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 the highway commission regulate drive-in movie screens visible from state highways?
Not generally. The AG found no broad statutory power to control drive-in theater screens simply because highway drivers could see them. The commission could act if a particular screen qualified as a…
When a reelected county treasurer died before the new term, did the appointed replacement serve into that term?
Yes. The AG said the county commissioners’ appointee remained in office through the start of the new term and until the next general election and the election and qualification of a successor.
Could Washington lease air rights over a freeway to private parties for parking facilities?
No, under the law then in force. The AG found no statute authorizing the proposed air-rights lease; it considered such a project potentially constitutional if lawmakers first enacted proper…
Could a prosecutor or the Attorney General appoint outside-county counsel to assist before a grand jury or at trial?
The prosecutor could not independently appoint a nonresident deputy for grand-jury or trial work, and the AG could not independently appoint a special assistant to help the prosecutor before a grand…
Could missing proposition ballots invalidate a county vote, and could the prosecutor sue to set it aside?
The missing ballots might materially affect validity because eligible voters were unable to vote on a close proposition, but only a court could determine that result. The AG said the prosecuting…
Which specified state funds required a legislative appropriation before the auditor could issue warrants?
None of the named special funds required an appropriation solely by force of the state constitution. The accident, reserve accident, and medical aid funds required one by statute; the listed…
Could a county health officer receive a professional examination fee and a per diem for testimony in a mental-illness case?
The AG said a county health officer could be paid for professional examination services in a mental-illness matter, subject to the facts and proper authorization, but could not receive per diem for…
Could Washington spend the principal of several permanent education and trust funds on buildings or current operations?
Generally no. The AG treated the listed education and institutional fund principal as restricted by the federal Enabling Act, the state constitution, or trust terms. It described distinct amendment…
Could the legislative budget committee audit public schools’ attendance records because the schools received state money?
No. The AG found statutory authority to inspect the state superintendent’s records concerning appropriations, but not to audit attendance records held by school districts, which it treated as…
Could a school district hire crossing guards and grant them traffic-enforcement power?
No. The AG found no authority for school boards to hire crossing guards and vest them with traffic-law enforcement power. The law then provided a different school-patrol mechanism involving…
Could local governments pay a private hospital to remodel detention rooms, and who paid for care pending commitment?
Cities and counties could not make the proposed remodeling contribution to a private hospital. For detention care, the AG looked to the patient’s estate and legally responsible relatives if able to…
Which state agency should receive proposed local platting regulations after planning functions were transferred?
The Department of Commerce and Economic Development. The AG traced the planning-council duties through successive agency transfers and concluded the department inherited the referral role under the…
Could a city add a transit-support service charge to municipal utility bills?
No. The AG said existing municipal utility-rate authority did not permit adding a charge for unrelated transit service, whether the transit operator was city-owned or private. Its answer addressed a…
Could an elected official voluntarily leave the state employees’ retirement system and stop payroll contributions after joining?
No. The AG said the elective official’s initial choice to join did not create a later option to withdraw while serving. The county auditor had to keep withholding required contributions until…
Should county motor-vehicle fund allocations count registered owners’ residence or where their vehicles were mostly used?
The registered owner’s residence controlled under the then-current allocation formula. The AG said predominant vehicle use elsewhere could not replace the statutory owner-residence measure.
Was Tacoma bound by county zoning when establishing a municipal airport outside city limits?
No. The AG read Washington’s then-current municipal-airport statute as allowing Tacoma to establish an airport outside its boundaries without being governed by county zoning regulations for that project.
Could a county offer a reward before felony charges were filed, and could a sheriff claim a county reward?
No reward or poster expense was authorized for a person only suspected of a felony and not charged or convicted. The AG also said sheriffs and deputies could not claim a county reward for…
Were physicians licensed in California or New York entitled to a Washington medical license without examination?
Not automatically. The AG said the director of licenses had discretion under the amended reciprocity statute, even for applicants from states with reciprocal laws. Applicants had to show equivalent…
Was assigning a mortgage-foreclosure purchaser’s certificate of sale subject to real-estate excise tax?
Yes. The AG said the purchaser’s voluntary assignment of a foreclosure-sale certificate was a taxable transfer of a real-property interest, even though the original court-ordered foreclosure sale…
Did Washington parks commissioners appointed without Senate confirmation have to be elected state officials?
