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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Is an amusement machine that combines a slot-style chance game with a skill-based bonus game still an illegal gambling device in Texas?
Yes. If chance plays any role in whether a player can win something of value, the machine is a gambling device under Penal Code Chapter 47, even when a skill-based mode is also part of the play. Addin…
In Texas, can a Secretary of State election inspector take photos or video at a polling place, and can poll watchers watch the handling and counting of mail-in ballots?
Yes to both. State inspectors are exempt from the polling-place recording ban while doing their official duties, and they're explicitly authorized to gather 'evidence,' which includes photos and video…
If I'm a Texas-licensed psychologist, counselor, social worker, or marriage and family therapist, am I covered by SB 14's restrictions on gender-transition care for minors, even though I can't perform surgeries or write prescriptions?
Yes, according to AG Paxton. The Behavioral Health Executive Council's licensees (psychologists, LPCs, MFTs, social workers) are 'health care providers' under Tex. Health & Safety Code § 161.701(2). T…
If a person held in a Texas county jail dies in a hospital or while on work release, does state law require an independent outside agency to investigate the death?
Not under Government Code § 511.021(a). That statute only forces an outside agency to investigate when the prisoner dies inside the county jail facility itself. But the Commission on Jail Standards st…
Can a Texas occupational licensing agency accept an applicant's sworn statement that they have no Social Security number, instead of an actual SSN?
No. Family Code section 231.302(c)(1) requires occupational licensing authorities to request, and each applicant to provide, the applicant's Social Security number. The AG concluded agencies cannot so…
If voters reject a hospital district's proposed property tax increase, does the district's taxing law conflict with the Tax Code, and does the county have to take over indigent care?
No conflict, and no county takeover. A hospital district's authority to levy a property tax (up to 75 cents per $100) and the Tax Code's truth-in-taxation rule that lets voters reject a rate increase …
Does a Texas county have to make a contractor carry performance and payment bonds on a road or bridge project, or can the county waive that requirement?
It is mandatory, not optional. Under Government Code section 2253.021(a) (the McGregor Act), a county that signs a qualifying public work contract must require the prime contractor to execute a perfor…
In Texas, when do pretrial bond conditions like a no-contact order actually become enforceable, and do they still apply after a defendant is rearrested?
Bond conditions become enforceable when the defendant actually posts (gives) the bond the magistrate ordered, not when an order is signed and not while the defendant is still in jail. And once the bon…
Can a Texas county commissioners court rescind the county budget after it's approved and adopt a new one that strips an elected officer's salary increase?
No. There is no statute that lets a commissioners court wholly rescind a finally adopted county budget and replace it. And under the Local Government Code, the court can set or change an elected offic…
Under the Texas Open Meetings Act, does a home-rule city's charter decide what counts as a quorum, and can fewer than a quorum of council members meet privately to discuss city business?
A home-rule city's charter can define its own quorum for Open Meetings Act purposes, and that definition can include a mayor who only votes to break ties. A gathering of fewer than a quorum usually do…
Can a Texas constable use automated speed cameras to mail out speeding tickets without an officer stopping the driver?
No. A constable lacks authority to use an automated traffic-enforcement system to issue speeding citations by mail. Constables only have powers the Constitution or statutes grant them, and the Transpo…
Who decides whether a private school can participate in Texas's Education Freedom Accounts program, and what laws disqualify a school?
The Comptroller's Office, not the Attorney General, has the exclusive duty to find the facts that decide eligibility for the Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) program. The AG declined to make th…
Can Texas's juvenile Independent Ombudsman interview and inspect on behalf of youth committed to TJJD who are still sitting in a county detention center waiting to be moved?
Yes. The Office of Independent Ombudsman can interview a child who has been adjudicated for a felony and committed to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department even while the child is held in a county pre…
Does 'advanced recycling' like plastic pyrolysis count as recycling under Texas law, or is it just incineration?
It counts as recycling. Under the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act, an advanced recycling facility that uses pyrolysis on post-use polymers (plastics) is engaged in 'recycling.' The statute expressly li…
Can a Texas city reduce or repeal the local option homestead exemption it adopted, even if voters vote to lower the city's property tax rate?
