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 Washington legislators withdraw a constitutional amendment already filed for a vote in 1969?
The 1969 AG said the legislature could not withdraw and revise a proposed constitutional amendment after the required vote and filing with the secretary of state. It could submit a second amendment…
When did Washington’s 1969 two percent fire pension increase start for widows already receiving benefits?
The 1969 AG said a qualifying widow already receiving benefits because the firefighter died or retired for service-related disability before July 1, 1969 used the July increase provision. A widow of…
Could a retired Washington homeowner reclaim exempt property tax paid by mistake without an earlier exemption filing?
Yes. The 1969 AG said an eligible retiree who paid the exempt first $50 by mistake, inadvertence, or lack of knowledge could prove eligibility with a timely refund claim, even without claiming the…
Did Washington have to pay half of a county prosecutor’s retirement and Social Security costs in 1969?
No. The 1969 AG said the state’s statutory duty to pay half of each county prosecutor’s salary did not include half of the employer contributions for retirement or Social Security.
Could a Washington county set a higher general tax rate outside its cities in 1969?
No. The 1969 AG said a county of the fifth class or under could not impose a higher regular county levy for general purposes on unincorporated property than on property inside its cities and towns.
How were Washington tideland lease rents divided when a port built improvements after 1967?
The 1969 AG said state management deductions came out before splitting tideland or harbor lease rent. For port improvements built after the 1967 amendment, the port received all net rent…
Which investments could a Washington city fire pension board buy under the 1969 amendment?
The 1969 AG said a city fire pension board could invest in the classes added to the municipal pension investment statute. Its separate fire pension investment authority remained available.
What county funds and services had to transfer to Washington intermediate school districts in 1969?
The 1969 AG said counties could pay the required half-year amount to intermediate school districts monthly by current-expense-fund warrant. They could not hold back a superintendent’s salary or…
Did a Washington assessor have to inspect property before changing its tax value in 1969?
The 1969 AG said the statute required a county assessor to physically inspect real property before changing its true and fair tax value. It found no such requirement in the state constitution.
How did Washington’s 1969 valuation change affect a school district’s bond limit?
The 1969 AG said school district bonding capacity used the actual true and fair value of taxable property, rather than assessed value. For the district in its question, whose property had been…
Could a Washington city police officer retire above captain rank without three consecutive years in that rank?
The 1969 AG said an officer needed three years above captain rank at some point during covered service, not three consecutive years immediately before retirement. An officer electing the higher…
Did Washington’s 1969 police pension changes increase benefits for widows already receiving pensions?
The 1969 AG said the removed Social Security and other-pension offset applied prospectively to widows already receiving the special pension. It also calculated the annual two percent increase from…
Which interest rate applied to overdue Washington property taxes paid after May 8, 1969?
The 1969 AG said the amended 10% annual interest rate applied when delinquent real or personal property taxes were tendered on or after May 8, 1969, even if the tax had become overdue before the amendment.
Did a Washington school board seat become vacant when its director moved to another director district?
No. The AG said a director who moved between director districts within the same school district could serve the remainder of the elected term. The director represented the entire school district,…
Could a Washington charity or city license the gambling devices and games addressed in the 1969 AG opinion?
The AG said the specified pinball, punchboard, and pull tab devices were unlawful under then state law; paid card games and prize bingo also violated the statutes it discussed. Charitable purpose…
Could Washington contract to hold county jail prisoners in an existing state felony prison in 1969?
No. The AG found no authority for the state institutions department to make that arrangement. The interlocal cooperation law allowed agencies to combine existing powers but did not create a new…
Could a Washington county prosecutor also serve as juvenile probation officer after the 1969 court rules?
No. The AG said the new juvenile rules made the prosecutor and juvenile probation officer roles incompatible. It also found that mandatory costs of complying with those rules could qualify for the…
How did Washington’s 1969 property tax opinion treat stored beer, alumina, and barley malt?
The AG excluded unpaid federal beer excise tax from the value of beer still in warehouse storage; treated alumina as exempt ore during the statutory processing period; and found stored barley malt…
In 1969, did probation dismissal or final parole discharge lift Washington’s pistol ban after a covered conviction?
The AG distinguished two dispositions: dismissal after completed probation released a person from the pistol disability, but a parole discharge restoring civil rights did not remove the pistol ban…
Could Washington regulate water quality and industrial waste discharges in irrigation canals and drains?
