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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Did Washington’s 1973 fire-protection contract law apply to school district property within or next to a fire district?
Yes. The AG said a school district counted as a “municipal corporation” for this law, so qualifying school property came under the fire-protection contract requirement when the amendment took effect…
Could a Washington county donate 1972 federal revenue-sharing funds to a private senior center or a fire district buying an ambulance?
The AG said no to both proposed gifts. State law barred a county gift to the private senior center, and a noncharter county lacked statutory authority to donate money to a fire protection district.
Did changing the rent during a public-land lease count as renegotiating it for Washington’s 1973 leasehold tax law?
No. The AG said a change in rent during an existing lease was not a “renegotiation” under that law unless it accompanied an extension or renewal; a renewal or extension itself could still change the…
Could a Washington county equalization board raise a property assessment without notice when the owner appeared only to ask for a reduction?
No. The AG said a taxpayer’s voluntary request for a lower real-property assessment did not let the county board raise that assessment without first giving the owner or agent at least five days’…
Could a Washington code city with more than 20,000 residents ban gambling licensed by the state commission under the 1973 law?
No. The AG said the 1973 law gave that prohibition power to counties and first-class cities, but a code city did not become a first-class city merely by having more than 20,000 residents.
Which Washington campaigns had to disclose contributions under Initiative No. 276, and could public office resources be used to help a campaign?
The AG said the initiative generally covered campaigns for public office and ballot measures, with specified office-election exclusions and limited reporting exemptions. It also barred campaign use…
Could a Washington referendum petition qualifying in 1973 be voted on at that year’s November statewide election?
The AG said yes for Referendum Measure No. 36 if enough valid signatures were filed by the June 1973 deadline. The new annual-election law made the November 1973 statewide vote a qualifying regular…
Did Washington’s 1972 referendum and 1973 initiative repeal campaign reports and political-ad sponsor labels?
The AG said the candidate campaign-report statute was repealed, but the political-advertising sponsor-identification statute remained in effect. The initiative repealed the referendum before its…
Which fees could Washington public schools charge students for classes, books, activities and lunches in 1973?
The AG said ordinary K–12 tuition and course fees were generally unauthorized, with specified exceptions. Districts could charge for some optional items, lunch, certain textbooks or supplies, and…
Could parents inspect Washington public-school records about a student who was already 18?
The 1973 AG said a district could allow inspection unless disclosure would violate the student’s privacy and protected material could not be removed without destroying the record. It left the…
Could a Washington school district lay off teachers but promise them unpaid leave and a return to future vacancies?
The 1973 AG said a return promise needed valid consideration and a written agreement, and it questioned promises lasting beyond a year. An unpaid teacher would not earn active retirement service;…
Did a temporary Washington legislative adjournment start the 90-day effective-date clock for referendum bills?
The AG said no in 1973. For legislation subject to referendum, the 90-day period started only after the legislative session finally adjourned, not when the House and Senate took an agreed temporary break.
How did the 1973 Supreme Court abortion decisions affect enforcement of Washington’s existing abortion statutes?
The AG said the rulings then prevented enforcement of Washington’s residency rule, early-pregnancy facility limits and some time restrictions. It treated licensed-physician and…
Did Washington irrigation-district directors have to file financial-interest reports, and which assets counted?
The 1973 AG said directors were covered elected officials despite property-owner voting rules. Under the initiative it examined, reports covered qualifying individual intangible interests, not…
How did Washington’s 1972 campaign spending limits apply to a school district levy election?
The AG said the ballot proposition limits applied even in districts with fewer than 5,000 registered voters. Supporters and opponents had separate spending limits, each based on registered voters in…
Could the public inspect Washington school district salary and payroll deduction records in 1973?
The AG said school district salary and payroll records were public records generally open to inspection and copying. Particular private deduction details could be withheld or deleted if disclosure…
Could a Washington school district require returning a teacher renewal contract within a reasonable period?
Yes. The AG concluded that a district could set a reasonable period for a certificated teacher to sign and return a renewal contract. Even after the statutory nonrenewal notice date passed, a…
Could a Washington city tax fuel oil retail sales at a different gross receipts rate from other retail sales?
No. The AG concluded that if a city imposed a gross receipts license fee or excise tax on fuel oil retailers, it had to impose the same tax at a single uniform rate on all retail sales of tangible…
What client information did Washington lawyer candidates and elected officials have to disclose in 1973?
The AG said the 1972 disclosure initiative required covered lawyers to identify compensated lobbying related clients, qualifying business clients, qualifying firm clients, and actual salaried…
Could a Washington charity pay a member to run bingo games from the bingo receipts?
The AG allowed a fixed hourly or periodic payment to a member, but said it could not come from the game’s gross or net receipts. A percentage of receipts or profits was also prohibited.
