State AG Opinions
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What problems did the Idaho AG flag with the proposed Idaho Medical Cannabis Act ballot initiative?
Many. The Certificate of Review identified single-subject-rule problems with stuffing wholesale schedule reclassification of all marijuana into a 'medical cannabis' initiative, vagueness in 'related…
What fiscal impact did Missouri approve for Richard von Glahn's initiative petition 2026-134?
The Attorney General approved the legal content and form of the fiscal note summary for petition 2026-134. The approved summary said state and local governmental entities estimated no costs or…
If I called the police to report harassment and want to see the report I generated as a victim, can I get it through Delaware FOIA?
No. The AG determined that DSP did not violate FOIA when it denied the request. Section 10002(o)(3) treats police reports as investigatory files, which are categorically excluded from FOIA, and the…
When a Delaware city sends a FOIA cost estimate of $9,592, does it have to prove the rate is from the lowest-paid capable employee and that one hour was waived?
Yes. Milford estimated $9,592 for a financial-records request but supplied no sworn evidence that the estimate reflected the lowest-paid capable employee’s rate and the free first hour. The AG found…
Can a South Carolina county council withhold an elected sheriff's salary while he is on extended leave?
The AG found no authority for a county constitutional officer to take a leave of absence and concluded a county may withhold pay from an officer who purports to take one until duties resume. The…
Why did Missouri reject Richard von Glahn's 2026-R003 referendum petition on House Bill 1?
The Attorney General rejected referendum petition 2026-R003 as insufficient in form because House Bill 1 was not yet a law. The governor had not signed it and the time for returning it had not…
Why did Missouri reject Richard von Glahn's 2026-R002 referendum petition on House Bill 1?
The Attorney General rejected referendum petition 2026-R002 as insufficient in form because House Bill 1 was not yet a law. The governor had not signed it and the time for returning it had not…
Why did Missouri reject Richard von Glahn's referendum petition on House Bill 1 before the bill became law?
The Attorney General rejected the referendum petition as insufficient in form because House Bill 1 was not yet a law. As of the opinion date, the governor had not signed it and the time for…
If a public entity never receives my emailed records request because of a server problem, is it still required to respond?
No. The AG concluded that an unreceived open records request creates no more obligation to respond than an unsent one. The City of Parshall's email service provider had a delivery problem during the…
A school district investigated an employee, the employee resigned, and now the district refuses to release the investigation files. Can they?
The AG could not decide whether the district properly withheld the records without seeing them. A forced resignation in the face of certain, impending termination can meet the first requirement for…
Does a Kentucky school board have to approve a released-time moral instruction program, and what rules apply?
The Attorney General concluded that under KRS 158.200, as rewritten in 2025, a local school board is not required to approve a moral-instruction (released-time) program, but it cannot deny one…
Can Kentucky enforce its PBM anti-steering law, or does federal ERISA override it, and does it reach out-of-state PBMs?
The Attorney General concluded that the anti-steering provisions in Section 4 of Senate Bill 188 are likely enforceable and not preempted by ERISA, relying on the U.S. Supreme Court's 2020 Rutledge…
When a South Carolina probate court commits a child under 16 to a mental institution, can the state withhold that record from the federal NICS background check system since the federal firearms ban only applies at age 16 and up?
No. § 23-31-1020 requires probate courts to forward every mental adjudication and commitment order to SLED, and SLED to forward all of them to NICS, with no age carve-out. SLED has no statutory…
Can a Mississippi county and its community hospital sell a surplus parcel of hospital property to a private buyer for use as a pediatric dental clinic, without a public bid?
Yes. Under Section 57-7-1, the county and the hospital can sell surplus property that is not needed for hospital or other governmental purposes to a private buyer for commercial or industrial use,…
Can a regional airport renew a tenant's lease without going through a bid process if the airport's bylaws don't require bidding?
The AG said an airport organized under the Regional Airport Act has authority independent of its bylaws to enter contracts and lease property, so bylaw silence about bidding does not by itself…
Can an Arkansas city or county temporarily pause wind turbine construction under Act 945 of 2025?