Yes. The AG said water in irrigation and drainage canals, drains, wasteways, and reservoirs was within the state water quality law. The pollution commission could set standards, and commercial or…
Was Washington real estate excise tax due when an owner put property in a revocable trust for their own benefit?
The AG said no for the transaction described: an owner transferred title to themselves as trustee, kept the right to revoke, and remained the beneficiary. Without valuable consideration, the…
Which Washington district commissioners could receive a pay increase during their terms after the 1968 amendment?
The AG said public utility and fire district commissioners still could not receive midterm increases because they fixed their own pay. Port commissioners could receive voter approved increases;…
Which fatality claims counted when Washington set workers’ compensation employer premiums in 1969?
The AG said the department could use a five year period to average pension claim costs. Deaths of unmarried workers with no surviving beneficiaries or dependents did not count in that pension claim…
Did a registered Washington civil-defense worker qualify for injury benefits while working under Red Cross control?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that registration alone did not qualify the worker. The injury had to arise from civil-defense service under the general or specific direction and control of…
When was driving a large vehicle “for compensation” under Washington’s 1967 license-endorsement rule?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that the special endorsement applied when driving a covered vehicle was a distinct paid job duty. Driving only incidentally or occasionally as part of another…
Could Washington city officers and mayors receive a midterm raise after the 1968 pay amendment?
The Attorney General concluded that the amendment let municipal officers who did not fix their own compensation receive lawful midterm increases despite a contrary city charter. A mayor who voted as…
Could a Washington coroner send a traffic-fatality blood sample to the state toxicologist?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that a coroner could send the sample for testing without violating the statute protecting autopsy reports and records. The state toxicologist could ask for…
Could a Washington county include courtroom and office costs when allocating justice-court receipts?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that a county covered by the 1961 justice court act included the cost of courtrooms and offices in justice-court expenditures when computing quarterly…
When did Washington’s 1968 officer-pay amendment take effect, and did sitting judges get raises?
The Attorney General concluded that the amendment took effect upon the official canvass and governor’s proclamation, with a 30-day outside limit if those steps were delayed. Once effective, it…
Could a Washington third-class city grant a railroad an irrevocable franchise to cross its streets?
No. The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that the then-current franchise statutes did not authorize a third-class city to grant a perpetual, irrevocable railroad franchise. He left the validity of…
Could Washington replenish its tort-claims account to pay judgments beyond the 1967 appropriation?
No. The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that agency reimbursements could not be spent again without a new appropriation and that the $400,000 emergency allocation was the ceiling for that…
Did a Washington county auditor need to find an emergency for a school excess-levy election?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that no emergency finding was required to hold a school district’s excess-levy election on the date in its resolution, if the auditor received the resolution…
Could local air pollution boards enforce their emission rules after Washington’s state board took over a class of sources?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that local rules remained enforceable until the state board’s replacement rules took effect. Once effective state rules governed a class of sources, local…
Did Washington freight-carrier violations require the uniform traffic ticket used for driving offenses?
No. The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that chapter 81.80 freight-carrier violations were economic-regulation offenses outside the traffic-ticket rules. The commission could still use an…
Could a Washington optometrist pass on another optometrist’s name to a third practitioner?
No. The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that the statute allowed a licensed optometrist to transfer the right to use that optometrist’s own name, but did not let the recipient pass that name to a…
Did processing goods in a Washington warehouse defeat the in-transit property tax exemption?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that goods brought into Washington for out-of-state shipment lost the “free port” exemption if processing in storage changed their form or nature. He said…
When did a Washington farm tractor or trailer need a license or farm-vehicle decal on a public road?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that a tractor hauling produce between farms needed its own vehicle license or farm-vehicle decal; a trailer’s decal did not cover the tractor. A trip to a…
Was a Washington school district liable when a child was injured during a parent-arranged trip to school?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that a district and its employees had not assumed control of a student’s trip when a parent, or someone the parent directed, drove the child to or from school…
Was Washington’s municipal conditional-sale debt limit based on actual or assessed property value?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that the one-and-one-half-percent limit for the specified municipal conditional sales contracts used the actual value of taxable property, not its assessed…
Did Washington need congressional consent for the Multistate Tax Compact to take effect?
The Attorney General concluded in 1968 that Washington’s adoption of the Multistate Tax Compact took effect without congressional consent. He cautioned that a congressional consent bill would remove…
Did Washington’s 1968 extra divorce filing fee apply to older cases or get refunded if no decree issued?