No. Under Tax Code subsection 11.13(n-1), a city, county, or school district that had a local option homestead exemption in place for the 2022 tax year cannot reduce or repeal it through the 2027 tax …
Can a Texas commissioners court hire its own outside law firm to help redraw county election precincts, or does the county attorney control that choice?
The commissioners court can. A Texas commissioners court may select and contract with an outside law firm of its own choice to help it redraw county election precincts under Chapter 42 of the Election…
Does Texas's State Board of Education have to adopt curriculum standards for religious literature, and can it teach the topic inside other subjects instead of a separate class?
Yes, it must. The State Board of Education is required by Education Code subsection 28.002(c) to adopt, by rule, essential knowledge and skills (TEKS) for religious literature, which the Legislature p…
Do Texas county and district clerks need a court order to destroy old juvenile case records, or can they follow a retention schedule?
They can follow a retention schedule. Juvenile case papers held by county and district clerks are not 'permanent records,' so a clerk may destroy them without a court order as long as the office follo…
Can a Texas district attorney carry a concealed handgun in the courtroom, and can a judge or court security committee ban prosecutors from doing so?
District attorneys and assistant district attorneys who hold a license have an affirmative right, not just a defense, to carry a concealed handgun in state courts, because Penal Code sections 46.02 an…
Does a Texas state board member have to recuse from votes when a close family member works for an entity with competing interests in the same project?
Yes. Under Government Code section 572.058, a Nueces River Authority board member whose brother-in-law is an executive at the City of Corpus Christi's water utility has a 'personal or private interest…
Can a Texas county require a permit or set a minimum burial depth when a phone company buries cable along a county road, and who pays if the county cuts it?
No on permits and depth. Chapter 181 of the Utilities Code does not authorize a county to require a permit or set a minimum burial depth for a telephone or telegraph corporation that buries cable in a…
Who gets written notice of a Texas zoning change, and do you have to be on the city tax roll to count toward a zoning protest?
Written notice of a zoning-commission hearing goes only to owners within 200 feet who appear on the most recently approved municipal tax roll. But for the 20 percent protest that triggers a three-four…
Can Texas HHSC license and regulate disability-services (ISS) providers as day-activity facilities, and can it set penalties above the statutory limit?
Yes to licensing, no to higher penalties. The Health and Human Services Commission may license and regulate on-site and off-site Individualized Skills and Socialization (ISS) providers that are alread…
Can a Texas county clerk spend records management and preservation fees on a project that includes the district clerk's records?
Only partly. The records management and preservation fee a county clerk collects under section 118.0216 may be used only for documents filed and recorded with the county clerk. The clerk cannot use it…
Where does a Texas county jail have to deposit revenue from inmate phone-card sales, the general fund or the sheriff's commissary account?
It depends on the source. If the phone cards deliver the inmates' required telephone privileges (replacing a PIN debit system), the revenue is county money and must go in the general fund. Only phone …
How long does a Texas child support lien on a bank account last, and what property does it reach?
A child support lien has no set expiration. It stays in force until all current support and arrearages (with interest, costs, and fees) are paid or the claimant releases it under Chapter 157 of the Fa…
Can a Texas county pay a jail employee's salary out of commissary funds when the jail is run by a private contractor?
Not by the county on its own, and not automatically. The sheriff (not the commissioners court) controls the commissary funds, and commissary proceeds can never cover a jail's general 'operating expens…
Can a Texas commissioners court move a position and its funding out of the county attorney's office, create its own attorney position, and defund an existing civil attorney slot?
Generally yes, with one hard limit. A commissioners court controls the county budget and may transfer a position and its funding away from the county attorney if those duties are not the county attorn…
Can a Texas county penalize a dog owner for a public nuisance because the dog barks too much?
No. The AG concluded a county commissioners court has no general police power and no statute gives it authority to penalize a dog owner for excessive barking. The Rabies Control Act lets a county requ…
Can the Texas Supreme Court require county and district clerks to connect their case management systems to the re:SearchTX records database?