Yes. The AG read the statute as reserving the three seats appointed without Senate confirmation for elected state officials. It concluded that the existing appointees who lacked that qualification…
Could one owner of a Washington joint savings account pledge the whole account for a loan in 1957?
No. The AG said an agreement permitting either depositor to withdraw did not also permit either to pledge or assign the account. All joint depositors had to sign for a valid pledge; a one-owner…
Did Washington charge real estate excise tax when a court ordered commonly owned land sold instead of partitioned?
Yes. The AG distinguished a court ordered sale followed by division of proceeds from a partition of the land itself, which was excluded from the statutory definition of a taxable sale.
Could a purchaser recover Washington property taxes paid after the land had escheated to the state?
Yes. The AG said the superior court decree escheating the land to the state was a public record that made the later tax assessment a manifest error, allowing a refund petition under the then-current…
Could a Washington rural county library district spend accumulated funds without a budget item or an emergency declaration?
The AG said accumulated library funds needed an expenditure item in the budget for the year they would be spent. Trustees could not declare an emergency to spend money omitted from the annual…
When county commissioners deadlocked on filling a joint legislative vacancy, could the Governor appoint before sixty days passed?
The AG said waiting until the sixty-day county-commissioner period expired was the preferable course. It did not say an earlier appointment after a hopeless deadlock was necessarily invalid; the…
When did Washington assume liability for damage or injuries during civil defense work in 1957?
The AG said the state could owe for negligent damage to housing obtained by authorized civil defense agents and for injury caused by a negligent civil defense worker. Unenrolled volunteers generally…
Could a city skip a primary in wards with only two candidates, and could its charter elect someone outright at the primary?
Under the then-current statute, a primary was needed throughout the city if any city office had more than two candidates, even in wards with fewer. A first-class city charter could place only a…
Did county assessors have to use state Tax Commission valuation rules, and who made the final property-value judgment?
The Legislature required county assessors to use the Tax Commission’s valuation rules, guides, and manuals. The AG said the state could prescribe general methods, but the assessor retained final…
Could the state library commission accept federal rural-library funds and designate the librarian to administer the program?
Yes to both. The AG read the state library commission’s grant statute as authorizing acceptance and expenditure of federal library funds and its administrative powers as allowing it to designate the…
Who controlled the rates, schedules, and street use of an intracity bus company in Washington?
The AG said the Public Service Commission controlled bus rates and service affecting the general public despite a city franchise. The city retained control over its own street use and related…
Did Washington’s Public Service Commission control railroad crossing signals inside a first-class city?
No. The AG said the statutory exclusion for first-class cities still governed. A 1955 law mentioning “any city” did not clearly restore commission authority over signals or their cost at crossings…
Did Washington’s State Trade Fair Fund need a separate legislative appropriation before the agriculture director could spend it?
No. The AG read the 1955 act as creating a separate trust fund outside the state treasury and making its earmarked money available to the director of agriculture for trade fairs without another…
Could a Washington port withdraw from a union agreement or stop serving customers during a strike?
The AG said a port could not unilaterally withdraw from a valid union agreement without a legally recognized breach or excuse. It gave no categorical answer on liability to customers during a…
Who had to maintain and evaluate cost accounting at Washington public institutions in 1956?
The AG said the director of public institutions still had to install and maintain cost accounting systems after the departmental reorganization. The director of the budget had to evaluate whether…
Did Washington county commissioners have to fill a Senate vacancy when only a possible special session remained?
The AG said commissioners did not have to appoint immediately if all regular sessions had passed and only a possible special session remained. If the Governor called a special session, they should…
Could a Washington city raise its mayor’s salary after the primary election but before the general election?
Yes, before the general election that finally chose the mayor. The AG said a raise after the general election but before the new term would violate the constitutional bar on increasing an officer’s…
Could Washington finance rental housing for state institution employees with bonds repaid from rent?
The AG said proposed legislation for employee housing on state institution grounds likely could use private construction or revenue bonds. Its bond answer depended on a special fund repaid from…
Could a Washington school district reimburse a principal for travel to a basketball scheduling conference?
