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 a Washington homeowner need a licensed installer and permit for new electrical service lines in 1988?
For a person hired to install a homeowner’s service lines, the 1988 AG required a licensed electrical contractor or certified electrician, plus a permit and inspection. A later transfer of line…
Could a Washington city pay a resident’s legal fees after a court ruled the city did not owe them?
The 1988 AG said the city could not pay merely because its council felt morally obligated. With no legal liability for the fees, payment required a statute, ordinance, or appropriation authorizing…
Could a Washington transit benefit area pay cities or counties to maintain streets used by its buses?
The 1988 AG said no. A transit benefit area had no statutory responsibility or power to make voluntary contributions for city or county street maintenance, even through an interlocal agreement. The…
Could a Washington county use its real-estate excise tax to improve city-owned property through an interlocal agreement?
The 1988 AG said only if the improvement served a genuine county purpose. An interlocal agreement did not expand the county's spending power. County ownership was relevant but not an absolute…
Did Washington Ecology have to meet water-quality funding percentages every fiscal year?
The 1988 AG said no, apart from the Conservation Commission set-aside. Ecology was to bring distributions as close as possible to the statutory percentages over the full eight-year program and not…
Could a Washington hospital district avoid prevailing wages by leasing land to a builder and leasing the project back?
The 1988 AG said no for a public hospital project: using a private lessee and leaseback did not remove it from the prevailing-wage law. A project serving both public and private purposes required a…
Did Washington's 1988 firearm statute prohibit merely possessing a gun silencer?
No. The 1988 AG read the statute as prohibiting use of a firearm noise-suppression device, not mere possession of the device. The opinion addressed that statute's wording, not every possible firearm…
Could a Washington hospital district operate a treatment center outside its boundaries?
The 1988 AG said yes when the center primarily served the district's residents. The district could not operate inside another hospital district without that district's agreement.
Did Washington agencies have to use the architect-and-engineer selection process to hire land surveyors?
Yes. The 1988 AG read the procurement law's definition of architectural and engineering services to include professional land surveying, so agencies had to follow that law's selection process for…
Could a Washington school district use bonds or a six-year levy just to buy computers and furniture?
The 1988 AG said no to bonds or a six-year levy solely for equipment and furniture. A six-year levy for a qualifying modernization project involving major structural work could include equipment and…
Could a Washington agency demand a reason for a records request or withhold confidential property-tax income data?
The 1988 AG said an agency could ask why a record was sought but could not deny it solely for silence. It could seek a noncommercial-use promise for a list of people, but not a hold-harmless…
Could a Washington 911 center record calls to responders or call back someone reporting an emergency?
The 1988 AG said dispatcher-to-responder calls were generally not private, though some might be. A callback to complete a citizen's emergency report could be recorded without everyone's consent, and…
Did restoration of civil rights or a vacated conviction make a person eligible for a Washington concealed-pistol license in 1988?
For the specified violent, firearm and drug felonies, the Attorney General said no under the 1988 statute: discharge, restored civil rights or a vacated record did not itself restore eligibility.…
Could a Washington county bill a city for booking, jailing and prosecuting a city police arrest under state misdemeanor law?
No. The Attorney General said in 1988 that the county bore those state-law prosecution costs unless the city agreed by contract to share them. A separate court-improvement cost agreement could be…
Could Washington classify a bridge replacement and repair project as a major improvement for funding?
Yes. In 1988 the Attorney General said the Transportation Commission could place the mixed First Avenue South Bridge project in the major-improvements category by looking at its primary purpose. The…
When was a Washington short-plat application fee a lawful regulatory fee rather than an unauthorized tax?
The Attorney General said in 1988 that a city or county could charge reasonable fees to recover the actual cost of processing and regulating short plats. A charge designed to raise revenue beyond…
Could Washington randomly assign new welfare applicants between a family independence program and an older assistance program?
No. The Attorney General said in 1988 that the governing statute required all eligible new applicants to enroll in the new family independence program when it was implemented, apart from the…
Was Washington Child Protective Services required to investigate abuse allegedly committed by a teacher or neighbor?
The Attorney General said in 1988 that CPS was authorized but ordinarily not required to investigate abuse by these third parties under the child-welfare statute. A duty might arise when the…
When could a Washington public agency consider price while choosing an architect or engineer?
The Attorney General said in 1988 that the agency had to select the most qualified firm without considering its proposed price. It could negotiate a fair and reasonable price only after that…
Could Washington’s corrections department be paid to house federal prisoners in state prisons?
Yes. The Attorney General said in 1988 that the Interstate Corrections Compact expressly allowed contracts with the federal government for prisoner confinement in state institutions, including terms…
Could a Washington school district open or fund an adolescent health clinic under 1988 law?
