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’s banking supervisor adopt rules governing insurance activity by state banks and trust companies?
The AG concluded that the supervisor had authority to adopt the identified 1990 rules. Its review covered insurance agency activity by small-town banks and trust companies, and federally recognized…
Could a Washington city pay its separate municipal court judge less than a full-time district court judge?
Yes. The AG said a municipal court created under the separate city-court chapter was outside the district court system, and the city set its judge’s salary by ordinance; the district judge salary…
Did inheriting classified farm or forest land count as a transfer under Washington’s property-tax statutes?
Yes. Inheritance counted as a transfer throughout the current-use and forest-land provisions. An heir needed to sign a continuance to keep the land's special classification; the two-year exception…
Could a Washington county coroner use a vehicle the sheriff seized and forfeited under drug law?
No. The Attorney General concluded in 1991 that the sheriff could retain a forfeited vehicle for the sheriff’s official use or release it to another law enforcement agency under the statute, but a…
Could the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority require local governments to adopt its wetlands standards?
No. The Attorney General concluded in 1991 that the authority could recommend wetlands protections but could not set binding minimum standards or require cities and counties to adopt them.
Did owners of Washington Bush Act tidelands keep the right to cultivate clams after the 1919 law was repealed?
The Attorney General concluded in 1991 that owners who had cultivated clams, or substantially relied on the 1919 law, before its 1949 repeal held vested rights. The Legislature could later phase out…
Could Washington fund property-tax-linked assistance payments under proposed House Bill 1297?
The Attorney General found in 1991 that the proposed payments would not violate property-tax uniformity or discharge state taxes. The payments were gifts of public funds, however, and would be valid…
How quickly did Washington agencies have to answer public records requests, and what could they charge?
The Attorney General said in 1991 that agencies had to act reasonably expeditiously under the circumstances, with no fixed number of days. Inspection, searching and retrieval were free; agencies…
Was Washington’s Small Business Export Finance Assistance Center subject to open meetings and public records laws?
The Attorney General concluded in 1991 that the center was not the functional equivalent of a state agency. The open meetings and public records statutes then at issue therefore did not apply to it.
Could Washington’s Ecological Commission veto Ecology Department shoreline or water-resource rules?
The Attorney General concluded in 1991 that the Ecological Commission could advise Ecology but could not block the director’s shoreline rules. Its advisory statute did not govern water-resource…
Could a Washington first-class city elect charter freeholders by district instead of by citywide vote?
The Attorney General concluded in 1991 that a first-class city could require freeholder primaries, numbered positions, and district residency, but the final election had to be citywide. District…
Could a Washington county accept property-tax payments by credit card and collect the bank’s service fee from taxpayers?
The Attorney General concluded in 1991 that a county could accept a bank card if the bank guaranteed full taxes, interest, and penalties without a discount or charge to the county. The statute did…
Did Washington’s Pacific States radioactive-materials agreement end the Legislature’s control over new waste-truck entry points?
The Attorney General concluded in 1991 that the Pacific States Agreement did not trigger the expiration clause in RCW 46.48.200. The agreement did not provide for designating highway ports of entry,…
Could Washington's Apprenticeship Council reject an agreement for lack of need, committee members, or wage terms?
The 1990 AG said the Council could consider each of those grounds within its authority over apprenticeship agreements, while weighing apprentice interests and statutory standards and giving specific…
How did Washington's ten-mile rule apply to passenger ferries near state ferry routes?
The 1990 AG said the rule covered passenger-only ferries. It compared both ends of each proposed commercial crossing with the corresponding ends of one state crossing, using ten straight-line…
When did publication and referendum periods begin for a new city's interim council ordinances?
The 1990 AG said periods triggered by passage or adoption began when the interim council passed or adopted the ordinance. The ordinance itself could not take effect before the city's incorporation date.
Did a new Washington city have to pay for its first officials' election before incorporation?
No. The 1990 AG concluded that a city did not yet exist when its first officials were elected before the incorporation date, so the new city could not be charged for that election under the…
Could a Washington school district use educational TV and school materials that contained ads?
Yes. The 1990 AG said a district could use educational television if its primary purpose was educational and ads were incidental. It also could select otherwise permissible textbooks, equipment, and…
Could Washington’s schools offer separate athletic teams and gym classes for girls and boys under the rules examined in 1990?
The 1990 AG said the cited statutes did not authorize the Superintendent to forbid substantially equal separate teams or gym classes through the challenged rule provisions. Schools still had to meet…
Could a Washington county assess city land for its noxious weed control program?
Yes. The 1990 AG said a county could assess land inside a city or town for its county weed program under RCW 17.10.240, subject to the statute’s assessment and special-benefit requirements.
