State AG Opinions
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When a Mississippi city pays the county to house a municipal prisoner, does the daily rate ($25 or $32.71) cover meals, medical care, and transportation?
Meals: yes, included. Medical treatment and related transportation: no, separate. Other transportation: not addressed by statute, so left to the parties' contract. Section 47-5-901(3)(a) says the…
Does a Mississippi city have to extend sewer service into a private subdivision whose own lagoon system has failed?
No. A city's decision to build or extend sewer infrastructure is discretionary, not mandatory. The city can choose to fund the extension under the municipal water and sewer statute, but it isn't…
If I'm settling a car-accident injury claim and the insurer wants me to sign a hold-harmless agreement, can the insurer use that to avoid paying my chiropractor's medical lien?
The AG said a patient-insurer hold-harmless agreement likely does not comply with Arkansas’s Medical Lien Act and likely is void on public-policy grounds where a valid, perfected lien remains…
Can the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety pull the Highway Patrol off the interstates that run through Oklahoma City and Tulsa?
No, not entirely. State law makes OHP the 'primary law enforcement authority' for traffic offenses on Oklahoma's interstate highways, and 'shall' means it's a mandatory duty. DPS can reallocate…
Can a Delaware city charge a journalist $511 to retrieve government salary data, then change what records will be produced after payment is made?
Not without explanation. The City of Dover violated FOIA by failing to demonstrate compliance with cost-estimate rules. Ben Mace of The News Journal paid $8.68 for 2024 salary data, then learned the…
Can the same person serve as a Mississippi city attorney and municipal court judge to save the town money?
Yes. The Mississippi separation of powers doctrine does not bar simultaneous service as city attorney and municipal court judge. A city attorney does not exercise core executive power. Duties as…
What fiscal impact did Missouri approve for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-109?
The Attorney General approved the legal content and form of the fiscal note summary for petition 2026-109. The approved summary said state and local governmental entities estimated no costs or…
What fiscal impact did Missouri approve for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-108?
The Attorney General approved the legal content and form of the fiscal note summary for petition 2026-108. The approved summary said state and local governmental entities estimated no costs or…
What fiscal impact did Missouri approve for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-107?
The Attorney General approved the legal content and form of the fiscal note summary for petition 2026-107. The approved summary said state and local governmental entities estimated no costs or…
How is a single-family home that is rented out long-term, or a duplex where the owner lives in one half and rents the other half, classified for Tennessee property-tax purposes?
Both are generally classified as residential property and assessed at 25% of value, not industrial and commercial property assessed at 40%. The key statutory line is 'two or more rental units': a…
If a city's mayor fires an employee, the city council reverses that decision and reinstates the employee, and an outside investigator's report exists about the employee, can someone get the investigation report under FOIA?
No. Because the council reinstated the employee, the firing was not 'administratively final,' so the four-part test for releasing an employee evaluation record fails. The investigator's report stays…
If the State Board of Education takes over a public school district and removes the local school board, does that district become a 'state entity'?
It depends on the purpose. For most statutes that define 'state entity' (energy bonds, cabinet departments, the divisive-concepts law), no, a state-controlled district is still not a state entity.…
South Dakota's new election law (House Bill 1062) tells the Secretary of State to post the statewide voter registration file online weekly, but another statute says voter registration info can't be put on the internet with unrestricted access. Do those statutes contradict each other?
No. The Secretary of State can satisfy both by posting the file behind a request-form gate: anyone can ask for access by submitting contact info and acknowledging the use restrictions, then gets a…
Can a Mississippi constable run for sheriff in a special election without resigning the constable seat first?
No, no resignation required to run. There is no statutory prohibition against a Mississippi constable running for sheriff while still holding the constable seat. If elected, separation of powers,…
What is the maximum land a Mississippi beat-system county can buy for a road station, what can it be used for, and what happens if no longer needed?
10 acres maximum per station, road-working purposes only, and disposal under Section 19-7-3 (or operation/management agreement under home rule). Section 65-7-91 limits a county to 10 acres per…
If a Mississippi school district seat covers two counties, where does a candidate qualify in a special election, both counties or just one?
One county. Per the 1996 Eskridge opinion, a candidate for a multi-county school board seat files a single qualifying petition (signed by qualified electors of the district regardless of which…
Can Mississippi CPS take a newborn into custody if the baby tests positive for meth or cocaine and is suffering withdrawals, even before the baby goes home?
Section 43-21-303 sets the conditions under which CPS or law enforcement may take a child into immediate custody without an order. The AG treated questions 1-4 (whether CPS could act in specific…
Can a Mississippi sheriff or county use LIDAR, camera-based speed detection, or other non-radar speed devices, given that Section 63-3-519 limits 'radar' to certain agencies?
No. Section 63-3-519 prohibits all speed detection devices outside the Mississippi Highway Patrol and the specific municipalities listed in subsections (a) through (d), not just radar. AG opinions…
After Senate Bill 941 made the West Virginia DEP the sole authority over conservation-district dams, what happens to existing federal Operation and Maintenance agreements, future federal contracts, and the districts' liability if dam work fails?