The 1968 AG said the extra $1 filing fee applied to covered divorce, annulment, and separate maintenance cases filed after the new law took effect. It was mandatory in those cases and could not be…
Could a Washington employer deduct prior employee loans from wages under a written agreement in 1968?
The 1968 AG said a written agreement to deduct employer-advanced credit from wages did not violate the wage rebate law and did not need county-auditor filing. Under the then-existing statute, a…
Could a Washington school district put two annual excess levies on the November 1968 ballot?
No. The 1968 AG said the existing excess-levy election statute allowed only the single-year proposition, and a proposed constitutional amendment would not itself change that statute.
Could a Washington owner recover lawyer fees spent evaluating a condemnation offer in 1968?
Yes. The 1968 AG said reasonable lawyer fees incurred to evaluate a condemnor’s offer could count toward the statute’s total $200 per-parcel reimbursement limit. A later trial fee award had to…
Could a Washington county bill probation services as justice court expenses in 1968?
No. The 1968 AG said county probation and parole services for justice court defendants were county services, not justice court expenditures, so the county could not finance them through the…
Could a Washington fire district with volunteers give paid firefighters civil service protection?
Yes. The 1968 AG said a district with paid and volunteer firefighters could adopt civil service for its full-time paid firefighters. Once adopted, the city-style civil service rules applied, and…
Were Social Security payments deducted from every Washington police widow’s pension under the 1968 law?
The 1968 AG said the offset applied only to the special $150 monthly pension for a limited class of police widows, not the general widow pension. For that special pension, it included the widow’s…
Did Washington’s industrial-insurance catastrophe relief apply when injured coworkers had different job classes?
Yes. The 1968 AG said the catastrophe-cost rule applied when three or more workers of one employer suffered the specified severe injuries in one accident, even if no three belonged to the same…
Could one person be both president and treasurer of a Washington corporation under the 1968 law?
The 1968 AG said a corporation president could also hold another office, including treasurer, unless the articles or bylaws said otherwise. The same person could not be both president and secretary…
Could a registered land contract buyer sign a petition to dissolve a bonded Washington irrigation district?
The 1968 AG said a signer had to be registered under general election law and be a freeholder of the district. It treated a buyer under a forfeitable executory land contract as a freeholder for this…
Could Washington judges appoint one court commissioner for a multicounty district instead of one per county?
Yes. The 1968 AG said superior court judges in a multicounty judicial district could choose either one commissioner to serve the whole district or separate commissioners for its counties.
Did Washington counties include voter approved excess levies when distributing state forest land revenue?
Yes. The AG said counties had to apportion state forest land revenues using the same proportions as current real property taxes, including excess levies, among the funds that would have taxed the…
Could a Washington sheriff hire a private tow company for an abandoned stolen car, and could it claim a lien?
Yes, under the law addressed in 1968. If public equipment and storage were unavailable, the sheriff could use a private operator to take custody of the car; the 1967 towing law let that operator…
Could a Washington city get a permit for nonconsumptive use of a fully appropriated stream?
Possibly. The AG said a fully appropriated stream might still have water available for a beneficial nonconsumptive use, but a permit depended on actual water availability, protection of existing…
Did a Washington school nurse's nursing certificate give her teacher bargaining and tenure rights in 1968?
No, for a nurse who lacked a regular teaching certificate and was employed neither as a teacher nor a supervisor. The AG said the nursing certificate alone did not meet the professional negotiations…
Did Washington's retail installment sales law cover purchases made with bank credit cards in 1968?
Yes. The AG said merchandise and service purchases through a participating seller fell under the retail charge agreement rules, including limits on service charges. A cash advance from the bank was…
Could a Washington business estimate its in transit inventory tax exemption with a sales percentage?
No. Under the 1968 free port statutes, the AG said the business had to identify the particular goods claimed as exempt and establish their later shipment out of state. Multiplying purchase and sales…
Were oysters growing in their beds taxable as real estate or personal property in Washington?
The AG concluded in 1968 that oysters in their beds were personal property for property tax purposes. Their presence on the bed did not make the animals part of the land.
Could one Washington landholder cast extra votes in an irrigation district election for owning several parcels?
Ordinarily, no. The AG said one person did not gain extra votes by holding several parcels or several legal interests; the statute separately allowed an acreage based extra vote for qualifying land…
Who decided eligibility for a Washington occupational driver's license after a mandatory suspension in 1968?
The judge who received the petition made the initial eligibility decision. The motor vehicle director could then compare the order with department records, while proof of financial responsibility…
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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.