG concluded yes. Health and Safety Code section 483.102 lets a prescriber, directly or by standing order, prescribe an opioid antagonist such as naloxone to a person at risk of an opioid…
Can a license holder carry a concealed handgun into a Texas junior college board of trustees meeting?
The AG concluded that on a junior college campus, where campus carry already permits concealed handguns, a license holder who carries one into an open board meeting at which no Penal Code section…
Can a Texas school district run buses into a neighboring district without an interlocal agreement?
The AG concluded it cannot, at least for regular to-and-from-school transportation. Education Code section 34.007 lets a school district operate a transportation system inside its own boundaries,…
Does a Texas county clerk have to record an affidavit of adverse possession?
The AG concluded the clerk does have to record it. A county clerk must record any instrument the law permits to be recorded, and Property Code section 12.001(a) permits recording an instrument that…
If a Texas county adopted a stock law by election back in 1918, is that law still in force today?
The AG concluded the old stock laws survived. When the Legislature folded the local stock law statutes into chapter 143 of the Agriculture Code in 1981, that recodification did not repeal stock laws…
Does the district attorney's office have to pay for the extra copy of the court reporter's record in a criminal appeal?
The AG concluded the district attorney's office does not have to pay. In a criminal appeal, Rule of Appellate Procedure 34.6(h) makes the court reporter prepare a duplicate of the reporter's record…
Can a Texas county pay its fire marshal's salary out of the county health services sales tax?
The AG concluded a court would likely say no. A chapter 324 county sales and use tax can be spent only to provide health services in the county, and the statute points to hospitals and public health…
Does a name on a ballot petition have to exactly match the voter registration to count?
The AG concluded an exact match is not required. Election Code section 141.063 does not make a qualified voter print his or her name exactly as it appears on the voter registration list, and the…
Can a county commissioners court let the treasurer pay bills before the court approves them?
The AG concluded the commissioners court cannot do that. Under the Local Government Code, the commissioners court must examine and approve claims against the county, and the treasurer and auditor…
What can a Texas sheriff legally spend jail commissary money on?
The AG said whether a specific expenditure is proper is a fact question it could not decide in an opinion, so it gave the legal standards instead. Local Government Code section 351.0415 lets a…
Can a Texas DA require you to give up your right to expunge an arrest to enter pretrial diversion?
The AG concluded yes. Expunction of arrest records is a statutory privilege, not a constitutional right, and Article 1.14 of the Code of Criminal Procedure lets a person waive any rights secured by…
Can a Texas official appoint a relative to an unpaid volunteer job that only reimburses expenses?
The AG concluded yes. Texas nepotism law bars a public official from appointing a close relative to a position compensated from public funds. But reimbursing a volunteer for the actual expenses…
Does a company still count as a car manufacturer's affiliate if it owns the manufacturer but gives up control?
The AG concluded probably yes. Texas law bars a vehicle manufacturer (including any company affiliated with a manufacturer) from owning or controlling a dealership. The DMV Board asked whether a…
Can a Texas city's tree removal ordinance be an unconstitutional taking of my property?
The AG concluded it depends on the facts. A municipal tree preservation ordinance is a per se taking that requires compensation if it denies a property owner all economically beneficial or…
Does a Texas school district need a tax ratification election if it lowers the total rate but raises the M&O rate?
The AG concluded yes. A school district must hold a tax ratification election whenever it adopts a rate above its rollback rate, and the rollback rate effectively tracks only the maintenance and…
Can a Texas charity give away bottles of liquor as a raffle prize?
The AG concluded a court would likely say yes. Two laws were in play: the Charitable Raffle Enabling Act, which lets qualified nonprofits hold raffles, and the Alcoholic Beverage Code. The Act…
Can a Texas Ethics Commission member reveal a sworn complaint that is being litigated?
The AG concluded the complaint stays confidential. Under Government Code section 571.140(a), a sworn complaint filed with the Texas Ethics Commission, along with related documents and evidence, is…
Can the Texas Ethics Commission redact home addresses from campaign finance reports it must post online?
The AG concluded mostly no. Government Code section 552.1175 lets certain people (including some judges) keep their home address and similar personal details out of public records. But the statutes…
Must a Texas municipal court report a juvenile's drug paraphernalia conviction to DPS?
The AG concluded no, it found no such statute. A municipal court's jurisdiction over juveniles reaches only fine-only offenses, and possession of drug paraphernalia is a Class C misdemeanor…
Can a civilly committed sexually violent predator in Texas vote by mail?