Yes. The AG concluded Government Code section 74.024 gives the Supreme Court broad authority to adopt administrative rules that are necessary or even just desirable for running the court system, and o…
Can a Texas court order the DPS or the state vital statistics office to change the sex listed on a driver's license or birth certificate?
Not in the way described to the AG, the opinion concluded. The Department of Public Safety asked whether district courts can issue orders, in uncontested ex parte cases, that direct DPS and the Depart…
What exactly must a Texas school board vote on to comply with the SB 763 school chaplain law?
The board has to vote on whether to authorize a 'school chaplain position', the substantive role created by SB 763, where the chaplain provides chaplain-related support, services, and programs to stud…
Can a Texas county commissioner also serve as the chief of the local volunteer fire department?
Yes. The Texas Constitution's ban on holding more than one office expressly excepts county commissioners, so it does not apply. And the common-law incompatibility doctrine does not bar the dual servic…
Can the same person be the administrative assistant for both a Texas county judge and the county attorney?
Yes, as a threshold matter. Neither the constitutional ban on holding two offices nor the common-law incompatibility doctrine prevents it, because an administrative assistant is an employee, not a pub…
Can a guardian make a mentally incapacitated ward use a lawyer, or represent the ward themselves in court?
It depends on the type of case. A probate court's finding that someone is incapacitated does not by itself decide whether the ward can represent themselves in a criminal case; that call belongs to the…
Can the Texas Ethics Commission give itself more time to act on a complaint by adopting a tolling rule?
No. The Government Code gives the Commission a hard 120-day deadline to either propose a settlement or dismiss a complaint after a respondent answers, and the only tolling the statute allows is during…
Can a Texas taxing unit recover attorney's fees in a delinquent property tax suit if it did not impose the extra collection penalty?
Yes. A taxing unit that contracts with a private attorney to collect delinquent taxes can recover attorney's fees under Property Tax Code § 33.48 (15% of the taxes, penalties, and interest due) in a s…
Can a Texas county use county workers and equipment to dig and close graves in private cemeteries?
Mostly no. The AG concluded a county cannot enter an interlocal agreement under Government Code chapter 791 with a private (non-governmental) cemetery organization. A county's burial authority under H…
Can a Texas student-athlete use prescribed testosterone for gender transition and still compete under the UIL steroid rules?
No. The AG concluded that providing steroids (including testosterone) to a minor to transition the minor's biological sex is not a 'valid medical purpose' under Education Code section 33.091, because …
Does federal ERISA law override Texas's pharmacy benefit manager and pharmacy-contracting rules, even for health plans based outside Texas?
Probably not. The AG concluded that a Texas court would likely hold ERISA does not preempt the two sets of Insurance Code rules added by House Bills 1763 and 1919 (subchapters M and L of chapter 1369)…
Can off-duty Texas sheriff's deputies be hired directly for private security work without commissioners court approval?
It depends on whether the work is 'county business' or genuinely private. The AG explained that only the commissioners court may contract on the county's behalf for law enforcement services that invol…
Can a juvenile defendant's lawyer get the underlying records behind a Texas juvenile probation social history report?
Not through ordinary criminal discovery, but yes by subpoena. The AG concluded that a local juvenile probation department (Tarrant County Juvenile Services) is not 'the state' under Code of Criminal P…
Can Texas police issue a traffic ticket as a card with a QR code that links to the full citation online?
Probably, if the system is built right. The AG concluded a court could find that handing a driver a card showing the time and place to appear and the citation number, plus a QR code that links to the …
Can a Texas district clerk reject a criminal court e-filing over a typo or wrong court designation?
No to outright refusal, but yes to returning it for correction. The AG concluded a district clerk may not refuse to file an electronically filed document in a criminal case based on the clerk's own op…
Can a Texas public board use boilerplate agenda language to slip into a closed session, and can it meet privately to discuss hiring a law firm?
Two answers. First, no: generic boilerplate on every agenda saying the board 'reserves the right' to go into executive session is not enough notice, by itself, to alert the public that a particular su…
Can one person serve on the boards of two overlapping local government entities, like a county hospital district and a regional transit authority, at the same time?
