Washington Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Washington, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Which new prison projects qualified a Washington community for correctional-facility impact money?
The 1983 AG counted new prisons, new buildings at existing prisons, and previously unused buildings reopened for correctional use. Renovations or extra beds alone did not qualify; a community also…
Did a federal marine wastewater permit replace Washington’s state discharge permit?
The 1983 AG said no. A municipality still needed a state permit, and Ecology could not concur in a weaker federal permit or omit stricter state treatment requirements. The exact treatment method had…
Did Washington crime-victim compensation include workers’ compensation cost-of-living increases?
The 1983 AG said yes for eligible crime-victim claims. The crime-victim statute incorporated applicable workers’ compensation benefit rules and did not exclude the cost-of-living adjustment provision.
Could a Washington sheriff deny a concealed-pistol permit for refusing a photo, ID, or Social Security number?
The 1983 AG said an otherwise eligible applicant could not be denied solely for refusing a photograph, driver’s license, or Social Security number, or for living outside the issuing county or city.…
Could Washington charge general Agriculture Department overhead to the grain inspection fund?
The 1983 AG said the fund could pay expenses directly incurred by the Grain Division and a statutory research and promotion allowance, but not general department administration, legal, personnel, or…
Could a Washington county treasurer invest public money at a savings institution not approved as a public depositary?
The 1983 AG said RCW 36.29.020 still permitted certain federally insured savings or time investments without depositary approval. Specific new restrictions for school, sewer, and water district…
Could a Washington school district pool teacher and support-staff insurance money for equal benefits?
The 1983 AG said no under that biennium’s funding limits. Districts had to calculate the allowed employer medical-insurance contribution separately for certificated and classified employee groups.
Could a Washington city or county put its own officials on an industrial-development corporation board?
The 1983 AG said yes if the creating ordinance made governing-body members directors by virtue of office. If only some members served, the ordinance itself needed criteria identifying which ones.
Could a recovered LEOFF Plan II retiree return to duty if the disability happened off duty?
The 1983 AG said yes. The same restoration rules applied after recovery from a duty or nonduty disability; the separate workers’ compensation condition delayed restoration only for someone receiving…
Could voters seek a referendum on a Washington city’s added sales or real-estate excise tax?
The 1983 AG said the new state referendum procedures applied to every city or county ordinance enacted after April 22, 1983 that imposed or changed the specified added taxes, even where no separate…
Could a Washington city restrict firearms in bars or other particular places under the 1983 law?
The 1983 AG said the new consistency provision did not eliminate narrowly limited local rules for particular places. A later addendum stressed that each rule still needed to be reasonable and…
Did Washington’s prevailing wage law cover drivers employed by a school bus contractor?
The 1983 AG said no for the bus-service contract it analyzed. Driving contractor-owned and maintained buses was neither public works nor public building service maintenance under the law then in force.
Could Washington practitioners other than pharmacists dispense prescription or controlled drugs?
The 1983 AG said certain practitioners authorized to prescribe could also dispense legend drugs and controlled substances, subject to profession-specific limits and controlled-substance registration…
Could Washington charge political parties for county voter-file costs when providing the statewide file?
The 1983 AG said no. The Secretary of State could charge the actual cost of duplicating the completed statewide voter file, but not pass along payments made to counties to obtain their voter records.
Could a Washington school district move interest earned by its building reserve fund into another fund?
The Attorney General said yes under the 1983 statute. A school board could direct the interest to another district fund, but the transferred earnings could be spent only on instructional supplies,…
Could a Washington public utility district release customer names and addresses under the 1983 disclosure law?
The Attorney General said customer names and addresses were public records and individual customers could not block disclosure merely by asserting privacy. The 1983 law barred the district from…
Did Washington’s 1982 vocational rehabilitation amendments cover workers injured before 1983?
The Attorney General said the vocational rehabilitation and related remedial provisions covered qualified workers regardless of injury date. An increase in death and burial benefits applied only…
Could a Washington employer make LEOFF Plan I employees pay the entire cost of medical insurance?
The Attorney General said no in 1983. An employer could pay all or part of a group medical insurance plan, but it could not shift the entire premium to covered LEOFF Plan I employees and still use…
Could Washington public hospital district commissioners raise their own daily pay during their current terms?
The Attorney General said no in 1983. Commissioners could adopt a higher daily rate under the amended statute, but a self-approved increase could take effect for each commissioner only at the start…
Could an individual Washington school district withdraw its employees from Social Security in 1983?
The Attorney General said no. At the time, Washington statutes required Social Security coverage for school employees in the public employees’ and teachers’ retirement systems, preventing an…
Could Washington voters use an initiative to ask Congress to call an Article V constitutional convention?
