State AG Opinions
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How does a Virginia commissioner of the revenue assess a farm when part of it sits inside an incorporated town, especially when the county has a use-value program for agriculture but the town doesn't?
The commissioner of the revenue lists the entire farm parcel on the county's land book even though part of it sits inside an incorporated town, then lists the in-town portion as a separate line item e…
When a Virginia polling place can't be used on Election Day because of an emergency, what's the legal process for moving voters to an alternative location?
Section 24.2-310(D) is the operative statute. It overrides the normal 60-day blackout on polling place changes when an emergency makes a polling place unusable or inaccessible. The local electoral boa…
How much can a Virginia locality require a subdivision developer to bond for administrative costs?
No more than 10%. Under § 15.2-2241(5) as amended in 2009, a Virginia locality could not require a subdivision developer to post a bond with an administrative allowance exceeding 10% of estimated cons…
Did Maine's 2009 marriage equality law require Maine public schools to teach about same-sex marriage?
No. AG Janet Mills concluded that PL 2009, c. 82 (which expanded civil marriage to same-sex couples) had no impact on the curricula of Maine's public schools. Marriage law lives in Title 19-A; school …
Does the age-45 cap on new Texas police officers apply to an officer who resigned and is reappointed?
The Attorney General found no case law or statute saying it does. Section 143.105 of the Local Government Code (part of the Fire Fighter and Police Officer Civil Service Act) bars certifying a person …
Can Texas voters force a county appraisal district to reappraise property only every three years instead of yearly?
No election, but the three-year cycle itself is legal. The Attorney General concluded that an appraisal district and its participating taxing units are not authorized to put the appraisal schedule to …
Can a Florida hospital district buy equipment and a building from one sole-source vendor without competitive selection for the design work?
No. Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that the North Broward Hospital District could not use a sole-source contract with an equipment vendor that then hires a general contractor to design and b…
Can one person serve at the same time on a county code enforcement board, a housing finance authority, and a city development board?
Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that members of the Orange County Code Enforcement Board, the Orange County Housing Finance Authority Board, and the City of Orlando Downtown Development Board…
Can a Florida city switch to four-year terms and extend sitting officials' terms in one charter referendum?
Yes. Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that the City of Springfield could use a single referendum to amend its charter to change elected officers' terms from two years to four years and to exte…
Can a Florida city zone a county-owned airport that sits inside the city limits?
No. Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that a county-owned airport sitting inside a municipality's boundaries is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the county under section 125.015, Florida Sta…
Can a Virginia county board of supervisors or a circuit court judge tell the circuit court clerk how to spend the Technology Trust Fund money credited to the clerk's office?
No. Neither a locality nor a circuit court judge has statutory authority to direct how a Virginia circuit court clerk uses Technology Trust Fund monies allocated to the clerk's office under § 17.1-279…
Can Fairfax County impose its admissions tax on concerts and shows held at George Mason University's Patriot Center, even though a private company runs the building for the state university?
Yes. Section 58.1-3818(A) lets Fairfax County levy an admissions tax up to 10% on attendance at events. If the private corporation managing George Mason University's Patriot Center actually has contra…
Can a Florida county set a nighttime curfew on airboats to cut down noise?
Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that an airboat curfew aimed at noise is not a 'boating-restricted area' under section 327.46, so it does not need Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission ap…
When land moves from one Florida county to another, which county collects that year's property taxes?
Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that because the transferred land (known as 'the Wedge') was in Palm Beach County on January 1, 2009 and was assessed by the Palm Beach County Property Apprais…
Did the Idaho AG approve a 2009 ballot initiative to ban dog ear cropping by anyone other than a licensed veterinarian?
The AG issued an advisory Certificate of Review flagging serious drafting problems in the initiative: it would have created two conflicting penalties in the same statute, used an ambiguous mix of misd…
Does Virginia's industrial development authority statute let a county-level IDA finance subsidized single-family housing, even though the statute's purpose paragraph only mentions 'municipalities'?