Yes. The Attorney General says Act 945 permits local governments to enact temporary moratoriums on wind turbine construction and installation. Whether a particular moratorium is valid depends on its…
If my child goes to a private school outside of South Carolina, can he or she play on a South Carolina public high school sports team under the state's 'Tim Tebow' athletic-access proviso?
No. Proviso 1.112 of the 2025-2026 SC budget only opens public school interscholastic athletic programs to students who attend independent schools located in South Carolina. The proviso's chapeau…
Did Missouri approve the form of Eapen Thampy's Article XIV initiative petition 2026-144?
Yes. The Attorney General approved Eapen Thampy's version 4 petition 2026-144 as sufficient as to form. The Secretary of State retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did…
Did Missouri approve the form of Eapen Thampy's Article XIV initiative petition 2026-143?
Yes. The Attorney General approved Eapen Thampy's version 3 petition 2026-143 as sufficient as to form. The Secretary of State retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did…
Did Missouri approve the form of Eapen Thampy's Article XIV initiative petition 2026-142?
Yes. The Attorney General approved Eapen Thampy's version 2 petition 2026-142 as sufficient as to form. The Secretary of State retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did…
Did Missouri approve the form of Eapen Thampy's Article XIV initiative petition 2026-141?
Yes. The Attorney General approved Eapen Thampy's version 1 petition 2026-141 as sufficient as to form. The Secretary of State retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did…
After Florida's open carry ban was struck down in McDaniels, can private investigators, security officers, and repossession agents still be required to hold a Class G license or barred from carrying firearms while working?
Yes. The McDaniels decision invalidated Florida's general open carry ban for ordinary citizens but did not address the licensing and restrictions that apply to security professionals. Private…
Is the City of Fayetteville now in compliance with Arkansas's sanctuary city ban after the AG's earlier finding that it was not?
Yes. After the AG's earlier Opinion 2025-048 found that Fayetteville maintained a prohibited 'sanctuary policy' under A.C.A. § 14-1-103 and made the city ineligible for state discretionary funding,…
I asked Washington County for discipline records on two former employees and the custodian denied everything. Can the county hold all of that back?
The AG found the county’s blanket withholding largely inconsistent with FOIA: several emails, three separation notices, and an investigation closure letter should be released. The performance…
Can a Washington city or county use its hotel-motel (lodging) tax revenues to repay revenue bonds issued to finance affordable workforce housing built within one-half mile of a transit station?
Yes. The Washington AG concluded that RCW 67.28.160(1) (amended in 2015) specifically authorizes any municipality to pledge lodging tax revenues to repay revenue bonds for affordable workforce…
Does someone need a Kansas public adjuster license to help a homeowner negotiate a residential insurance claim?
No license is required under this Act. The Attorney General concluded the Kansas Public Adjusters Licensing Act only defines and regulates public adjusting for first-party claims under commercial…
Does a limited liability partnership need county approval to build a swine production facility in a Kansas county, the same as a limited partnership would?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a limited liability partnership is legally distinct from a limited partnership, so it does not need county commission approval under K.S.A. 17-5908 to…
Does Maryland's Public Information Act apply to delayed public broadcasts of encrypted police radio dispatch calls?
The opinion concluded that live, unencrypted police radio chatter picked up by a scanner is not itself a public record, but a recording made to facilitate a delayed public broadcast of that radio…
I'm the same Conway officer in opinion 2025-089 and someone made a separate, broader FOIA request listing ten categories of records about me. The custodian gave me his planned answers for each category. Are they right?
The AG found the custodian’s plan only partly consistent with FOIA because the actual records had not been reviewed. Evaluation records tied to the officer’s pending termination appeal cannot be…
Did the City of Fayetteville adopt a sanctuary policy by saying 'the city does not assist ICE,' and what does that mean for state funding?
Yes. The AG concluded that the mayor's June 17, 2025 media release reflects a pre-existing City of Fayetteville policy that violates A.C.A. § 14-1-103. The release stated that the police department…
When an outside police department asks a South Dakota city's officers to arrest someone in that city, or comes into the city and makes the arrest themselves, what authority is actually in play?
