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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Could a Washington county open a road to snowmobiles and set its own equipment or age rules in 1981?
The Attorney General said a county could open a road to snowmobiles even while ordinary vehicles used it, after giving notice. It could not impose equipment or operator-age rules that conflicted…
Was a Washington hospital liable for an officer-requested DUI blood test if the arrest later proved unlawful?
The Attorney General said the hospital and its personnel retained statutory protection when they drew blood at an officer’s direction under the implied-consent law, even if the arrest or grounds…
Could a Washington county transit authority offer free rides or discounts only to seniors, students or low-income riders?
The 1980 AG said a county authority could make rides free for everyone if it had other funding, and could reduce fares for all riders at off-peak times for operational reasons. Selective reductions…
Would Washington’s Initiative 62 require the state to reimburse local governments for higher pension contributions or hiring standards?
The 1980 AG said no under Initiative 62 section 6(1) for the proposed PERS, TRS and firefighter or police hiring changes. It read that section as covering mandated new public services or measurable…
Could a Washington mobile home on leased land be claimed as a homestead in 1980?
The 1980 AG said yes if the owner used or intended to use the mobile home as a residence and had enough interest in the land to keep the home there. Ownership of the land in fee was unnecessary. The…
Could a Washington school district grant more than 12 paid sick, injury and emergency leave days or set a separate emergency quota?
The 1980 AG said a district could not grant or accrue more than 12 combined paid days a year for illness, injury and emergencies under the amended law. It could keep emergency leave as a separate…
Who paid county jail costs when a city officer arrested someone for a state felony in 1980?
The 1980 AG said the county paid ordinary care, housing and board costs after the city officer transferred the state-law felony suspect to the sheriff, both before and after arraignment. The opinion…
Could a Washington police agency record incoming calls that were not emergencies, including calls it induced a suspect to make?
The 1980 AG said police could generally record incoming station calls even when they were not emergencies, provided at least one participant consented under federal law. It cautioned that a…
Who owned Washington state athletic tournament receipts, and did district travel spending make a gift to the WIAA?
The 1980 AG said tournament receipts belonged to the private Washington Interscholastic Activities Association under the arrangements described, not to participating districts’ student bodies. A…
Could a Washington LEOFF board cover a doctor-prescribed over-the-counter drug or insulin syringes and choose the provider?
The 1980 AG said a physician-prescribed drug could qualify even if sold without a prescription. Insulin syringes were not themselves “drugs and medicine” in the statutory minimum, but a disability…
Did Washington cities have to use the state DUI penalty when prosecuting an identical municipal offense in 1980?
The 1980 AG said no. A city or town defining the DUI offense in the same terms as state law did not also have to copy the state penalty, including its mandatory jail day. The opinion distinguished…
Were Washington’s new 1981 superior court judgeships to be filled by election or governor appointment?
The 1980 AG said the Pierce, Kitsap and Cowlitz seats were to be filled in the 1980 election for both the short January 1–12 period and the four-year term beginning January 12, 1981. The governor’s…
Could a Washington coroner issue a presumptive death certificate when no body had been found?
The 1980 AG said no under the death certificate statutes then in force. A court could find the fact and cause of death from circumstantial evidence, but the coroner’s statutory role in a death…
Could a Washington county transit authority run a route already served by a certificated private bus company?
The 1980 AG said the county authority first had to acquire the affected private carrier’s operating authority and equipment or contract with that carrier for all or part of the service. It could run…
Did Washington’s 1979 change in city office start dates shorten incumbents’ terms and their final salary?
The 1980 AG said yes. For the specified city officers elected in 1975, the 1979 law ended their terms on December 31 rather than about two weeks into January. They were owed salary through the…
Did Washington’s 1980 usury limit apply to a two-party installment contract for a residential property sale?
The 1980 AG gave a qualified no. It read the state usury limit as inapplicable to a two-party contract between the owner-seller and buyer, whether the seller was private or commercial, while an…
Could a national bank in Washington charge credit card interest above the state retail charge cap and add an annual card fee?
The 1980 AG said a national bank could charge interest on card purchases above Washington’s retail charge cap to the extent federal law allowed. It could also charge an unrelated membership fee, but…
Could a fourth class Washington town impose the special hotel and motel occupancy tax in 1980?
The 1980 AG said yes. It read “any city” in RCW 67.28.180 to include a fourth class municipality, commonly called a town. The opinion relied on the 1973 amendment that broadened the lodging tax…
Could a Washington home rule county impose a countywide business and occupation tax through its charter alone?
The 1980 AG said no. A home rule charter could assign tax decisions to the county council, but it could not create taxing authority that the state legislature had not granted. The opinion found no…
Could a Washington teacher who moved to a nonteaching public job keep teacher retirement membership or join PERS?