The Attorney General said yes in 1983. It reasoned that a state application under Article V had legal force and could be made through Washington’s reserved initiative power.
Could a Washington city council member also serve as a firefighter for a district that might annex the city?
The Attorney General said yes under the circumstances presented in 1983. A council seat and an ordinary paid or volunteer firefighter position in the adjacent district were not inherently…
Did Washington’s prevailing-wage law cover construction by a public housing authority even when federal money funded the project in 1983?
The Attorney General said housing-authority construction, alteration, repair, or improvement was covered if paid with state or municipal funds or if it created a contractor lien or charge against…
Were Washington university student services-and-activities fee committee meetings open to the public in 1983?
The Attorney General said yes. Although the committees made recommendations rather than final budgets, their statutory advice was a required step before university budget decisions, bringing their…
Could Washington school districts give employees a 1982–83 raise before June 30, 1983?
Generally no. The AG said the 1982 appropriations limits delayed those raises until June 30, 1983, subject to stated statutory exclusions and qualifying pre-April 20, 1982 contracts, including older…
Could a Washington charter county raise its council members’ salaries after they were elected?
No, for members who fixed their own pay. The AG said the state constitutional ban on increasing or decreasing their salaries after election or during their term applied to home rule charter counties too.
Could a Washington city lower its utility tax rate after the 1982 law’s November 1 deadline?
The AG said the annual reduction was required and could be compelled, but missing November 1 did not remove the city’s power to act. A rate change could not take effect until 60 days after the…
What local firearm restrictions did the Washington AG consider valid under 1982 law?
The AG said a blanket local handgun sale or possession ban conflicted with state law and that local regulation of handgun ammunition was preempted. It then viewed a location-specific firearms ban on…
Which initiative procedure governed an extra local sales tax in a Washington charter county in 1982?
Where county voters already had general initiative power, the AG said the special tax initiative had to follow the county’s own procedures. It read the law as an initiative allowing later voter…
Could Washington sellers use a variable finance charge on a manufactured home installment sale in 1982?
Yes. The AG said a variable service charge was allowed if its maximum stayed within the applicable statutory ceiling; federal rules also supplied a way to disclose it.
If a Washington port elected two extra commissioners in a 1982 special election, when would their terms begin?
The AG said their terms would begin January 1, 1984, the next statutory start date for port commissioners, even if voters elected them in a 1982 special election. Their successors would be elected…
Could a small Washington county make its prosecutor full time simply by announcing the rule before candidate filing?
No. The AG said commissioners in a fifth- through ninth-class county could not bind a future elected prosecutor to abandon private law practice by a pre-filing announcement. They could arrange a…
When did Washington’s 1982 crime-victim penalty assessment apply to convictions, bail forfeitures, and juvenile diversion?
The AG read the 1982 assessment broadly for convictions, including county and city crimes and separate counts, subject to the statute’s motor-vehicle exceptions. Bail forfeiture had a narrower test,…
Could Washington county commissioners impose one personnel system on every county office in 1982?
For a noncharter county, the AG said commissioners could not unilaterally control hiring, promotion, suspension, and discharge across independently elected offices. They could set covered employees’…
When could a Washington port district elect two additional commissioners under the 1982 law?
The AG read “next general election” as the November 1983 port district election, rather than the 1982 statewide election. The district could call an earlier special port election; a primary for a…
Did a cash-out of unused leave raise a Washington public employer’s pension cost liability in 1982?
The AG said a lawful lump-sum payment for accrued annual leave could count toward a retiring employee’s pension calculation, within stated limits. It was not a salary increase that triggered the…
Which extra assessments applied to Washington’s 1982 penalty for ignoring a traffic-infraction notice?
The Attorney General said the $25 failure-to-respond penalty was subject to the traffic safety education assessment. It was not subject to the criminal justice training assessment or the separate $5…
Which Washington district court heard a criminal traffic charge when the nearest courthouse was in another district?
The Attorney General said the charge belonged in the justice court district where the alleged offense occurred under the 1961 Justice Court Act. A motor-vehicle provision pointing to a nearby…
Who could acquire or remove artwork from Washington’s Legislative Building in 1982?
The Attorney General said the Joint Legislative Arts Committee handled selection and acquisition, while the Department of General Administration controlled major works after acquisition. Either…
Who inspected electrical wiring installed by a Washington city for traffic lights and streetlights in 1982?
The Attorney General said the work required inspection even when the city installed it itself or hired a contractor. A state inspector handled it if the city lacked its own qualifying code;…
Could a Washington real estate agent prepare legal closing documents after the state Supreme Court’s escrow rulings?
