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 navigation district reactivate an old property tax to fund port projects without a new voter election?
The AG concluded that the Port Isabel-San Benito Navigation District most likely cannot rely on the 1929 election that created it and approved general property taxes to impose a maintenance and operat…
Do Texas judges have to follow the Open Meetings Act when they meet to appoint a county auditor or probation director?
The AG concluded that neither group of judges is a 'governmental body' under the Open Meetings Act, so neither has to post public notice of these meetings. District judges meeting to appoint a county …
Can a Texas county pay a commissioner's legal bills after he's acquitted of criminal charges?
The AG concluded that nothing requires a county to pay a county official's criminal-defense costs, but the common law gives the commissioners court discretion to reimburse them. Because the Brown Coun…
Do pharmacy benefit managers have to give Texas pharmacies notice before dropping them from a health plan network?
The AG concluded that the Insurance Code's notice-and-review protections for terminated providers can reach pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), not just the insurers and HMOs the statutes name directly.…
When a Texas town dissolves, can its leftover money and property go to a local nonprofit?
The AG concluded that the former officials who wind down an abolished general-law city may transfer its leftover assets to a local nonprofit corporation, and a court is unlikely to second-guess that, …
Can Texas police impound your car if you can't show proof of insurance?
The AG concluded that any Texas peace officer, including city police, may impound a vehicle when the driver cannot show proof of financial responsibility (auto insurance), as long as the impoundment i…
Can a Texas city hire a private company to enforce handicap parking rules?
The AG concluded that a court would likely say no. Section 681.0101 of the Transportation Code lets a political subdivision appoint a 'person' to file disabled-parking charges, but the AG read 'person…
Can a Texas school district police chief also serve as a county constable?
The AG concluded that yes, an independent school district's chief of police may hold the office of constable at the same time. Neither the Texas Constitution's ban on holding two civil offices of emol…
Does a Texas county have to pay for a county employee's lawyer in a lawsuit?
The AG concluded that a county is not automatically required to pay for a county official's or employee's private lawyer. Under Local Government Code section 157.901, the county must fund private coun…
Can a Texas county attorney keep a commission on bond forfeiture money?
The AG concluded yes. Under Government Code section 41.005(b), a county attorney who has criminal jurisdiction and represents the state in bond forfeiture proceedings may keep a commission out of what…
Can a Texas county hospital district create and fund a nonprofit physician group?
The AG concluded that the Tarrant County Hospital District may create and fund a charitable physician group under Health and Safety Code section 281.0565(b), as long as the District reasonably decides…
Can a small Texas Type C city charge a property tax?
The AG concluded yes. A Type C general-law municipality may levy an ad valorem (property) tax on property inside its city limits. The Tax Code only spells out taxing authority for home-rule and Type A…
Does a Texas county have to pay to defend a judge in a judicial conduct case?
The AG concluded that a court would likely say no. Local Government Code section 157.901 requires a county to represent an official or employee who is 'sued ... for an action arising from the performa…
Can a city charter limit who serves on a tax increment reinvestment zone board?
The AG concluded that, where a home-rule city charter conflicts with state law, the charter gives way. The AG would not decide whether Galveston's charter even applies to a tax increment reinvestment …
Can a Texas county clerk or judge refuse same-sex marriage duties for religious reasons?
The AG concluded that the answer turns on the specific facts of each case. After the U.S. Supreme Court's Obergefell decision recognized a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, the AG said county…
Can a Texas service contract provider refund the full price without deducting claims already paid?
The AG concluded a court would likely say no. Section 1304.1581 of the Occupations Code makes the deduction mandatory: when a consumer cancels a service contract, the provider must reduce the refund (…
Can the same person serve on a Texas school board and a hospital district board at the same time?
The AG concluded no, at least where the two districts overlap and both can tax. Because the La Vernia Independent School District and the Wilson County Memorial Hospital District cover overlapping ter…
Can a Texas public funds investment pool create a subsidiary to invest public money?
The AG concluded the Public Funds Investment Act does not prohibit it. An investment pool may create and invest in a wholly-owned subsidiary if the pool's governing body decides that is reasonably nec…
Can a university board of regents block an individual regent from seeing university records?
The AG concluded a court would likely say no, at least for records a regent needs to do his job. The opinion arose when University of Texas System regent Wallace Hall was denied records he sought in h…
Can a Texas governmental body hold an open meeting at a place that requires photo ID to get in?
The AG concluded a court is unlikely to hold, as a matter of law, that the Open Meetings Act bars a governmental body from meeting at a location that requires government-issued photo identification fo…
Does criminal restitution collected by a Texas county clerk have to go into the county treasury?