When did Washington elected officials first have to file financial disclosures under Initiative 276?
The AG said officials filing as officeholders first reported by January 31, 1974 for calendar year 1973. Reports went to the Public Disclosure Commission at the secretary of state’s office, and…
Did Washington school district health plans have to cover every licensed practitioner statewide?
The AG said districts were not required to offer employee health coverage. If a covered condition could be treated by more than one listed profession, the plan had to allow a choice among those…
Did Washington split the old mobile-home identification tag fee between property taxes and the motor vehicle fund?
No. The AG said the entire $9.40 fee went to the state motor vehicle fund. The owner received a separate $4.70 credit against property tax due, rather than a transfer of half the fee to the county.
Did a Washington utility commissioner lose office after moving to another commissioner district within the same utility district?
No. The AG said neither an internal move nor redrawn commissioner boundaries created a vacancy, as long as the commissioner remained a resident of the public utility district.
Did a Washington juvenile court have to send a traffic case record to the motor vehicle department even without a criminal conviction?
Yes. The AG said the court had to forward the citation and its action in juvenile traffic cases. A delinquency order was not a conviction, but the separate reporting requirement still applied.
Could Washington’s governor veto a lottery bill passed by the special 60 percent legislative vote?
Yes. The AG said the 60 percent vote requirement did not remove the governor’s veto over an ordinary legislative bill. A lottery measure referred to voters was outside that veto power.
Did a Washington code city have to solicit bids before hiring an insurance broker?
The AG said no under the statutes it analyzed. The code-city bidding cross-reference covered public works and improvements, not a separate contract for an insurance broker’s professional services.
When an eligible senior sold a Washington home after paying the first tax installment, how much did an ineligible buyer owe?
The AG said a buyer who assumed the remaining taxes owed half of the original levy. The seller’s unused personal exemption did not transfer with the house.
Which fund paid a lawyer appointed for an indigent misdemeanor defendant in a Washington justice court?
The AG said constitutionally required appointed counsel could be paid under the counsel statute, but the fee came from the county current expense fund, not justice court revenues.
Could a Washington port commission choose the bank for its surplus funds when the county treasurer invested them?
Yes. The AG said the commission could name the qualified institution when authorizing an investment. The treasurer could instead use the separate authority to buy specified U.S. securities, but…
Could the public inspect Washington land commissioner records showing deposits from timber sales?
The AG said yes. Financial records of the commissioner’s deposit transactions were open for inspection at the agency during working hours; the agency did not have to surrender the records or provide…
Could a Washington community college require every classified employee to retire at 65 regardless of the job?
The AG said no. A blanket age-65 rule for classified civil service employees ignored whether age was related to each job; the retirement system’s age-70 provision did not itself promise continued…
Could Washington deny a private club a liquor license because its written rules excluded people by race?
The AG expressed substantial doubt that the liquor board could impose such a disqualification under its existing statutes. It concluded that the legislature could constitutionally give the board…
Could a Washington community college board send non-board members to negotiate with its academic employees?
The AG said the board could assign negotiations to a committee of its own trustees, but not to a committee containing outsiders. The general power to delegate duties to a college president did not…
Could a Washington sewer district assess county-owned land, and could the county object later if mailed notice went to a former owner?
The AG said specially benefited county land could be assessed. Where statutory publication and mailing rules were followed, the county’s failure to protest on time barred its later challenge, even…
Could a Washington county build separate water or sewer systems for different areas, and what planning did each need?
Yes. The AG said a county could create separate or combined systems for all or part of the county, but each separate system needed its own general plan and review committee under the 1972 statutes.
Could a Washington treasurer collect a new mobile-home property tax early in late 1972 if the home might leave the county?
No. The AG said the 1971 transition law required the first new mobile-home property tax to be paid in 1973, so a treasurer could not accelerate its collection before January 1, 1973 under the…
Did permanently affixing a Washington mobile home automatically exempt it from the 1972 mobile-home excise tax?
No. The AG said the exemption applied if the qualifying home had previously been entered and assessed on the real-property rolls under the special procedure. Merely affixing it, or its automatic…
Could a Washington sheriff’s civil-service commission bar everyone under 21 from applying because deputies might have to enter taverns?
No blanket bar, said the AG. The commission could set a 21-year minimum for specific positions that required tavern entry for law enforcement under the law then in force.
Could Washington trailer and camper owners pay the lower 1972 excise tax by delaying their vehicle license until after May 23?
No. The AG said owners already possessing trailers or campers in Washington before the rate change owed the old 2% tax for 1972, even if they delayed licensing or payment. It also rejected refunds…
Did Washington’s 1972 senior property-tax exemption count federal civil-service and railroad pensions as income?