No. The Attorney General said districts lacked express or implied authority to establish the clinics described in two unenacted bills, spend district funds on them, or contract for them. Because…
Did Washington’s 1987 school enhancement grants count as levy reduction funds?
Yes. The Attorney General said in 1988 that the Local Education Program Enhancement Funds were statewide block-grant funds within the amended levy law, so they counted as levy reduction funds. An…
In 1987, did a juvenile offense bar a Washington handgun permit, and were concealed-weapon applications public?
The 1987 AG said a juvenile-court offense finding was not the conviction that triggered the cited handgun bar, though separate age limits still applied. It also said an announced plan to commit a…
Could a Washington county discount unpaid property taxes to help a city sell land acquired through assessment foreclosure?
The 1987 AG said no in the context of a city sale under RCW 35.53.030. The county could not accept less than the full outstanding taxes, interest, and penalties from the purchaser merely to return…
Could Washington’s industrial insurance appeals board pay the bar dues of its attorney employees?
The 1987 AG said no. Bar membership was required for industrial appeals judges, but the Board lacked statutory authority to pay their dues as compensation or reimburse them as an employment expense.
Could the Washington State Patrol carry out vehicle-equipment duties that 1987 laws still assigned to a commission?
Yes. The 1987 AG read three acts from the same session together and concluded that the State Patrol could perform the former Commission on Equipment duties in the ignition-interlock and…
Could a Washington state agency put its headquarters outside Olympia or move its director temporarily?
The 1987 AG said principal executive offices, including the agency head and core administrative functions, had to be in or near Olympia as it existed in 1890. Branch offices could be elsewhere; the…
Did a Washington court order placing a child outside the home itself establish that staying home was contrary to the child’s welfare?
The 1987 AG said yes for orders approving alternative residential placement, court-ordered shelter care, and dependency disposition orders for out-of-home placement. The required findings inherently…
Could a Washington community-college board member also direct the Spokane joint higher-education center?
The 1987 AG said no, even on an interim consultant contract. The director performed duties for and was paid by public universities, making the role an employee position or at least a direct…
Could a sitting county commissioner be nominated to fill a legislative vacancy chosen by county boards?
The 1987 AG said no for a joint legislative district that included the commissioner’s county. A party state central committee could submit only candidates eligible for the eventual appointment at…
Could a Washington crane game be both a gambling device and an amusement game?
The 1987 AG said yes if material chance made it gambling and material skill plus the other statutory criteria made it an amusement game. The Gambling Commission had to evaluate each machine’s design…
Did a Washington parole board need another court order to parole an inmate transferred from treatment?
The 1987 AG said the board could request a parole plan after the transferred inmate served the minimum confinement period, less good time, and did not need a new order from the committing court…
Could a Washington county stop road repairs because residents voted to incorporate a new city?
The 1987 AG said no during the transition before official incorporation: voter approval alone did not end the county’s duty to provide road construction and repair services. The county still…
Could Washington’s Board of Tax Appeals set staff pay and qualifications outside civil service?
The 1987 AG said the board could appoint, discharge, and fix compensation for the employees listed in its statute, but nonexempt positions remained subject to state civil-service requirements. The…
Could Washington’s transportation department require domestic concrete to protect local manufacturers?
The 1987 AG said no. State statutes did not authorize the department to exclude foreign precast or prestressed concrete purely to protect local industry, and that purpose conflicted with…
Could a Washington 911 dispatch center require a polygraph from county employees transferring into law enforcement?
The 1987 AG said yes for the Grant County workers described: although they already worked for the county, they had never worked under a law-enforcement agency and were newly entering the dispatch…
Could an unlicensed Washington school employee catheterize a student who needed the service?
The 1987 AG could not give a categorical statutory answer because a registered nurse’s patient-specific assessment could determine whether catheterization was a minor nursing service under an…
Could the Washington Senate remove commissioned murals from its chamber without the state building agency?
The 1987 AG said the Senate could request removal, but actual removal required approval and cooperation from the Department of General Administration. The artist’s contract did not prohibit removal…
Could voters create a smaller Washington port district inside a working countywide port district?
The 1987 AG said no. A temporary 1986 law allowing some subcounty port districts did not authorize one inside an existing, functioning countywide district. Because that proposal was unauthorized,…
Could Washington let voters in populous noncharter counties choose a five-member commission?
The 1987 AG concluded a proposed local-option bill was more likely than not unconstitutional. Letting voters in qualifying noncharter counties choose three or five commissioners could produce…
How were Washington county-deeded forest-land revenues and timber-sale settlements distributed?