Existing O&M agreements with the federal NRCS stay in effect, but conservation districts must get DEP approval before doing alteration, improvement, or agreement work on a covered dam. DEP approval…
When a Mississippi municipal prisoner is bound over to the grand jury, who pays for housing the inmate, the city or the county?
The county. Once a municipal prisoner is bound over to the grand jury at preliminary hearing, or waives the hearing, the prisoner becomes a county prisoner. From that point, the county pays inmate…
If text messages from a state trooper's personal phone end up in the trooper's personnel file because of an investigation, can the public get them under FOIA, even though the trooper says they're personal?
The Attorney General found the custodian’s decision to release the text messages as redacted consistent with Arkansas FOIA. He classified these messages as personnel records, approved the…
Does a data center count as an 'industrial building' under Kentucky law so it can be financed with industrial revenue bonds?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a data processing center qualifies as an 'industrial building' under KRS 103.200(1)(a) and (b), because it processes data (a commercial product) and can be…
Can an Arizona county recorder cancel a long-registered voter's registration if the voter cannot now produce documentary proof of U.S. citizenship?
No. Under current Arizona law, a county recorder cannot cancel or downgrade an already-registered voter's registration just because the voter cannot or does not respond to a request for new proof of…
After Mississippi's 2025 House Bill 291 changed plurality voting to majority voting for some offices, do legislative and state district offices still win on a plurality?
Yes to all three questions. After H.B. 291, the threshold for state legislative offices and state district offices (Public Service Commissioner, Transportation Commissioner) remains a plurality of…
Can a 501(c)(3) nonprofit give away college football tickets as door prizes at a fundraiser without breaking Arkansas gambling law?
Yes, if attendees aren't paying anything specifically to win the tickets. If they pay just to attend the event and the door prize is a free drawing among attendees, that's not gambling. If they pay…
When a prosecutor needs probation supervision records (like a failed drug screen) to prove a probation revocation, does West Virginia Trial Court Rule 44.01 require the probation officer to get a written court order before turning the records over?
No. Trial Court Rule 44.01 covers third-party requests for confidential probation records, not discovery owed to counsel in an active revocation proceeding. Probation officers must turn over…
When U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued Order 6370-2025 in August 2025 vesting DEA Administrator Terry Cole with all powers of the DC Chief of Police, did MPD officers have to start obeying Cole?
No. The DC AG concluded that Order 6370 was unlawful: § 740 lets the President direct the Mayor to provide MPD services for federal purposes in an emergency, but does not authorize replacement of…
When can a New Mexico racetrack casino legally have its gaming machines on, and does it have to set aside money for racing purses?
A racetrack casino can run gaming machines only on days the racetrack is conducting live or simulcast horse races, up to 18 hours per day and 112 hours per week (with the week resetting Tuesday 8:00…
Can two proposed New Mexico hydrogen projects that produce hydrogen from natural gas qualify for grants from the state Energy Transition Economic Development Assistance Fund, which the statute reserves for projects 'unrelated to fossil fuel development or use'?
No. Both projects propose to use steam-methane reforming with natural gas as the feedstock. Natural gas is a fossil fuel under any ordinary definition, and the Fund's enabling statute, Section…
In South Carolina, is it a crime to publish the name of an alleged sexual assault victim even if the assault was never reported to police?
The AG reads § 16-3-730 as containing no requirement that an alleged sexual assault first be reported to police. It cautions that a court could interpret the text in light of the statute’s purpose…
Is Arizona's Proposition 308, which gives in-state tuition to students without lawful immigration status who graduated from an Arizona high school, consistent with federal law?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that Proposition 308 satisfies the federal carve-out in 8 U.S.C. § 1621(d), which lets states extend public benefits to noncitizens not lawfully present through a…
Does an old Kansas city-school joint recreation commission have to update its membership rules to match the current state statute?
No. The Attorney General concluded that because the Independence/U.S.D. 446 joint recreation commission's membership rules matched state law when the commission was created in 1979, K.S.A.…
Does HIPAA let a Kansas hospital refuse a law enforcement subpoena for medical records?
No. The Attorney General concluded that once a law enforcement subpoena or court order meets HIPAA's procedural requirements, Kansas healthcare providers are legally obligated to disclose the…
When can a county commission go into closed executive session, and what has to be in the meeting notice?
An anticipated executive session must be described in the public meeting notice. Once in executive session, the discussion must actually fit one of the narrow statutory exceptions (here, attorney…
A federal court in Texas struck down the federal ban on home distilling. Does that mean Arkansas's ban on home stills is also unenforceable?
No. The Texas decision applied only to the federal ban and only to the parties in that case. Arkansas's law against owning, possessing, or transporting illicit stills is a state law based on…
Is Arkansas's loitering law (the version updated in 2023) constitutional, and can police give tickets to people who hang around on a sidewalk or roadway?