The AG concluded a court would likely say no. Restitution a defendant is ordered to pay a crime victim, and that a statutory county court directs the county clerk to collect under article 42.037 of th…
Which private colleges qualify for the Texas B-On-Time student loan program?
The AG concluded only private or independent colleges accredited by one of three specific bodies, the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the Liaison Com…
Was the 2001 ballot language for the Texas Mobility Fund amendment legally sufficient?
The AG concluded a court would likely say yes. Proposition 15 on the November 2001 ballot added article III, section 49-k to the Texas Constitution, creating the Texas Mobility Fund to finance state h…
Can a Texas county pay legal fees for a commissioner investigated but never charged?
The AG concluded yes, a county can, subject to a public-interest test, but the investigated members cannot vote on it. Several Waller County commissioners were criminally investigated for possible Ope…
Is the Hazlewood Act's requirement that a veteran entered service in Texas constitutional?
The AG took the position that it is, or at least should be upheld, while warning the law was unsettled. The Hazlewood Act (Education Code section 54.341) waives tuition and fees for certain Texas vete…
Can a suspended school board trustee run for and serve on a city council in the same district?
The AG concluded yes. After the Texas Education Commissioner installed a board of managers over the Beaumont Independent School District in 2014, the elected trustees' powers were suspended. The suspe…
When does a sheriff elected to fill an unexpired term take office?
The AG concluded the newly elected sheriff could take office right away. The San Jacinto County sheriff died less than a week into a four-year term that ran from January 2013 through December 2016. Th…
Is a county sheriff's salary increase valid if the required public notice wasn't given first?
The AG concluded the increase was invalid. Before a Texas commissioners court can raise an elected county officer's salary, it has to publish notice of the proposed increase in a newspaper at least 10…
Can a school district spend its funds to audit a mineral lease on county school land?
The AG's answer leaned no on both questions. County school lands are held by the county in a constitutional trust, with the commissioners court as sole trustee for the public schools. Texas courts hav…
Can jurors donate their jury pay to programs other than juror counseling?
The AG concluded yes. Government Code section 61.003(a)(4) lets a juror donate the daily jury reimbursement to 'any other program approved by the commissioners court of the county, including' a juror …
Do I need a Social Security or VA disability rating to vote early by mail in Texas?
The AG concluded the only standard that matters is the Election Code's own. Section 82.002 lets a qualified voter cast a mail-in ballot if a sickness or physical condition prevents the voter from appe…
Can a Texas water district give public funds to a federal agency for a conservation program?
The AG concluded the Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA) likely may do all three things it asked about. First, Article III, section 52 of the Texas Constitution bars granting public money to 'any individu…
Does a county have to keep paying a justice of the peace who retired and stopped doing the job?
The AG could not say the justice of the peace was entitled to the pay as a matter of law. Under the Texas Constitution's holdover provision (article XVI, section 17), an officer must keep performing t…
Can a city put one of its council members on the municipal housing authority board?
The AG concluded no. Under Local Government Code section 392.031, a commissioner of a municipal housing authority 'may not be an officer or employee of the municipality,' and a city council member is …
Is the charter school bond guarantee limit a monthly cap or a cumulative cap?
The AG concluded it is a cumulative cap. Texas uses its permanent school fund to guarantee school district and charter district bonds through the Bond Guarantee Program, which lowers borrowing costs. …
Can a Texas county use tax increment financing to fund a reinvestment zone?
The AG concluded that, absent a constitutional amendment, a county likely cannot. Tax increment financing freezes the taxable value of property in a zone and dedicates the taxes on the growth above th…
Can a Texas county sheriff accept or solicit donations from the public?
The AG concluded that the commissioners court, not the sheriff, is the body the Legislature authorized to accept donations on a county's behalf, under section 81.032 of the Local Government Code. No s…
If two hospital district board candidates tie in the election, do they need a runoff or can both serve full terms?
The AG concluded that no tie-breaking election is required. The Election Code's runoff provision (section 2.002) only applies when candidates tie for an office that still needs to be filled, and here …
Can a Texas school district use an estimated property value to set its tax rate after adopting its budget?
The AG concluded no. The shortcut that lets a school district use a certified estimate of property values, instead of the final certified appraisal roll, is available only to a district that elects to…
Does a Texas home-rule city need 225,000 residents to annex land for limited purposes when all the landowners agree?
The AG did not give a yes-or-no answer. Section 43.129 of the Local Government Code lets a city annex land for limited purposes when the landowner consents, and that section sets no population floor, …
Can a Texas notary public refuse to release or black out entries in their notary record book?