The 1980 AG said a person who first qualified for the Teachers’ Retirement System through teaching could keep earning TRS credit in a later nonteaching school district or state agency job. Continued…
Could a Washington restaurant use the shoplifting civil penalty against a customer who left without paying for a meal?
The 1980 AG said no for an ordinary dine-in restaurant meal, even if the customer intended not to pay. It treated that transaction as restaurant services rather than merchandise under RCW 4.24.230.…
What could a Washington juvenile court order for truancy under the 1979 attendance law?
The 1980 AG said a juvenile court hearing a truancy petition could impose the attendance law’s civil fine, up to $25 per unexcused day, after school measures failed. It could not use broader…
Could a Washington owner split a lot inside an existing subdivision using the short-plat process in 1980?
The Attorney General said no for the existing full subdivision in the question. Even a split into four or fewer lots was a resubdivision, subject to the general subdivision provisions rather than a…
Could Washington assess an omitted mobile home after someone bought the land it was attached to?
The Attorney General said the omitted-assessment bar applied only if the mobile home was permanently affixed as a real-property improvement and a bona fide purchaser, encumbrancer, or contract buyer…
Did Washington have to reimburse a county for costs of new superior court judgeships under Initiative 62?
The Attorney General said yes under the 1980 initiative. Adding superior court judgeships increased the county’s court services and its salary, staffing, and facility costs, bringing the added local…
Did Washington’s criminal-law infancy defense apply to juvenile offender cases in 1980?
The Attorney General said no. It concluded that the criminal-code rule for children under eight and the rebuttable presumption for ages eight through eleven did not apply to juvenile-offender…
Could the public inspect Washington county property-tax assessment rolls, including for commercial research, in 1980?
The Attorney General said assessment rolls and supporting records generally had to be available, subject to specific taxpayer privacy and competitive-harm exemptions. A real-property roll listing…
Did Washington’s 1979 compulsory-attendance law allow any private school, or only an approved one?
The AG said “private school” still meant a state-approved private or parochial school. Removing a sentence about proof of absence changed the attendance-violation evidence rule, not the retained…
Did every Washington public employee risk a criminal penalty for failing to enforce 1979 public-smoking rules?
No. The AG said the penalty provision applied only to officials who already had legal authority to act against alleged violators. The smoking regulation itself carried no criminal or civil penalty,…
Was property on a Washington Indian reservation automatically exempt from state property tax in 1979?
No. The 1979 AG distinguished ownership and property type. Non-Indian ownership generally was not exempt merely because of reservation location; qualifying tribal or resident-member personal…
Did a Washington school board have to hold a public hearing when a parent objected to a classroom film?
Under the 1979 statutes, the AG said a parent’s complaint about a teaching film required evaluation in a public hearing. The board or its administrative staff could conduct the hearing, and the…
Could a Washington county assessor value new construction below true and fair value to match older assessments?
The 1979 AG said no under the statutes then in force. New construction had to be listed at full true and fair value, even in an area not scheduled for that year’s cyclical revaluation.
In 1979, could a parent let another adult give liquor to a minor child in Washington?
The AG said a parent’s or guardian’s verbal or written permission could be a defense under the specific furnishing statute for a single occasion. General or continuing permission was insufficient,…
Could Washington’s Legislative Budget Committee audit a joint public-power agency in 1979?
The AG said yes. Although the agency was audited as a municipal corporation, the committee’s authority to review local governments receiving shared state revenues, read with the 1979 appropriation,…
For Washington superior court judges in 1979, did Social Security wages include the county-paid half of salary?
Yes. The AG said the full statutory salary was the wage base for OASI contributions and coverage even though the state and counties each paid a portion. A judge held one office, and the wage…
Could a Washington coroner take jurisdiction when a seriously ill person died without a recent in-person medical visit?
The 1979 AG said yes under the statute’s sudden-death clause when the illness was not apparent to people around the person and no practitioner had physically attended them within the preceding 36…
Did Washington’s 1979 annual-leave cap apply to exempt staff, judges’ staff and governor-appointed agency leaders?
The AG said the state annual-leave statute covered all three government branches, classified and exempt employees, and governor-appointed directors and board members. Accrual beyond 30 working days…
Could a Washington merchant bring a civil shoplifting claim for stolen gasoline without proving actual loss?
The 1979 AG said gasoline offered for sale at a pump was covered by the civil conversion statute. It also said a merchant could seek the statutory penalties without alleging actual damages, and a…
Could a guilty plea to aggravated first-degree murder have led to life without parole under Washington’s 1979 sentencing statute?
No. The 1979 AG said that sentencing route required a special proceeding after a jury guilty verdict. A guilty plea did not trigger it, so the statute called for life imprisonment under its separate…
Did Washington’s train bell and whistle statute apply at a private farm-road crossing?