Yes. After the 2006 amendment to § 15.2-4902(xiii) substituted 'localities' for 'municipalities,' Virginia industrial development authorities created by counties (whose housing authorities have not be…
Do you have to be a licensed lawyer to run for or be appointed to a judgeship in North Carolina?
Yes, with one narrow exception. Article IV, Section 22 of the North Carolina Constitution requires anyone elected or appointed to the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Superior Court, or District Court…
Can a Florida city fill appointive-board vacancies by ordinance without a charter referendum?
Yes. Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that the City of Winter Park could adopt an ordinance letting alternate board members advance to fill vacancies without a charter referendum, because the …
Do Florida 'community service officers' or 'public service aides' need police certification if they do law enforcement work?
Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that whether 'public service aides' or 'community service officers' must be certified depends on their actual duties, not their job titles. If a person's dutie…
When must a Florida community development district hold its board elections?
Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that once a community development district elects board members by its qualified electors, those elections must be held at the general election, meaning the fi…
Can a Florida water control district enforce parking and traffic rules on its own canal rights-of-way?
Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District has no independent police, traffic, or code enforcement power. Under section 316.006, it may enter a written …
Do Florida's inmate-medical-fee caps apply when a private prison already has a contract with the provider?
The office declined to issue a formal opinion because the questions involved other state agencies' duties and came from a legislator on behalf of constituents. Informally, it noted that section 945.60…
When a public board uses weighted voting, do you count members or vote weight to decide if there's a quorum?
In an informal opinion, the Attorney General's office found no statutory quorum requirement for the Southwood Shared Resource Center's board of trustees. Absent one, common parliamentary law sets a qu…
Does a county's employee health insurance trust lose its Texas premium tax exemption if it does more than just pay premiums?
Probably not, in the Attorney General's view. Insurance Code section 222.002(c)(5)(A) exempts premiums paid on group health, accident, and life policies by a 'single nonprofit trust' established to pr…
Can a school principal also serve on the board of trustees of another school district in Texas?
Yes, on the facts presented. The Attorney General concluded that neither article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution nor the common-law doctrine of incompatibility bars one person from serving a…
Can a Texas city use the fast annexation exception when some tracts in the area have no house on them?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that Local Government Code section 43.052(h)(1), which lets a city skip the three-year annexation plan for an area containing fewer than 100 separate tracts with re…
When a Virginia juvenile court transfers a juvenile to circuit court for adult prosecution and no one appeals, when does the juvenile court actually lose jurisdiction, and when can the juvenile be moved from juvenile detention to the adult jail?
Immediately. Once the juvenile and domestic relations court enters a transfer order under § 16.1-269.1(A), the juvenile court is divested of jurisdiction at that moment. The juvenile may be moved from…
If a Virginia county treasurer used the wrong school census numbers to split local sales tax revenue between towns, can the county recover the overpayments through the state's error-correction process, or does the county have another way to claw it back?
No to the first remedy, yes to a different one. Section 58.1-605(F)'s error-correction process applies to the Comptroller's monthly payments to counties, not to a county treasurer's downstream distrib…
Can a Virginia locality like York County, worried about Chesapeake Bay pollution, pass an ordinance restricting or banning fertilizer use on lawns?
Yes. Under §§ 10.1-603.7(A) and 15.2-924.1(A), Virginia localities can adopt ordinances that regulate or even prohibit the use or application of fertilizers. The locality must base the ordinance on th…
If a Virginia nonprofit religious corporation hires pastoral counselors and claims to be a 'community-based citizen group or organization,' does the Attorney General decide whether its staff is exempt from counselor licensure?
The Board of Counseling is the Virginia agency the General Assembly designated to interpret who qualifies as a 'community-based citizen group or organization' under § 54.1-3501(4), the licensure exemp…
What can a Florida property appraiser do if the value adjustment board hasn't finished and last year's final taxable values aren't known yet?
In an informal opinion, the Attorney General's office concluded that Florida's statutes contemplate the property appraiser using the value adjustment board's final actions to certify the assessment ro…
When a Virginia juvenile court issues a child protective order requiring someone to 'abstain from offensive conduct,' does that include harassing, stalking, threatening, or putting a person in reasonable fear of bodily injury?