Yes. The AG said those pensions counted in full for the income test, except portions returning the applicant’s own capital or investment. The statute’s special two-thirds rule applied only to Social…
Could Washington’s governor alone return state jurisdiction over tribal lands after the state had assumed it?
The AG said the governor lacked general authority under 1972 state law to retrocede validly assumed jurisdiction. It distinguished correcting an earlier proclamation that had been issued in error.
How did Washington’s 1971 lower interest rate apply to overdue property taxes across multiple parcels?
The AG said the 5% rate applied to no more than $500 of a year’s delinquent real-property taxes for the first delinquency year only. The $500 limit applied to the taxpayer’s combined parcels within…
What campaign-ad, roadside-sign and public-employee political activity restrictions did Washington’s AG identify in 1972?
The AG surveyed separate 1972 rules for ad sponsor labels, sign placement and political activity by different classes of public employees. It stressed that employee rules varied by job and that…
Could a Washington juvenile court place a child with an unlicensed foster-care agency if the agency was otherwise covered by licensing law?
No. The AG said a court order under the juvenile-court placement statute did not exempt an agency from the separate licensing requirement for receiving and caring for a dependent or delinquent child.
Could a Washington cemetery district sell plots to nonresidents and charge them more?
Yes. The AG said a cemetery district could serve people who neither lived nor owned taxable property in the district. It could charge them higher fees if the difference reasonably reflected their…
Did Washington traffic laws and speed limits apply on federal Forest Service roads in 1972?
The AG said state traffic rules applied on Forest Service roads, including special service roads, where federal rules did not conflict. It treated the state’s then 50 mph county road limit as the…
Could Washington parks officials close every ocean beach to automobile driving at all times?
The AG said the parks commission could regulate when and where cars drove on designated ocean beach highways, but it could not bar all automobile driving on every covered beach all the time.
Could a Washington county prosecutor acting as coroner appoint a deputy who was not a lawyer?
The AG said a prosecutor serving as coroner in a fourth through ninth class county could appoint deputy coroners with county commissioner consent. The commissioners set their pay, and the deputies…
Could a Washington employer require women to work four ten-hour days under the laws considered in 1971?
The 1971 AG said covered employers could permit women to work four ten-hour days. Employers also covered by federal Title VII could require the schedule on the same terms as for men; employers…
Would a Washington officer be personally liable for scrapping an abandoned car mistakenly valued at $50 or less?
The 1971 AG said an officer acting in good faith had a defense to a conversion claim if the car met the other statutory conditions and the officer mistakenly valued it at $50 or less. The opinion…
Could a Washington town appoint a municipal judge who lived and worked outside town but regularly represented its residents?
Under the 1971 statute, yes, if the appointee was a Washington attorney whose professional contacts in the town were substantial and continuing. A nonattorney appointee in a town under 5,000 still…
Could a Washington court extend a suspended sentence beyond the term it actually imposed?
No. The AG said the 1971 law required a definite end date no later than when the sentence actually imposed would have expired, even if that sentence was shorter than the maximum allowed for the crime.
Did Washington’s 1971 age-law amendment let eighteen to twenty-year-olds enter taverns?
No. The AG said the tavern-entry ban for people under twenty-one remained in force. An existing exception allowed professional musicians aged eighteen or older to enter during their work.
Could the public attend a Washington county board of equalization’s July sessions under the 1971 law?
Yes, generally. The AG read the board’s statutory “open session” requirement as allowing public spectators. The board had to close a portion when the assessor offered confidential taxpayer…
Could Washington reserve an Evergreen Point Bridge lane for buses or carpools under the 1971 law?
The AG said a lane could be reserved for buses if bridge revenue still met bond debt-service requirements. The highway commission lacked authority to reserve a lane for cars based only on a minimum…
Did Washington’s 1971 property-appraiser qualifications apply to the county assessor?
No. The AG said the requirements applied to assessor assistants and deputies who valued real property, but the statute did not clearly impose them on an elected or appointed county assessor.
Did a Washington fire dispatcher need to pass a firefighter civil service exam to qualify for the 1971 retirement system?
No. The AG identified two statutory routes to firefighter status that did not require the individual to pass the exam. It also addressed increased disability retirement benefits and when vested…
Did Washington’s 1971 open meetings law cover informal gatherings without a vote?
Yes, when a majority of a public agency’s governing body met to consider official business. The AG read the 1971 act to cover deliberation and informal sessions even without a formal vote, while…
How did Washington calculate taxable property value for 1971 tuberculosis facility levies?
The AG said all three tuberculosis levies in the 1971 act used county assessor valuations. Under the assessment rule then in force, multiplying each parcel’s assessed value by two yielded the 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.