The 1979 AG said the statute’s misdemeanor rule did not apply to a strictly private road crossing. A railroad could still face a civil negligence claim if its warning was inadequate under the…
Could a Washington county create a reserve fund just for uninsured tort claims, and keep the investment interest?
The 1979 AG said the general claims-fund law did not authorize that narrow fund, but the cumulative-reserve-fund law did. Investment earnings belonged to the reserve fund after the treasurer’s…
After a Washington sewer district merged into an irrigation district, did county approval of a sewer expansion plan remain required?
The 1979 AG said no under the cited sewer-district statutes. After the merger dissolved the sewer district, the surviving irrigation district inherited its powers, but those statutes applied to…
Would a proposed Washington school immunization requirement with medical and parental exemptions have been constitutional?
The 1979 AG concluded that the proposal would have been constitutional if enacted as drafted. It conditioned school and day-care attendance on vaccination records, an approved schedule or an…
Did a Washington divorce order for future child support or maintenance count as a judgment in 1979?
The Attorney General said yes. Temporary support orders and final dissolution decrees calling for future payments were judgments for entry in the county execution docket and could support a…
Could a Washington school district outsource all lunchroom operations to a food-service contractor in 1979?
The Attorney General said no under the statute then in force. A private contractor could prepare and serve food, but the district could not assign purchasing, money collection, tax returns, and…
Could a Washington public college host political forums, conventions, and campaign activity on campus in 1979?
The Attorney General allowed nondiscriminatory candidate forums, properly rented party conventions, and student-sponsored issue meetings. It allowed personally handed campaign literature on the…
Could a Washington county bypass city bidding rules when running a joint solid-waste system in 1979?
The Attorney General said no. As administrator and agent for participating cities, the county had to follow their applicable bidding requirements; for certain hauling contracts, it also had to bid…
Could a Washington legislator be arrested for a traffic misdemeanor while the legislature was in session in 1979?
The Attorney General said yes. It interpreted the constitutional arrest privilege as limited to civil arrest and concluded that a legislator could be arrested for a criminal traffic offense at any…
Could a Washington juvenile court order diversion after the prosecutor properly filed charges in 1978?
No. The AG read the new juvenile justice law as assigning the diversion decision to the prosecutor before filing. A court could check whether the case was properly before it, but had no independent…
Did a Washington tax district need 60 percent voter approval to exceed the 1978 property-tax levy growth limit?
The AG said a simple majority sufficed to exceed the chapter 84.55 growth limit while staying within other applicable rate caps. A proposal that also exceeded the separate constitutional and…
Could Washington state employees use payroll deductions for voluntary union political contributions in 1978?
The AG said no existing state statute authorized a separate payroll deduction for those voluntary contributions. The federal campaign law allowed some lawful deduction arrangements but did not…
Could Washington liquor regulators or a city require a licensed restaurant to serve drinks only with food at a table in 1978?
The AG said neither the state liquor board nor a city could impose that condition under then-existing law because it conflicted with the liquor code’s treatment of restaurant licenses and standing…
Would Washington’s proposed 1978 bans on drug paraphernalia sales and possession satisfy due process?
The AG concluded the two draft bills probably would not. Their definitions gave inadequate notice of which dual-use items were covered, and neither made unlawful intent a necessary element of sale…
Did Washington law require deferred-prosecution records to be sealed or destroyed after removal from a court file in 1978?
No. The AG said the deferred-prosecution statute required removal from the special court file, but neither sealing nor destruction. Other disclosure rules or a case-specific court order could limit…
How did Washington’s 1978 primary rules apply to district court judge elections?
The AG said a primary was required even with one candidate. In a contested primary, the top two advanced despite a candidate winning a majority; no cited vote-percentage threshold, alphabetical…
Was a Washington farm’s current-use assessment automatically wrong if it exceeded market-use value in 1978?
No. The AG said the unusual comparison called for inquiry, but either appraisal might be correct or one might be miscalculated. An owner could request removal from current-use classification; the…
Could a Washington fire district appoint a commissioner’s spouse as paid secretary in 1978?
The AG said yes under the statutes it considered. The secretary was a public officer, so the appointment did not create the employment contract addressed by the conflict statute; the spouse’s…
Could Washington school districts draw supplies from a joint purchasing agency without bidding again in 1978?
Yes, if the district-created agency had complied with the school bidding statute when buying its inventory. The AG also allowed educational purchases for private schools under stated conditions;…
Could a Washington city council appoint a replacement before a member’s future resignation took effect in 1978?
No. The AG said a code city using the mayor-council plan had no vacancy to fill until the resignation’s effective date. An earlier appointment had no binding effect; the AG did not reach whether the…
How did Washington calculate school compensation-increase funding when a district’s staff changed in 1977–78?
The AG said the district’s actual 1976–77 average set its funding category and base, while its actual 1977–78 average did not determine the allocation. The money still had to fund actual…
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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.