The Attorney General said licensed agents could still perform the nonlegal closing tasks their licenses allowed. Their authority did not extend to selecting, completing, or drafting legal…
Did a person living in a trust, guardianship or gift property count as a tenant under Washington’s 1981 smoke detector law?
The 1981 AG said occupancy by someone other than the title holder did not alone trigger the smoke detector requirement for landlord and tenant units. The occupant also had to have a rental agreement…
Could a Washington school district release graduating seniors five days early without losing state funding or holding an alternate program?
The 1981 AG said a district could release graduating seniors from attendance during the last five school days, whether graduation was early or later. It did not have to run a substitute…
Did Washington state agencies avoid filing architect and engineer contracts by using the 1981 qualifications-based selection process?
No. The AG said selecting an architect or engineer for qualifications and then negotiating price under the 1981 law was not competitive bidding under the filing exemption. Use of that selection…
Which community college rules could Washington's state college board set in 1981, and which decisions stayed with local trustees?
The AG said the state board could set instructional-day and credit standards, exclude repeat-course enrollments from state funding, and require curriculum changes needed for comprehensive programs.…
Could Washington legislators cancel raises scheduled during their current terms before the raise dates arrived?
The 1981 AG said lawmakers could not rescind future raises payable during their current terms when the law promising those raises had already taken effect before those terms began. It distinguished…
Did keeping Washington teachers' annual salaries unchanged while cutting three workdays violate the 1981 pay-increase limit?
The 1981 AG said cutting certificated employees' contract year from 183 to 180 days at the same annual pay increased their daily pay in the ordinary sense. It concluded that this change alone did…
Did a separate owner of mineral rights have to join a Washington landowner's current-use tax application or sign a continuance notice after a mineral transfer?
No. The 1981 AG said a separately held mineral interest did not make its owner a required applicant for forest, open-space, agricultural or timber-land tax treatment. A transfer of only that mineral…
Did Washington's 1981 discrimination law stop smaller cities from running local human rights programs?
No. The AG said the 1981 law did not withdraw cities' existing power to prohibit discrimination or create human rights agencies. Its additional authorization for administrative remedies applied only…
Could a Washington insurer subtract another driver's liability payment or workers' compensation from underinsured motorist coverage?
The 1981 AG said those payments could not reduce the UIM coverage limit, though the insurer could account for them when calculating unpaid damages. It allowed an offset between liability and UIM…
Could a Washington LEOFF Plan II officer or firefighter serve on and vote for a local disability board?
The 1981 AG said Plan II officers and firefighters could be elected to local LEOFF disability boards. They could vote in a city board election, but not a county board election because the county…
Could a Washington port district set its property tax levy after an October deadline when using a December budget hearing?
Yes. The AG said a port district choosing the permitted December budget schedule could set its levy after adopting that budget. A county assessor could not require that district to certify its levy…
Could Washington issue state bonds to finance public power projects in 1981?
Yes, the AG said the legislature could authorize state general obligation bonds for the public power supply system. Without voter approval under the state constitution, those bonds would count…
How did Washington’s 1981 laws cap interest on real estate contracts and retail credit?
The AG applied different 1981 ceilings to covered real estate contracts, retail installment contracts, retail charge agreements, and bank credit cards. Which cap applied depended on the transaction,…
Did a Washington school district have to cut an existing employee insurance contribution in 1981?
No. The AG said a district renegotiating a collective bargaining agreement could continue its previous contribution above the specified threshold, because continuation at the same rate was not an…
Could a Washington community college keep proceeds from selling surplus campus land in 1981?
Yes. The AG said proceeds from a sale under the community-college property statute could be retained as local funds and spent without a separate legislative appropriation under the law then in force.
Which legislative district supplied a replacement after Washington redistricted in 1981?
The AG said the immediate appointee had to come from the old district represented by the departing legislator. The successor elected in November 1981 would run from the newly drawn district assigned…
Did Washington have to reimburse school districts for the sick-leave cash-out program under Initiative 62?
The Attorney General said Initiative 62 did not require reimbursement for the added sick-leave cash-out cost because it was employee compensation, not a measurable increase in services to the…
Could a Washington municipal court hear a state-law traffic infraction committed inside the city in 1981?
The Attorney General said no. It read municipal and police courts’ traffic-infraction authority as covering local ordinance violations, while state-law infractions belonged in the district court…
Did Washington’s 1981 property-tax levy limit cover a county levy to pay tax refunds?
The Attorney General said yes. The 106 percent limit applied to a county refund-fund levy, measured against the limit for the year the refund levy was made rather than the earlier year whose taxes…
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Attorney general opinions in Washington are written by the Washington 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.