Did counsel and release of a Washington juvenile trigger notice to licensing and driver’s license revocation?
No. The Attorney General said in 1990 that the notice and revocation provisions applied when a juvenile signed a diversion agreement for specified alcohol or drug offenses, not when the unit used…
Did every building drawing page need an architect or engineer seal, and could a building official accept unsealed plans?
In 1990 the Attorney General said a registered architect or engineer generally had to sign and seal each drawing page or revision submitted for a permit, subject to statutory exemptions. An…
Could a Washington school district mortgage property to borrow money for a school site?
No. In 1990 the Attorney General said an individual district lacked authority to finance a real-property purchase with an institutional loan secured by a mortgage or deed of trust on the property.…
Could a Washington fire district buy medical insurance to satisfy its disabled firefighter care obligation?
No. In 1990 the Attorney General said the pension law required medical, hospital and nursing care and did not authorize using the pension fund for insurance premiums instead. A pension board could…
Were San Juan County commissioner elections unconstitutional because island residency districts had unequal populations?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that unequal residency districts did not by themselves invalidate the system because all county voters nominated and elected the commissioners. The opinion…
Could Washington’s social services department contract out community residential care for people with developmental disabilities?
The Attorney General said in 1990 that a specific statute allowed the department secretary to contract for these services despite an earlier general civil-service restriction. A collective…
Did a Washington county sheriff have to police cities that had their own police departments?
Yes. The Attorney General said in 1990 that a sheriff’s duty to enforce state law extended into incorporated cities, though no statute guaranteed a set number of officers or level of service. Cities…
Could one Washington city tax another city’s electric utility, and could it tax its own utility’s outside-city revenue?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that a city could include out-of-city customer revenue in the measure of a tax on its own electric utility, within constitutional limits. A second city could…
When was Washington’s Director of Wildlife appointed, and could the governor immediately reappoint a director who resigned?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that appointment was effective when the governor made it and notified the Senate, unless the Senate rejected it. A temporary acting director was subject to a…
Could a Washington school district finish its AIDS curriculum after the school year began?
Yes. In 1990 the Attorney General said a district could finish its own curriculum after classes began, provided it developed and taught the required AIDS education at least once before that school…
Could Washington's Ecology Department adopt every wetlands rule proposed in the 1989 Puget Sound plan?
The 1989 AG said Ecology could adopt only rules supported by its existing statutory powers. Those powers covered some water pollution, water resource, and shoreline measures but not the plan's full…
Could a nonresident outside applicant become a Washington city police or fire civil-service examiner?
The 1989 AG said the examiner had to be either an existing city employee through a promotional examination or a city resident through an open examination. General bans on city-imposed residency…
When did a Washington police agency have to hold its first auction of forfeited guns?
The 1989 AG said an agency had to hold its first auction within one year after accumulating ten forfeited firearms eligible for sale, excluding the share it could retain for its own use. With fewer…
Could a Washington flood-control district assess land based on how much it used a service instead of the benefit to that land?
The 1989 AG said no under the district statute it examined. Assessments had to rest entirely on special benefit to the property; the statute did not authorize a separate user charge or a blended…
Could a Washington school district lease unused property for an adolescent clinic and refer students there?
The 1989 AG said a district could lease surplus property for an independently run clinic if the use fit district interests, and could refer students and share consent forms. The district itself…
Did the 1989 Webster decision revive Washington's pre-viability abortion ban?
The 1989 AG said no. Webster had not overruled Roe, so Washington's then-existing prohibition between four lunar months and viability remained unenforceable. The opinion also observed that state law…
Could a Washington school district pay all teachers a bonus just for continued service?
The 1989 AG said an incentive stipend needed a defined, measurable link to enhanced performance beyond basic education duties. It questioned a blanket payment for merely fulfilling the regular…
Who could invest Washington land-trust proceeds, and could the Treasurer take part of their earnings?
The 1989 AG divided investment authority by the money's source: the Treasurer could invest most surplus in the two resource accounts, while the State Investment Board invested proceeds from sales of…
Could a Washington AIDS service network authorize needle exchange under the 1988 AIDS law?
The 1989 AG said no. The AIDS law did not override the then-existing drug-paraphernalia prohibition on distributing needles for illegal drug use. Distributors were not generally exempt from…
Did Washington's Apprenticeship Council have to publish approval standards as agency rules and hold hearings on denials?
The 1989 AG treated the Council as an agency and its apprenticeship approval standards as rules. Denying an agreement ordinarily did not require a contested-case hearing, although the opinion…
Could a Washington county be required to disclose bondholder names held only by a private registrar?
