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 lower a voter-approved transit sales tax and later raise it without another vote in 1978?
Yes, for a county covered by the 1975 savings clause. The AG said it could lower the rate and later restore it without another vote, so long as the restored rate did not exceed the maximum voters…
Could a Washington county commissioner sell land to the county housing authority in 1978?
The AG said the sale alone did not violate the conflict statutes because the housing authority was an independent body whose contracts the commissioner did not ordinarily supervise. The answer…
Could Washington urban arterial funds improve a city street that was also a state highway in 1978?
Yes, if the city requested funds and the project met the urban arterial priority requirements. The AG said the fund could not pay to build state highways outside incorporated cities or towns.
Could a Washington county use its road fund for a bike path on city property in 1978?
Yes, under the facts the AG considered. The 1974 amendment allowed county road money for bicycle paths without requiring the path to adjoin a county road, and the proposed city path was expected to…
Did Washington public works procedures apply to port district construction projects in 1978?
Yes. The AG concluded that port districts fell within chapter 39.04 RCW’s definition of municipality and therefore had to follow its public works procedures. Whether a particular project required…
Could a Washington utility guarantee a customer’s insulation purchase or sell insulation on installments in 1978?
The AG said a city or PUD could not guarantee payment to a private supplier because that lent municipal credit. Assuming authority for an ordinary utility sale, its own installment sale of…
Could one person be both mayor of a Washington town and commissioner of its encompassing port district?
The AG said no under the common-law incompatible-offices doctrine. Town zoning and building rules governed port property, while the mayor participated in making those rules. The officeholder could…
Which Washington law covered missing court after release on personal recognizance in 1978?
The AG said the new bail-jumping statute covered failure to appear after a court-ordered recognizance release, impliedly superseding the earlier statute. It preserved the earlier law for violations…
Could a Washington school district lease surplus buildings to a business or religious school in 1978?
The AG said a district could lease genuinely surplus property to private or public tenants if school use was protected and some rent was paid. Private tenants had to provide fair value and cover…
Could a Washington nonprofit run a casino-style fundraising event without a gambling license in 1978?
The AG said no. A narrow exemption allowed certain nonprofits to hold bingo, raffles and amusement games without a license under specified conditions, but the separate statutory “fund-raising event”…
Did raises for active Washington police or firefighters increase a Plan I member’s disability allowance in 1978?
The AG said no. The disability-leave allowance remained tied to the member’s own salary when leave began, and the later disability-retirement allowance used that same salary base rather than…
Could a Washington city remove the paid floating holiday for municipal employees after the 1977 amendment?
The 1978 AG said local employees had the statutory floating holiday when no applicable contract, ordinance or resolution excluded it. The 1977 amendment allowed an applicable local measure to remove…
Did Washington’s building code govern federal Bonneville Power Administration buildings in Adams County in 1978?
The AG said the state building code did not, by its own terms, cover the federal agency’s construction. The statute’s reference to governmental subdivisions meant subdivisions of Washington state,…
Could a Washington fire district assign a paid firefighter to ride in a private ambulance?
The Attorney General concluded that the fire district lacked statutory authority to supply a paid firefighter to help operate a privately owned ambulance. It therefore did not answer the separate…
What jury fee could a Washington district court charge in a civil or criminal case in 1978?
For a civil jury trial, the AG said the only jury-fee cost was $25, payable to the county. In criminal and traffic cases, actual jury expenses could be assessed only after conviction and only under…
Does a replacement Washington state senator receive a pay raise that took effect during the unfinished Senate term?
The Attorney General said no. A senator appointed or elected to finish a term remained at that term’s salary, even if the replacement had been serving in the House.
Could Washington’s legislature revive an expiring timber tax in 1979 and make it effective from January 1?
The Attorney General said a 1979 reimposition effective January 1 could be constitutional even at a different rate. It recommended enactment and gubernatorial signature by March 1, 1979, to match…
Who had to buy insurance and surety bonds for Washington community colleges under the 1977 risk law?
The Attorney General said the state risk management office had purchasing authority for college property and liability coverage, surety bonds, and job-related liability insurance. Colleges could…
Did a Washington district have to put a new certificated employee on formal probation before nonrenewal in 1977?
No. The AG said formal probation under RCW 28A.67.065 was not a precondition to using the first-year provisional nonrenewal process. The superintendent still had to consider the employee evaluations…
Could a Washington county take an heirless decedent’s bank assets after a coroner found a key or checkbook?
No. The AG said the coroner and treasurer provisions reached money or property found on the body after an inquest, not other estate assets. The county should notify the state Department of Revenue…
Could a contract purchaser of land vote in a Washington diking district election in 1977?