The local officers can act on probable cause communicated to them by another department (collective knowledge doctrine). But the outside department cannot drive into another municipality and make a…
Three coworker complaints have been filed against me, and now they're being released under FOIA. Aren't those internal investigation records? Can I block release?
The AG concluded that the three anonymous coworker complaints were personnel records because they were not created by or at the behest of the employer. They contained no personal or intimate…
Washington County is about to pass an ordinance that exempts a single private recovery facility from the county's conditional use permit rules. Is that an unconstitutional 'special law' under the Arkansas Constitution?
The AG declined to answer because of pending federal litigation. Eaglecrest Recovery, LLC v. Washington County, Arkansas, No. 5:24-cv-05249 (W.D. Ark., filed December 6, 2024), addresses the same…
Does Act 751 of 2025 stop our civil service commission from interviewing candidates for promotion to corporal or sergeant, or does it only restrict interviews for new hires?
Only new hires. The new ban on commissioners 'engaging in interviews' in section 14-51-301(b)(3)(B)(ii) applies only to applicants from outside the department, that is, candidates for appointment.…
Does a Texas state board member have to recuse from votes when a close family member works for an entity with competing interests in the same project?
Yes. Under Government Code section 572.058, a Nueces River Authority board member whose brother-in-law is an executive at the City of Corpus Christi's water utility has a 'personal or private…
Can a Texas county require a permit or set a minimum burial depth when a phone company buries cable along a county road, and who pays if the county cuts it?
No on permits and depth. Chapter 181 of the Utilities Code does not authorize a county to require a permit or set a minimum burial depth for a telephone or telegraph corporation that buries cable in…
Can a California school board trustee also serve as a director of the local municipal water district that supplies water to the schools?
The Attorney General granted the Whittier Union High School District leave to sue Gary Mendez in quo warranto. Under Government Code section 1099, holding two public offices with possible…
If I'm convicted of a minor offense and then pick up a second conviction during the waiting period, can I still get the first one expunged in South Carolina?
No. A disqualifying conviction during the three- or five-year waiting period bars expungement of the first conviction under § 22-5-910 as currently written. The second conviction may itself qualify…
Can a private school bus company be forced to give up its bus routes under North Dakota's open records law?
No, not by the company itself. A private contractor that provides services to a school district at fair market value is not a 'public entity' under N.D.C.C. § 44-04-17.1(13). Records held by the…
Is a small private rural hospital that occasionally gets city sales-tax money for equipment subject to North Dakota's open meetings law?
Only as to the public funds. Jacobson Memorial Hospital Care Center, a private nonprofit critical access hospital in Elgin that received three sales-tax-fund grants from the City of Elgin (in 2013,…
I'm a Conway police officer. I was terminated, I'm appealing it to the Civil Service Commission, and the city wants to release a big stack of records about my case. Can they?
The AG said the custodian’s release decision was mostly consistent with FOIA. Evaluation records about the officer could not be released while her termination appeal was pending because…
We're trying to plan our initiative petition campaign under the new Act 274 rules. Can a canvasser play voters a prerecorded reading of the ballot title and then accept their signature, or does the canvasser have to do the reading live? And can voters listen on headphones, speed up the playback, or hear it in another language?
The AG declined to answer because of pending federal litigation. League of Women Voters of Arkansas v. Cole Jester, No. 5:25-cv-05087 (W.D. Ark., filed April 21, 2025), is challenging Act 274 of…
Does Delaware FOIA require a denial letter to cite specific statutory exemptions, provide an index of withheld records, or answer the requester's substantive questions?
No. The AG found New Castle County’s response sufficient on the claims raised: it gave investigatory-file reasons for withholding some records, explained how to access online permits, and did not…
I run a small police department. Someone has FOIA'd a former officer's personnel file. I have admin records, a written warning, a paid-administrative-leave letter, a final investigation letter, investigative notes, and a resignation letter. What can I release?
Release most of it, but hold the investigative notes unless the resignation was actually a constructive termination. The administrative records (job application, training acknowledgments, separation…
Can a spouse or heir inherit a Kansas doctor's, dentist's, or vet's practice and just hire someone licensed to run it?