Yes. The AG treated the board-approved travel to coordinate basketball games and player eligibility as an authorized school purpose, making the principal’s actual travel expenses a valid district charge.
Could a Washington county divide tax title land into smaller parcels before resale?
Yes. The AG concluded that the 1945 session law expressly allowed counties to sell a portion of tax title land, even though its phrase including tax title land had been omitted from the codified version.
How did Washington voters approve a new school district combining whole districts and part of another?
The AG said the consolidation needed majority approval from voters in each whole district separately and from voters in the part of another district included in the proposed new district. Voters in…
Did Washington own a Bremerton dock when its lease to the city expired in 1951?
No. The AG said the dock sat on a public place dedicated to public use under city control, so the state had no ownership claim to the city improvement, its rents, or its insurance proceeds. The city…
Could Washington let a city council choose whether its clerk or attorney was elected or appointed?
The AG said proposed legislation could give eligible second- and third-class city councils that choice by ordinance without unconstitutionally delegating legislative power. Its answer concerned city…
Did time spent as a fugitive after parole revocation count toward a Washington prison sentence?
No. The AG read the statute to stop the sentence clock from revocation until the parole violator returned to custody. The board could require service of the remaining term without credit for that…
Did Washington counties have to buy blanket bonds for unelected employees one year at a time?
No. The AG found no statute requiring annual purchases for blanket bonds covering nonelective county employees. County commissioners could choose a longer term while deciding bond coverage and…
Did Washington require cash when selling gravel from navigable riverbeds in 1955?
Generally yes. The AG said the public lands commissioner had to collect cash at the date of sale for gravel from navigable riverbeds. Gravel from the Columbia River where it formed the Oregon border…
What salary step did a Washington state employee returning from military service receive in 1955?
The AG said a qualified returning employee had a right to the same salary step held before military service. The appointing officer could advance the employee to a higher step, but a merit-based…
Could a Washington bank open a branch in an unincorporated area of another county in 1955?
No. The AG read Washington’s branching statute as allowing branches in cities or towns statewide for banks meeting the larger capital requirement, but unincorporated-area branches only in the bank’s…
When did a Washington public body have to give new notice after recessing or adjourning a meeting in 1955?
The AG said no new media notice was needed for a same-day recess or a meeting continued to the next business day and then day to day. A later, noncontinuous meeting required notice to entitled…
Could a Washington real estate broker prepare clients’ deeds and contracts without a separate legal fee in 1955?
The AG said preparing deeds, mortgages, contracts, and earnest money agreements for others was practicing law even when a broker filled in blank forms and charged only the normal commission. It…
Did incorporating Bellevue and Normandy Park as third-class cities remove them from their fire district?
Yes. The AG said the new cities were automatically excluded from the district for current operations and expenses. The territory could still be taxed to satisfy fire-district debt incurred before…
Did Washington’s 1953 Cemetery Board law apply to cemetery corporations formed before 1943?
Yes. The AG said cemetery charters were subject to later reasonable regulation under the state’s police power. A 1943 savings clause protected older corporations only from that 1943 act, not from…
Could a first-class Washington school district without a large city buy a school site without a vote in 1954?
Yes, under the spending limit analyzed in the opinion. The AG said a first-class district without a first- or second-class city could use the same population-based authority to buy a site without an…
Could federally paid civilian Washington National Guard workers join the state retirement system in 1954?
Yes. The AG said civilian Guard caretakers and clerks were employees of both governments because the state adjutant general controlled their work even though federal funds paid them. It treated…
Were Washington’s World War II provisions allowing private use of prisoner labor still effective in 1954?
No. The AG read the 1943 act’s “duration of the existing war” limit as expired by 1954, so its private-labor provisions were no longer effective. That answer made the separate constitutional…
Did Washington’s 1953 extra motor vehicle registration fee cover light trailers?
No. The AG said the ten-cent catchall fee applied to motor vehicles, which the code defined as self-propelled units. Trailers under 4,000 pounds were not self-propelled, and the 1953 act set no…
Could a Washington city pay to put an advisory vote about becoming a first-class city on its primary ballot?
The AG did not give the city a direct yes-or-no authorization. It said no statute governed this preliminary advisory vote, so the Secretary of State could address it through election rules; the vote…
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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.