Yes, if otherwise qualified. The AG treated a land contract purchaser as an owner for RCW 85.05.050’s diking district voting rule, reversing the result of an earlier AG view that relied on an…
Did a Washington court clerk have to refund a civil jury fee after an untimely demand or a pretrial settlement in 1977?
No. The AG said neither an untimely jury demand that was stricken nor a settlement reported before trial required the clerk to return the fee. The legislature had removed the statutory…
Could a Washington county charge a cable company for a road right-of-way franchise in 1977?
Yes. The AG concluded a county could charge a reasonable compensatory fee for a cable television franchise under RCW 36.55.010, and could charge similarly reasonable fees for other franchises…
Could a Washington city use its own crew or negotiate a public works contract after rejecting all bids in 1977?
For a project estimated above $5,000, the AG said a city could use its crew or negotiate without a new bid call if the first call drew no responsive bids. If responsive bids arrived and were…
Could Washington school districts use old excess-levy receipts or other funds for 1977 salary raises?
The 1977 levy-lid restrictions reached earlier-authorized excess levies if the money had not already been committed to salary increases under a binding contract. Districts could use other legally…
Did Washington assess orchard trees together with farmland under the 1977 current-use tax formula?
No. The AG said the special current-use formula valued qualifying farmland alone. Taxable perennial plants, such as fruit trees, had to be listed and valued separately from that land.
Did a 1977 Washington legislative or partisan county vacancy require an election even after candidate filing closed?
The AG said yes: a vacancy before the November general election triggered a vote for the unexpired term even if an interim appointment was made. Ordinary filings, party nominations, or only write-in…
Was a Washington corporation’s deed to a partnership of its shareholders taxable before dissolution in 1977?
The AG said no on the exact sequence and no-liability facts given. The corporation deeded the realty to a partnership made up of the same owners before dissolving, and received no valuable…
How long was a newly hired Washington teacher provisional, and when was nonrenewal notice due in 1977?
The AG read “first year of employment” as twelve months from the hire date for a teaching or other nonsupervisory certificated employee. To use the provisional nonrenewal process, the district had…
Were Washington deputy sheriffs covered by the state minimum wage act in 1977?
The AG said no. It treated deputies appointed by a sheriff as holders of public appointive office under the act’s exemption because they could perform the sheriff’s legal duties. The opinion said…
Did Washington’s AG think a proposed school minute of silence for meditation or prayer was constitutional in 1977?
The AG considered the draft constitutionally defensible because it allowed silent meditation or prayer without directing students to pray. It nevertheless warned that retaining “or prayer” invited a…
Could a Washington school require athletes to pass a medical exam and have families pay for it in 1977?
The AG said yes. A district could require a qualified medical practitioner’s physical exam before interscholastic competition and could either pay for it or require students or parents to obtain and…
Did Washington’s 1977 property-tax growth limit cap a city levy for its local improvement guaranty fund?
No. The AG said that particular levy was exempt from the statutory growth limit, though separate aggregate and rate caps still applied. The fund statute itself limited the levy to no more than five…
How were improvements by a private tenant on Washington public land taxed in 1977?
The AG said the answer turned on title. Improvements owned by the private lessee until lease end were taxed as personal property; improvements that immediately belonged to the public lessor were…
Could a Washington city use its old firefighters’ pension levy for another purpose in 1977?
The AG said the LEOFF transition did not remove the older levy statute’s allowance for other municipal uses when a qualified actuary found the pension fund did not need the full levy. A city that…
Did Washington counties have to create a public defender district to operate a defender office in 1977?
No. The AG said the district statute was one available method, not the exclusive way to provide defense counsel. If a county used it, appointed defenders were county employees; the AG found midterm…
Did Washington’s Shoreline Management Act replace the rules for the Seashore Conservation Area?
The AG said both laws applied. Shoreline permitting and land-use processes governed covered shorelines, while the conservation area’s recreation and preservation limits continued to constrain uses.
When did a Washington code city need competitive bids for purchases or public works in 1977?
The AG said no bid call was required for standalone supplies, materials, or equipment purchases under the cited code-city rule. Equipment bought for a public work counted toward the project cost,…
Did Washington public employees automatically get paid for every state legal holiday in 1977?
The Attorney General said no. Public employees received paid holidays provided by their contracts or employer policies, plus one statutory floating paid holiday each year; covered public school…
Could Washington’s governor certify an energy facility on land whose local zoning prohibited it?
The Attorney General concluded that the governor’s certification could authorize the location despite contrary county, city, or regional zoning. The siting council still had to evaluate consistency…
Could a Washington school district operate vocational training outside its boundaries under the 1976 service-area law?