The Attorney General said in 1987 that the statute did not create a separate trust for each county. The natural resources board could set a flat 25% return to the forest development account, and…
Did Washington school officials have to report suspected child abuse when another student was the alleged abuser?
Yes. The Attorney General said in 1987 that the reporting statute covered abuse by “any person,” including a child. A report was required when the incident met the statutory definition of abuse or…
Did King County have to allow an appeal to its council after a short-plat denial?
No. The Attorney General said in 1987 that the statewide hearing-examiner appeal rule for ordinary plats did not govern short plats. King County could make the examiner’s short-plat decision final…
Was recording a real-estate contract forfeiture declaration subject to Washington’s 1987 conveyance stamp tax?
No. The Attorney General said the declaration extinguished the defaulting buyer’s interest while the seller retained legal title; it was not a conveyance of realty sold to a purchaser under the…
Could Washington’s Higher Education Coordinating Board let its executive director adopt rules?
No. The Attorney General said in 1987 that the board had to exercise its own delegated rulemaking and discretionary degree-authorization powers. It could assign administrative or ministerial tasks…
Could Washington’s budget act take away community college boards’ power to grant salary increases?
No. The Attorney General said in 1987 that an appropriations condition could limit use of the money appropriated, subject to vested contract rights, but could not repeal or restrict trustees’…
Would Washington have had to reimburse local employers for a proposed increase in LEOFF II pension benefits?
No. The Attorney General said in 1987 that the proposed earlier retirement age and changed salary calculation would raise pension costs but would not create a new public program or increase services…
Could a Washington water district decide on its own to fluoridate its water supply?
No. The Attorney General said in 1987 that state statutes had not delegated that police power to water districts. A district could implement an appropriate county or city ordinance, and incidental…
Could Washington’s pharmacy board regulate drug samples and require licenses for manufacturers’ sales representatives?
The Attorney General said in 1987 that the board could regulate distribution of legend-drug and controlled-substance samples. Licensing or registration was narrower: qualifying manufacturers and…
Could a Washington school district operate child care for children who were not district students?
Yes. In 1987 the Attorney General said districts could run child care, use and improve facilities, and spend district funds. They could charge reasonable fees but lacked authority to waive them…
Did Washington’s open-meetings law cover a public board’s committee with outside members or only board members?
The 1986 AG said a committee appointed by a governing body could include board members or outsiders. It fell under the Open Public Meetings Act when exercising actual or de facto decisionmaking…
Could Washington’s long-term care ombudsman identify a complainant to outsiders or share redacted complaint files?
The 1986 AG said the ombudsman generally could not identify a complainant without written consent or a court order. Necessary disclosure within the supervising DSHS chain was allowed, and files…
Who controlled employees supporting Washington’s engineering and land-surveying licensing board in 1986?
The 1986 AG said the independent registration board, rather than the Department of Licensing director, employed and supervised staff assigned to the board’s work. The director could not give those…
Could a Washington city deny a police officer any appeal from a suspension of fewer than five days?
The 1986 AG said no for a charter civil-service system measured against chapter 41.12 RCW. A city system without review of a short police suspension did not substantially accomplish the state law’s…
Did a Washington county have to pay nursing-home costs for its retired LEOFF Plan I employees when Medicare and insurance would not?
The 1986 AG said yes for the two retirees described, while the local disability board found nursing-home confinement necessary. The county could offset payments covering medical services, but not…
Could a Washington state employee health plan require an HMO doctor’s referral before covering outside specialists?
The 1986 AG said yes. The state insurance board could offer an HMO that used a primary-care referral rule for outside specialists, so long as the rule applied equally to the practitioner classes…
Did Washington local governments have to spend all gambling-tax revenue on gambling-law enforcement in 1986?
The Attorney General said most gambling-tax proceeds had to go to gambling-law enforcement, but a small portion could be used for other purposes. Revenue from the amusement-games tax was different:…
Could a Washington police civil service commission investigate a citizen’s misconduct complaint before the officer was disciplined?
The Attorney General concluded in 1986 that a commission operating under the cited state civil service chapter could not investigate the officer’s conduct initially. Its role was to review an…
Could a Washington public hospital district offer a percentage discount from Hospital Commission approved rates in 1986?
The Attorney General said a district could negotiate a discount if the then-current statute’s cost-justification, no-cost-shifting, and filing requirements were met. The AG declined to decide…
Could Washington’s Department of Revenue require businesses to supply tax-research data, and would the responses remain confidential?
The Attorney General concluded in 1986 that the department had qualified statutory authority to require information within the statute’s subjects for tax research. Information supplied in response…
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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.