No, not on an ongoing basis. The Attorney General concluded an unlicensed heir cannot own or operate a doctor's, veterinarian's, or dentist's practice; the heir must sell or close the practice…
Can a West Virginia county commission make its volunteer fire departments submit to a financial audit, and withhold their share of levy funds if they refuse?
No on both counts. The AG concluded the Mineral County Commission has no express or implied authority under W. Va. Code § 7-1-3d to audit volunteer fire departments, because the Legislature gave…
When a Delaware school district employee separates and asks for the separation agreement and related records, are those documents exempt as a personnel file?
The AG agreed that records explaining the district’s reasons for the separation implicate the personnel-file exemption, but found its blanket withholding unsupported for any responsive public Board…
Does South Carolina's six-week paid parental leave for state employees and teachers cover a stillbirth?
Probably yes. The AG concluded that a court would likely read the word 'birth' in §§ 8-11-150 and 8-11-151 to include stillbirths, but warned the statutes do not say so explicitly and recommended…
When a federal agency like DCSA or DoD asks a South Carolina sheriff or court for someone's arrest history for a security clearance, do they have to provide it?
Yes. The AG says qualifying South Carolina criminal justice agencies must provide criminal history record information to a covered federal agency when the subject has given written consent. Section…
Does Arkansas's new open-meeting law (Act 505 of 2025) apply to a city council, the mayor, or both?
Act 505 applies to a city council and its members. The opinion says a mayor is typically a member and is covered to the extent the mayor is a member of that city council, including ex officio…
Who gets written notice of a Texas zoning change, and do you have to be on the city tax roll to count toward a zoning protest?
Written notice of a zoning-commission hearing goes only to owners within 200 feet who appear on the most recently approved municipal tax roll. But for the 20 percent protest that triggers a…
Can Texas HHSC license and regulate disability-services (ISS) providers as day-activity facilities, and can it set penalties above the statutory limit?
Yes to licensing, no to higher penalties. The Health and Human Services Commission may license and regulate on-site and off-site Individualized Skills and Socialization (ISS) providers that are…
Can a Texas county clerk spend records management and preservation fees on a project that includes the district clerk's records?
Only partly. The records management and preservation fee a county clerk collects under section 118.0216 may be used only for documents filed and recorded with the county clerk. The clerk cannot use…
If a Kansas governor or lieutenant governor candidate dies or drops out after filing but before the deadline, can the other one just find a new running mate and stay on the ballot?
No, not as the same candidacy. The Attorney General concluded that when one member of a Governor/Lieutenant Governor candidacy withdraws or dies after filing but before the filing deadline, the…
Does Oklahoma law (the new 2025 'adult performance' statute or the existing obscenity laws) prohibit drag performances in front of minors or in public places?
A drag performance in view of minors or in a public place violates the 2025 adult-performance statute only if it contains legally obscene material. That requires an enumerated act of sexual conduct…
Can my school district legally ban employees from talking directly to school board members?
Probably not as a blanket ban. The First Amendment likely forbids a school district from prohibiting all direct communication between employees and board members. Whether the district can discipline…
After the Mississippi Senate refuses to confirm a governor's nominees, can the governor send the same names back, or appoint different people, while the Senate is out of session?
The same nominees cannot be reappointed during Senate vacation after the Senate failed to confirm them. Section 7-1-35 bars filling a vacancy caused by that refusal. If the Governor appointed…
When a Little Rock police officer is fired, are the off-boarding forms and the termination letter subject to release under Arkansas's FOIA?
The off-boarding and termination clearance forms should be released after redacting personal contact information and the employee ID number. The termination letter is an evaluation record; the AG…
Can one person serve on a South Carolina county hospital board and a county elections commission at the same time?
No. Both positions are 'offices of honor or profit' that exercise sovereign power. Under Article XVII, § 1A, holding both at once is unconstitutional dual office holding, and the law treats the…
When a Mississippi sixteenth-section land lessee fails to pay ad valorem taxes, the lease expires, and a new lessee takes over the same parcel, who owes the unpaid taxes and can the county simply forgive them?
The unpaid ad valorem taxes are a personal debt of the original lessee. A new lessee is not responsible for the prior lessee's taxes and can pay current taxes on the new lease even while the old…
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