The AG said the district needed authorization from the vocational-education commission to operate programs beyond its boundaries. The commission could define a service area extending beyond the…
Did a Washington appointee who resigned during January 1977 still have to file a financial disclosure report?
The AG said a covered appointee serving on January 1, 1977 still had to file even if the person resigned before January 31. The first report did not have to include transactions before the…
Did Washington's 1976 minimum-wage law cover city firefighters, station sleepers and paid volunteer firefighters?
The AG said municipal firefighters were generally covered, but the statutory sleep-at-work or substantial-on-call exception applied to qualifying firefighters. Paid volunteer firefighters were…
Could a Washington county fair give free admission to officials, reporters or their families in 1976?
The AG said the county could admit people without charge when they attended to perform work benefiting the fair, such as fair officials or working reporters. It could not waive an entertainment…
In 1976, could Washington police arrest someone for a traffic misdemeanor that carried no jail sentence?
The AG said yes: the covered traffic violations remained misdemeanors despite the no-confinement penalty. It also said a convicted person could be jailed for later willful contempt of an order to…
Could a Washington county collect back property taxes for years before 1973 when a previously exempt property's use ended?
The AG said the 1973 cessation-of-use law did not authorize collection for pre-enactment years in which the property already held an exemption. The opinion distinguished exemptions granted under the…
Under Washington's 1976 discrimination law, could someone choose a roommate by sex, age or religion and say so in an ad?
The AG concluded that the then-existing law did not prohibit those preferences when choosing someone to share the same living quarters, or a corresponding roommate ad and its publication by a…
Could a Washington county treasurer pay tax-foreclosure office costs from a revolving fund and recover them from the delinquent taxpayer?
The AG said yes to both, but only for reasonably necessary foreclosure, distraint or sale costs that reliable accounting could trace to the particular taxpayer and property.
Could Washington enforce its mandatory death-penalty initiative or enact a different capital sentencing law in 1976?
The AG concluded that the initiative's automatic death sentence had become constitutionally unenforceable after 1976 Supreme Court decisions. It said Washington could enact a guided-discretion law,…
Which prosecution costs could a Washington court charge to a convicted defendant under the 1976 law?
The AG said a court could order repayment of appointed defense counsel and state-paid prosecution and defense witness fees, subject to the statute's ability-to-pay limit. Juror compensation was…
If a Washington county chose game-land tax payments instead of game-law fines in 1976, when would the switch begin?
The AG concluded that a county giving notice before January 1, 1977 would first receive payments in lieu of taxes, and give up its share of game-law fines and forfeitures, in 1978.
Could Washington’s Department of Ecology condition a new surface-water permit on later review of public needs in 1976?
The AG gave a qualified yes. It predicted courts would likely uphold an initial unconditional term followed by periods subject to later public-needs review if the restriction served maximum net…
Could a Washington county negotiate waste hauling for drop boxes instead of using normal bidding in 1976?
The AG said no under the special transfer-station provision. Its regulation exemption and negotiated-contract option covered transfer trailers, not detachable drop-box containers; drop-box hauling…
Could a Washington teacher on paid leave for union office accrue sick leave and retirement credit in 1976?
The AG said sick leave during discretionary leave depended on the district’s written policy. A certificated employee on paid leave who remained listed as employed earned teachers’ retirement service…
Did Washington’s 1976 three-year rape confinement minimum bar earlier conditional release from a treatment commitment?
No. The AG read the three-year minimum as applying to people sent directly to prison, while a person given a deferred or suspended sentence for inpatient sexual-psychopath treatment remained under…
Could Washington public schools keep separate boys’ and girls’ sports teams under the 1976 Equal Rights Amendment analysis?
The AG said a school’s only team in a sport had to admit qualified students of either sex. It viewed separate teams as potentially permissible under the 1975 statute only if they best provided equal…
Could two members of a five-member Washington town council pass an ordinary ordinance in 1976?
Yes, if only three members attended and thus formed a quorum, two affirmative votes could pass an ordinary ordinance. The AG identified exceptions requiring more votes for payment orders, franchise…
Could a Washington legislator be paid by an outside employer to draft or promote a bill in 1976?
The AG said paid bill preparation was unlawful for a legislator who knew he was likely to exercise official discretion over that bill. The payer provision also reached knowing payment for promoting…
Could Washington exempt property from taxes already levied for collection in 1976?
The AG thought a new exemption could reach 1975 levies that had not yet been collected, but it had to take effect before collection. Taxes already paid could not simply be refunded or credited under…
Did Washington’s 1975 death-penalty initiative apply to murders committed before July 1, 1976?
The Attorney General said no. Although voters had approved the initiative, its aggravated-murder provisions depended on the new criminal code, which applied to offenses committed on or after July 1, 1976.
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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.