Probably not, when the two entities overlap geographically and their powers collide. The AG concluded that a court would likely find the common-law 'conflicting-loyalties' doctrine bars one person fro…
How does a Texas appraisal district calculate 'average land value' for a city's parkland dedication fee on new apartment and hotel development?
By area, not by parcel. The AG concluded that a court would likely read Local Government Code subsection 212.209(c) to require an appraisal district to add up the market value of all the land in each …
Does a Texas district clerk have to prepare an abstract of judgment for a court of appeals ruling when the trial court's own judgment was vacated?
Probably not, in this situation. The AG concluded that because the Second Court of Appeals vacated the Parker County trial court's judgment and dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction, the trial c…
Can a Texas county chief appraiser keep his job if his sister is elected tax assessor-collector and joins the appraisal district board?
Usually yes, but with conditions. The AG concluded Tax Code subsection 6.05(f) does not bar his continued employment, because that statute only stops the chief appraiser from hiring a board member's r…
How is the frozen school tax ceiling for elderly or disabled Texas homeowners figured when the newer tax-compression rules seem to clash with the old two-year rule?
The newer rules win. The AG concluded that for the tax years they cover, the compression adjustment provisions in Tax Code subsections 11.26(a-5) through (a-9) control the calculation of the school-ta…
Can a licensed Texas medical cannabis dispensary move its low-THC inventory between its approved locations before any patient prescription is filled?
Yes, nothing prohibits it. The AG concluded that neither the Texas Compassionate-Use Act nor its associated regulations bar a licensed dispensing organization from transporting its low-THC cannabis in…
Can a Texas municipal utility district board fill a board vacancy after the 60-day deadline, and can its elected directors be removed for misconduct by the commissioners court?
Mostly the board keeps the power. The AG concluded the 60-day deadline in Water Code subsection 49.105(a) for a board to fill its own vacancy is 'directory,' not mandatory, so a board can still make a…
Do you need a Texas real estate license to negotiate a wind farm lease on behalf of a landowner for a commission?
Yes, the AG concluded a license is likely required. Occupations Code chapter 1101 requires a real estate license to negotiate a lease of real property for another for compensation, and a wind lease is…
Can a member of the Texas Opioid Abatement Fund Council vote on grants to organizations they are connected to, or do they have to recuse or resign?
They disclose and recuse, they do not have to resign, and the grant is not automatically void. The AG concluded Government Code section 572.058 applies to the Council's grant awards, so a member with …
Can a Texas legislator obtain confidential Ethics Commission sworn-complaint files using the Public Information Act's legislative-access provision?
No, the AG concluded the Ethics Commission may not. Government Code section 552.008 gives an individual legislator a special right to obtain governmental information, including some confidential infor…
Who pays the court filing fee for a court-ordered mental health commitment in Texas, and when is it due?
The county is generally on the hook, but it can sometimes shift the fee, and the timing depends on who pays. Under Health and Safety Code subsections 571.018(a) and (b), the county is generally respon…
Can a member of the public get copies of spoiled ballots in Texas after an election, and for how long?
Yes, the AG concluded the public can get copies of spoiled ballots, with a redaction caveat. Spoiled ballots are stored in ballot box no. 4 and must be preserved for at least 22 months after election …
Can a Texas constable also serve as a municipal court judge in the same county at the same time?
No, the AG concluded the two cannot be held at once. Texas Constitution article XVI, section 40 bars holding more than one civil office of emolument, and both a compensated municipal judge and a const…
How much of a Texas hospital district's sales-tax revenue can it spend on economic development under a 'one-fourth of one percent' cap?
A small slice, not a quarter. The AG concluded Special District Local Laws Code section 1069.211 lets the Nacogdoches County Hospital District allocate for economic development up to one-fourth of one…
Are court-cost refunds to mental health facilities under Texas law limited to patients who were actually committed?
No, the AG concluded the refunds are not limited to committed patients. Health and Safety Code subsection 571.018(j) makes a judge order a refund of court costs paid or advanced by certain inpatient m…
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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.