The 1989 AG said no on the facts presented. The county had not prepared, owned, used, or retained the registrar's bondholder records; a right to inspect them alone did not make them the county's…
Which Washington government paid interpreters in criminal court under the 1989 interpreter statute?
The Attorney General said the county usually paid when its prosecutor initiated the criminal proceeding. The opinion also distinguished hearing-impaired interpretation under 1985 provisions from the…
Did Washington residents have to register a boat used only outside Washington waters?
No. The Attorney General said in 1989 that the state’s vessel licensing law turned on use in Washington waters, not the owner’s residence. The opinion addressed existing statutory authority and…
Did federal physician-disciplinary reporting law override Washington’s own reporting rules?
The Attorney General concluded in 1989 that the federal Health Care Quality Improvement Act did not violate the Tenth Amendment and did not preempt Washington’s independent disciplinary reporting…
Could Washington’s schools superintendent give permanent salary-schedule credit for in-service classes taken before a teacher’s highest degree?
No. The Attorney General said in 1989 that the rule conflicted with the Legislature’s statewide salary allocation schedule, which counted credits earned after the highest degree. The rule could not…
Could a Washington fire district withdraw and reannex territory to avoid a tax levy while continuing free service?
No. In 1989 the Attorney General said a district could withdraw territory without a property-owner vote, but could not regularly serve the withdrawn area or reannex it in the same year to avoid…
Could serving Washington school board members vote themselves per-day compensation during their current terms?
No. In 1989 the Attorney General said the board could authorize the statutory payment by resolution, but its own members could not receive it until their next respective terms. An automatic…
Were surrogacy agreements lawful in Washington in 1989, and could a surrogate withdraw consent before court approval?
The Attorney General said the described arrangement was not categorically unlawful, but paid brokering faced child-selling restrictions and statutory exceptions. A surrogate’s agreement to…
Did a returning Washington LEOFF member automatically earn vacation and longevity credit for time on disability retirement?
No. In 1989 the Attorney General said the restoration statute guaranteed the member’s rank and current salary for that rank, not every benefit that continuous service would have earned. Longevity…
Could Washington require officers hired before 1978 to take basic academy training after a break in employment?
No. The Attorney General said in 1989 that a training commission rule adding a continuous-employment condition to the statutory exemption was invalid. The opinion therefore did not decide whether…
When did Washington’s Survey Recording Act require filing a record of survey?
The Attorney General said in 1989 that the listed examples were not exhaustive: establishment, reestablishment or restoration of qualifying boundary corners required filing. Locating a line between…
Did Washington wildlife agents need a search warrant to inspect a licensed wildlife business in 1988?
The 1988 AG said a specific statute allowed reasonable warrantless inspections of listed regulated wildlife businesses, while another statute supplied warrants for broader searches based on probable…
Did Washington’s 1988 AIDS law end the marriage-license affidavit about venereal disease?
No. The 1988 AG concluded that the new confidentiality law did not implicitly repeal the older requirement that marriage-license applicants file an affidavit that they were not afflicted with a…
Could King County stop paying superior court judges’ health and life benefits when the state covered them?
The 1988 AG said the county could discontinue its duplicate coverage and did not have to match the state plan to county employee benefits. It cautioned that, if benefits counted as constitutional…
Could a Washington optometrist refer a patient for eye surgery and then provide follow-up care?
The 1988 AG said that arrangement alone did not violate the cited anti-rebate rules if each professional provided only licensed services and billed only for services performed. The medical board…
Could Washington county commissioners receive higher health benefits during their term in 1988?
The 1988 AG said the Legislature intended its 1983 amendment to allow midterm increases in county commissioners’ group health benefits by declaring plan costs not to be additional compensation. The…
Could Washington municipal treasurers buy commercial paper, delegate warrants, and use bank credit in 1988?
The 1988 AG said treasurers could invest in commercial paper despite an assumed unwritten investment-board policy, but could not delegate warrant redemption to a bank. A qualified bank line of…
Would a 1988 Washington petroleum-tank bill amend or repeal either cleanup measure on the ballot?
The AG said the answer depended on which 1988 measure voters approved. Under Initiative 97, the bill’s cleanup-funding provisions would be amendments needing two-thirds approval in each legislative…
Could a Washington county add tougher aquaculture limits than its approved shoreline master program?
The 1988 AG said no for aquaculture on shorelines of statewide significance where the county’s restrictions conflicted with the state-approved master program. Neither the county planning statute nor…
Were a Washington judge’s informal admonishment and waived conduct investigation public in 1988?
The 1988 AG said an informal admonishment had to be public when it followed a public hearing, but the judicial conduct commission could keep a pre-hearing admonishment confidential. A judge’s waiver…
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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.