Yes. Absent a Virginia statutory or judicial definition, 'offensive conduct' in § 16.1-253(A)(1) child protective orders has its plain and ordinary meaning, which the AG concluded encompasses acts of …
If a Lake Chesdin landowner builds a boat pier on land owned by the Appomattox River Water Authority under a permit agreement, who has to pay real estate taxes on the pier?
The landowner who built and uses the pier is the owner for real-property tax purposes, not the Appomattox River Water Authority, because the permit agreement makes the pier a structure 'appurtenant' t…
When a Florida special taxing unit is replaced by a new district, who gets its old public records?
Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that the public records of the Spring Hill Fire & Rescue District Municipal Services Benefit Unit should be delivered under section 119.021(4) to the records c…
Can a Florida county keep control of building and development permits inside a city through an interlocal service boundary agreement?
Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that the Interlocal Service Boundary Agreement Act cannot be used by a county to retain authority over issuing development and building permits and providing i…
Can a Florida city enter and fix an unsafe property without the owner's consent, and can it arrest the owner without a warrant?
Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that an order of a city's Unsafe Structures Board allows the city to enter premises, even an owner-occupied homestead, to make reasonable repairs and abate a c…
Can the Texas Adjutant General and assistant adjutants general earn state compensatory time off?
Split answer. The Attorney General concluded that the Adjutant General cannot accrue state compensatory time, but the Assistant Adjutants General can. Government Code subsection 659.024(c) says a memb…
If Fairfax County converted to an independent city, what would happen to the existing City of Fairfax and Town of Vienna, and could the converted county use the same name 'City of Fairfax'?
If Fairfax County took the steps in Chapter 39 of Title 15.2 to become an independent city, the existing City of Fairfax and Town of Vienna keep their charters and their legal powers. Section 15.2-391…
Can a Virginia 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation's BPOL tax exemption shield its wholly owned, for-profit subsidiary that handles administrative and marketing services?
No. The BPOL tax exemption in § 58.1-3703(C)(18)(a) is limited to entities that themselves qualify as a 'nonprofit charitable organization' described in IRC § 501(c)(3) with deductible contributions u…
Can the Virginia Secretary of Technology also serve as the Commonwealth's Chief Information Officer, and can the Information Technology Investment Board negotiate or modify VITA's big technology contracts?
No, an individual may not serve simultaneously as Virginia's Secretary of Technology and Chief Information Officer. The two offices are legally incompatible: the Secretary is an ex officio voting memb…
Can you secretly record a conversation with an official in their office in Florida, or is that illegal wiretapping?
In an informal opinion, the Attorney General's office explained that Florida's section 934.03 bars secretly recording an 'oral communication,' which means a conversation where the speaker has a reason…
Can a Texas county bail bond board charge bonding companies a fee to pay for a bail bond administrator?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a county bail bond board may not impose a fee on bonding companies to pay for the cost of employing a bail bond administrator. No provision of chapter 1704 of t…
When does the 10-year clock on a Texas property tax abatement start, the date the agreement is signed or a later date?
It can start later. The Attorney General concluded that the maximum 10-year tax abatement period under Tax Code section 312.204(a) may begin in a year after the year the agreement is signed. A 2009 am…
Can Idaho exempt cottage-site leases on state endowment land from the public auction requirement of Article IX, § 8?
No. The AG concluded that a reviewing court would likely find Idaho Code § 58-310A unconstitutional because Article IX, § 8 requires public auction of all endowment land dispositions, including leases…
Can a Florida adoption agency make you list and lock up your guns separately, and is keeping that list legal?
In an informal opinion, the Attorney General's office noted that requiring separate storage of a firearm and ammunition is more restrictive than section 790.174, and that Florida's firearm-preemption …
If a Virginia church puts its property into a separate nonprofit holding company and then leases the property back from that holding company for its religious use, can the property still get a church property tax exemption?