The AG concluded a court would likely say yes. A person who is civilly committed as a sexually violent predator under chapter 841 of the Health and Safety Code keeps the right to vote if he fully…
Do new Texas school buildings have to follow the commercial energy conservation code?
The AG concluded a court would likely say yes. Chapter 388 of the Health and Safety Code adopts the International Energy Conservation Code for all 'residential, commercial, and industrial'…
Can I keep my Texas homestead exemption if I move into a senior or care facility?
The AG concluded a court would likely read the statute broadly. A home keeps its residence-homestead character during a temporary absence caused by the owner's residency in a 'facility that provides…
Who hires staff for a Texas veterans treatment court, the judge or the county?
The AG split the authority. Under chapter 124 of the Government Code, a county commissioners court that establishes a veterans treatment court program can create the staff positions and fund them,…
When does a Texas search warrant affidavit become a public record?
The AG read the words literally. Article 18.01(b) says the affidavit 'is public information if executed.' The AG concluded a court would likely hold that an affidavit is 'executed' when it is sworn…
Can a Texas school district's illegal homestead exemption repeal change its state funding?
The AG said no. In 2015 the Legislature froze local option homestead exemptions at their 2014 level and barred school districts from repealing or reducing them (Tax Code 11.13(n-1)). The education…
Can Texas deposit sales-tax money into the highway fund after the fiscal year ends?
The AG said yes, through substantial compliance. Article VIII, section 7-c(a) of the Texas Constitution tells the Comptroller to deposit up to $2.5 billion of net sales-tax revenue into the state…
Are funds a Texas state agency inherits from a dissolved state program 'public funds'?
The AG concluded a court would likely say yes. When the Texas Health Insurance Risk Pool was abolished, the Legislature sent $5 million of its money to the Texas Health Services Authority to use for…
Who appoints an associate judge for Texas court-ordered mental health cases?
The AG resolved an ambiguity over the words 'county judge.' Health and Safety Code section 574.0085(a) lets 'the county judge' appoint an associate judge to preside over court-ordered mental health…
Do Texas election judges have to take the constitutional oath of office?
The AG concluded a court would likely hold that election judges, alternate election judges, and early-voting clerks are public officers under the Aldine test, because they exercise sovereign…
Does a Texas county attorney who also handles district attorney duties need a separate DA bond?
In Lee County the county attorney prosecutes all criminal cases, doing the work of both a county attorney and a district attorney. The AG concluded that because the Legislature left all of those…
Can someone with an out-of-state felony run for office in Texas if their rights were restored?
A former Texas mayor had pleaded guilty to a felony theft in Arkansas decades earlier, but an Arkansas court later terminated his probation under that state's First Offender Act and ordered him…
Does a Texas district clerk have to file a grand jury report that isn't an indictment?
A district attorney asked whether grand jury reports prepared as part of investigations into official misconduct under article 2.03 of the Code of Criminal Procedure can be filed with the district…
Can the Texas Long-Term Care Ombudsman testify for or against bills at the Legislature?
A House committee chair asked whether the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman may testify 'for' or 'against' legislation, or only 'on' it, given the ethics rules that limit state agencies from lobbying.…
Can a Texas county count an official's prior employee service toward longevity pay?
Houston County asked whether longevity pay for officials who used to be county employees, crediting their employee years, counts as forbidden retroactive pay. The AG concluded it does not, as long…
Who can see criminal records under a Texas nondisclosure order in the clerk's system?
A county attorney was concerned that his county's court records system let the public and all clerk employees view criminal history information that was subject to nondisclosure orders. The AG…
Can Texas hand a private board power to curtail water use, and is that a taking?
A state representative asked whether a proposed Upper San Saba River management plan, which would create a board empowered to order water-use cutbacks during drought, unconstitutionally delegates…
Can a Texas reserve deputy sheriff be a surety on a bail bond in his own county?
An Andrews County attorney asked whether a reserve deputy sheriff may sign as a surety on a bail bond in the county where he serves, whether the sheriff may accept such a bond, and whether any other…
Can a Texas city use hotel occupancy tax money to build and run a performing arts center?
A state representative asked, on behalf of the City of Lakeway, whether a city could use its hotel occupancy tax to pay for a feasibility study and then the construction, operation, and maintenance…
Can a Texas county attorney get paid extra for acting as a special prosecutor for the district attorney?
A Gaines County auditor asked whether a county attorney appointed by the district attorney to serve as a 'special prosecutor' could be paid an additional $500 for representing the State in district…
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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.