The 2023 version is presumed constitutional and likely survives First Amendment challenge because it's content-neutral and narrowly targets harassing, alarming, or traffic-blocking conduct. Police…
If a bank or brokerage holding my retirement savings collapses, can the bank's creditors take my money to pay the bank's debts?
Under Arkansas UCC Article 8, securities-account customers generally have a property interest ahead of an intermediary's secured creditors, but the opinion identifies limited exceptions. The AG…
Can a Delaware municipality wait two years to produce meeting minutes from a rezoning vote?
Partial violation. The Delaware AG ruled the City of Rehoboth Beach violated FOIA by failing to maintain and produce meeting minutes from a June 16, 2023 rezoning vote for over two years. But the AG…
Can the Arkansas AG review whether a police department properly redacted call-for-service and incident reports under FOIA?
Not under the special opinion-request statute the requester invoked. That statute (A.C.A. § 25-19-105(c)(3)(B)(i)) only lets the AG opine on personnel records and employee-evaluation records.…
Is PrizePicks' single-player daily fantasy sports game illegal under West Virginia's sports wagering law, or does the statute's exclusion for 'Daily Fantasy Sports' protect it?
Maybe, and the AG could not give a definitive answer. The single-player game does meet West Virginia's statutory definition of 'sports wagering' because it accepts wagers on individual athletes'…
Does an Arizona police officer who draws blood during a DUI stop need medical malpractice insurance?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a DUI blood draw is forensic evidence collection, not a medical procedure, and that a law enforcement officer trained in Arizona's Law Enforcement Phlebotomy…
Can a Delaware vehicle owner use FOIA to obtain their own toll-violation history and toll-payment records from DelDOT?
The AG found no FOIA violation in DelDOT's denial. DelDOT had not shown that contractor-held toll records were outside its control, but the AG found it reasonably classified the requested violation…
Can a Tennessee qualified electronic monitoring provider also own, operate, or work for a professional bail bondsman, given that the legislature passed two laws in 2025 that seem to clash on the question?
From July 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025, no. Public Chapter 253 imposes an unqualified ban on a professional bondsman owning, operating, directing, or being an employee or agent of a qualified…
Can a Mississippi state agency add a third-party processing fee on top of regulatory fees when users pay online, or does that count as raising the fee without statutory authority?
Yes. Section 27-104-33 expressly allows a Mississippi state agency to assess users a processing fee, paid directly to a third-party vendor, on top of statutory regulatory fees. The user pays the…
What fiscal impact did Missouri approve for Spencer Toder's initiative petition 2026-070?
The approved summary reported an unknown impact on Southeast Missouri State University, at least $427,516 in annual attorney general operating costs, and possible Legal Expense Fund costs above $1…
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-109?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-109 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-108?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-108 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-107?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-107 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Under Kentucky's Senate Bill 181, how can public school teachers and volunteers text or message students, and what are the limits?
Senate Bill 181 (KRS 160.145) requires every Kentucky public school district to designate a 'traceable communication system' as the only way its employees and volunteers may electronically…
Does a school board committee violate Delaware FOIA when it discusses an unrelated proposed policy that wasn't on the meeting agenda?
Yes. The Delaware AG ruled that the Christina School District's Policy Review Committee violated FOIA at its July 1, 2025 meeting by discussing a proposed new policy on board-presidency…
When you appeal a California sales tax or income tax bill to the Office of Tax Appeals, can the OTA panel decide that a tax regulation conflicts with the governing statute and refuse to apply that regulation to your case?
Yes. OTA panels can evaluate whether applying a tax regulation to a taxpayer's circumstances conflicts with the governing statute, and if so, decline to apply the regulation to that taxpayer. The…
Can a police officer get her own body-camera-review evaluation forms from her department under FOIA, even though those forms are normally exempt from release to the public?
Likely yes for the forms Officer Byrd described. Arkansas FOIA lets a person access her own personnel or evaluation records even if those records are exempt from public release. The Attorney General…
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-106?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-106 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-105?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-105 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-104?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-104 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-103?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-103 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Can the Spartanburg City Council relocate or demolish the downtown Bicentennial clock tower without legislative approval?
The AG did not decide whether the Spartanburg clock tower is protected by the Heritage Act; that is a factual question. If it is protected, only the General Assembly may lift those protections.
Whose interpretation of the 2023 bail-bond premium rules controls in South Carolina, the Attorney General's or the Department of Insurance's?
The Attorney General modified its earlier opinion to defer to the South Carolina Department of Insurance's reading of Section 38-53-170(e) on bond premiums. Bail bondsmen and runners should follow…
Can a Delaware resident use FOIA to get police incident reports and service-call summaries about their own home and neighborhood?
No. The Delaware AG ruled the Delaware State Police properly denied a resident's FOIA request for police incident reports and service-call summaries about her own home and surrounding community. The…
If an electronic deed was notarized out of state, who has to certify the paper copy filed with a Kansas register of deeds?
The same notarial officer who executed the notarial certificate in the original electronic record, even if that notary acted in another state, must be the one who certifies that a printed (tangible)…
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