Yes. Real property owned by a religious nonprofit property holding company keeps the local property tax exemption under § 58.1-3606(A)(5) when the property is exclusively occupied and used for religio…
Can a Florida independent fire district charge impact fees on new construction if its charter doesn't authorize them?
Attorney General Bill McCollum concluded that the North Okaloosa Fire District board had no authority to levy impact fees. Under section 191.009(4), an independent special fire control district may im…
When a Virginia medical malpractice claim is reviewed by a panel or tried to a jury, what standard of care does the law apply, and is there a national or specialty-board standard the Commonwealth has officially adopted?
Virginia uses a statewide standard of care set by § 8.01-581.20(A): the degree of skill and diligence practiced by reasonably prudent providers in the same specialty across the Commonwealth, proven th…
In Virginia, can a local school board pick a math textbook that the State Board of Education hasn't fully approved for a given grade, and what process does the local board have to follow when doing so?
Yes, a local school board may select textbooks not approved by the State Board of Education for the particular grade level, provided it complies with the State Board's regulations. Those regulations r…
Can someone with a felony or a crime of moral turpitude on their record become a Texas notary public?
No, not for new applicants. The Attorney General concluded that Government Code section 406.004 bars the Secretary of State from commissioning as a notary public anyone who has been convicted of a fel…
Does Texas break federal law or the Equal Protection Clause by giving in-state tuition to undocumented students but not to out-of-state U.S. citizens?
The Attorney General would not say for certain. The opinion concluded that Education Code sections 54.052(a)(3) and 54.053(3) could be preempted by 8 U.S.C. 1623 if they grant a postsecondary benefit …
Does a Texas county sheriff have to keep a room set aside for videotaping DWI suspects?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a 1983 law (section 24 of a DWI bill) requires counties of 25,000 or more to buy and maintain electronic devices that can visually record people arrested for dr…
Is it a conflict of interest for a district attorney to work in an office the county rents from the DA's own spouse?
Not under the facts presented. The Attorney General concluded that a district attorney's continued occupancy of county-leased office space in a building owned by the DA's spouse did not violate chapte…
Can Texas health regulators fine a city for issuing a demolition permit without requiring an asbestos survey?
It is complicated. The Attorney General concluded that the word 'person' in the Texas Asbestos Health Protection Act (chapter 1954 of the Occupations Code) includes a municipality, so on the statute's…
Can members of a Florida public board hash out business by passing letters around instead of meeting in public?
In an informal opinion, the Attorney General's office concluded that the Florida State Fair Authority, as a legislatively created state board, is subject to the Government in the Sunshine Law. Circula…
What can a Florida commissioner of deeds actually do, and do they have to live in the foreign country?
In an informal opinion, the Attorney General's office explained that a commissioner of deeds is a gubernatorial appointee with only the limited powers the statutes grant: taking acknowledgments, proof…
Could the Colorado governor order mandatory unpaid furloughs of state executive-branch employees, and could the order pick and choose which departments, divisions, or positions were exempt?
Yes to both. The AG concluded that the governor had inherent supreme executive authority under Colo. Const. art. IV, § 2 to allocate staff and resources, including by ordering mandatory unpaid furloug…
Does a county court at law judge who only handles misdemeanors share the duty to set up and fund a county probation department?
Likely yes. The Attorney General concluded that a statutory county court judge who tries criminal cases and has jurisdiction over only misdemeanors is probably among the judges described in Government…
Could Texas force a state agency to keep written minutes of its open meetings instead of just a tape recording?
Probably not, as the law stood. The Attorney General concluded that a court would likely find invalid a Texas State Library and Archives Commission rule that required state agencies to create and keep…
When New York's Judiciary Law ties a county district attorney's minimum salary to the county court judge's salary, does the DA get the higher supreme-court-justice salary if the local county court judge is temporarily sitting as an acting supreme court justice?
No. Judiciary Law § 183-a ties the DA's minimum salary to the statutory salary for the county's county court judge under Judiciary Law § 221-d ($122,700 at the time), not to whatever salary that parti…
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