The AG concluded that entries in a notary public's record book are public records under Chapter 406 of the Government Code, and a notary must provide a certified copy of any entry to anyone who asks a…
Can a Texas sheriff give away or sell old jail commissary equipment, and where does the sale money go?
The AG concluded that equipment a sheriff buys with county jail commissary proceeds keeps the character of commissary funds, so it has to keep benefiting jail inmates. The sheriff cannot simply transf…
Can a county's private debt-collection vendor edit court records or dockets in Texas?
The AG gave a nuanced answer. He would not provide a single definition of 'court record' or 'court docket,' explaining both terms mean different things in different contexts. On the substance, he conc…
Can a Texas charity keep its property-tax exemption if it leases its land to a partnership to build and only holds equitable title?
The AG would not decide whether the Deaf Action Center's specific property would stay exempt, explaining that whether a particular property qualifies for the section 11.18 charitable property-tax exem…
Can Texas A&M use Available University Fund money to support its Galveston branch campus?
The AG concluded that the Available University Fund (AUF) support-and-maintenance money the Texas Constitution directs to Texas A&M University goes to the University 'as an institution,' not tied to a…
Can a Texas county require its contractors to pay workers a living wage above the state minimum?
The AG concluded that a court would likely find Dallas County is not expressly authorized by section 62.0515 of the Labor Code to require its contractors to pay a higher 'living' wage as a condition o…
Does the Texas Medicaid rule paying licensed counselors 70% of psychiatrist rates apply to managed-care plans?
The AG concluded that HHSC's rule 355.8091, which reimburses licensed professional counselors, certain clinical social workers, and marriage and family therapists at 70% of the Medicaid rate paid to p…
Can the Texas psychology board destroy a psychologist's patient records that a court placed in its custody?
The AG concluded that the boxes of a psychologist's patient records a court placed in the custody of the State Board of Examiners of Psychologists are likely not 'state records' under chapter 441 of t…
Can someone with a moral-turpitude misdemeanor become a bail bond surety again after judicial clemency in Texas?
The AG concluded that a person disqualified from acting as a bail bond surety because of a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude can likely act as a surety again if a judge granted 'judicial clemency'…
Can a Texas agency photocopy and keep a police officer's ID when the officer asks to keep their info private?
The AG concluded that section 552.1175 of the Government Code neither requires nor forbids a governmental entity from photocopying the credentials a law enforcement official submits to verify status w…
Can a Texas county juvenile board hire its own full-time in-house attorney instead of relying on the district attorney?
The AG concluded that the Dallas County Juvenile Board could hire an attorney as a full-time, in-house employee to provide legal services to the board and its juvenile department, so long as the board…
Can a Texas city sell a building and land sitting in the middle of a city street?
The AG did not resolve the City of Ivanhoe's specific sale, because deciding who actually owned the tract and building in the street turned on factual title questions the opinion process cannot answer…
Can a juvenile probation officer also serve on or chair the school board that helps fund their department in Texas?
The AG concluded that one person could both work as a juvenile probation officer for the Fisher, Mitchell, and Nolan Counties Juvenile Department and serve as the presiding trustee of the Sweetwater I…
Does a Texas school board trustee who resigns still have to file a personal financial statement?
The AG concluded that a school district trustee covered by section 11.0641 of the Education Code (which applies to certain border-county districts, such as those in El Paso County) had to file a perso…
Can a local mental health authority take part in the state's vendor selection for behavioral health services in Texas?
The AG concluded that the North Texas Behavioral Health Authority had no legal right to take part in the Texas Department of State Health Services' (DSHS) process for selecting the vendor that deliver…
Do Texas school districts have to pay a city's stormwater drainage fee?
The AG addressed two questions about the Municipal Drainage Utility Systems Act. First, the AG concluded that a school district is not automatically exempt from a city's drainage charge: the statute s…
Can a Texas charter school board meet by video call, with members joining from out of state?
The AG answered several questions about how an open-enrollment charter school's governing board may meet under the Open Meetings Act. On in-person meetings, the AG could not say as a matter of law tha…
Are city plastic bag bans legal in Texas?
The AG addressed whether Texas cities may ban single-use plastic bags or charge fees on replacement bags, in light of section 361.0961 of the Health and Safety Code (part of the Solid Waste Disposal A…
Does ending deferred adjudication early remove the duty to register as a sex offender in Texas?
The AG concluded that getting deferred adjudication community supervision terminated early does not free a person from the duty to register as a sex offender under chapter 62 of the Code of Criminal P…
Can a Texas county use tax increment financing to fund energy-area road projects?
The AG warned that the way a county energy transportation reinvestment zone (CETRZ) is funded may be unconstitutional. CETRZs, created under 2013's Senate Bill 1747 (section 222.1071 of the Transporta…
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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.