State AG Opinions
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Could Arkansas amend a physician drug-dispensing law after a court struck down the old version?
Yes. The AG said lawmakers could change the law prospectively without undoing the earlier judgment. He concluded that Act 1169 supplied standards for Medical Board decisions on physician dispensing…
Could a Maryland orphans' court direct a register of wills or control the register's staff?
The Attorney General concluded that an orphans' court could enforce its orders and, in extraordinary circumstances, use contempt concerning the register of wills' clerical work for estates before…
Can a Virginia state board member keep voting after their term expires if no replacement has been confirmed yet?
Yes. The general common-law rule, applied consistently in Virginia, is that absent a constitutional or statutory prohibition, a public officer holds over after the conclusion of their term until a…
Can the state require people who record livestock abuse to turn over the videos and report to law enforcement within 48 hours, or does that violate the First Amendment?
The AG concluded HB1191 was constitutionally suspect on three First Amendment grounds (underinclusiveness, possible prior restraint if the bill required surrender of all copies, and burden on…
Can the State of Oregon use proceeds from Article XI-Q general obligation bonds to fund construction or remodeling of county courthouses?
No, not under the arrangement that existed in 2013. Article XI-Q only authorized bond financing for real property the state owns or operates, and Oregon counties (not the state) own and operate…
Could South Carolina’s charter school district require schools to enter monthly transactions in the district’s accounting software?
The AG said a charter sponsor could require accounting work beyond an annual report if it fit the charter contract and statutory limits on oversight. It declined to decide whether the specific…
Could South Carolina’s public employee benefits agency share state health plan provider rates with private employers?
The AG said the described arrangement would not itself violate the constitutional bars on joint ownership or lending state credit, and likely served a public purpose. It nevertheless advised express…
Can a company that's partly owned by a Tennessee Board of Regents member bid as a subcontractor on a TBR contract?
No. The AG concluded Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-8-203(d), which makes it unlawful for any TBR board member to be financially interested in any contract or transaction affecting any institution governed by…
How does Texas appoint and pay a temporary justice of the peace?
A county auditor asked five questions about temporary justices of the peace appointed under Government Code section 27.055. The AG concluded that a county judge may appoint only one qualified person…
Does Texas charge interest to restore a reinstated state worker's pension credit?
The Health and Human Services Commission asked whether it may pay, or an employee must pay, interest on the money used to restore service credit in the Employees Retirement System (ERS) when a…
Could a South Carolina First Steps county partnership buy a building with its grant funds?
The AG said the nonprofit partnership had general authority to buy a facility for its operations and the cited new-construction restriction did not ban a purchase. Any state or federal grant…
Does a Virginia sheriff have to dispose of every unclaimed body in their jurisdiction, or only the bodies that the medical examiner investigated?
Only the medical-examiner cases. Va. Code § 32.1-288 sets up the procedure for what to do with a body after the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner finishes its death investigation under Article 1…
Can a Virginia school superintendent refuse to give a student's records to police citing FERPA, even when officers say it's a safety emergency?
Yes. The educational agency, not police, decides whether the FERPA emergency criteria are met. If they are not, the opinion says the requested pupil information may not be released. The…
May VHDA officers or employees participate as owners in its Housing Choice Voucher program?
Under the facts assumed in the request, no. The AG concluded that COIA barred VHDA officers and employees from participating as owners in the voucher program VHDA administered. Program regulations…
Was Tennessee's 2012 population-bracket exemption for Williamson County from the Move on When Ready Act constitutional?
The AG concluded a court would likely find that specific exemption unconstitutional as invalid class legislation because the office could identify no rational basis for excluding Williamson County…
Can the Tennessee Public Guardianship Program pay bills of a deceased client and bill the estate later, and is the current bond enough to cover the program?
On bill payment after death: no. A district public guardian's authority ends at death (except for funeral arrangements), so the guardian cannot pay post-death bills even with an indemnification…
Could a South Carolina homeowner use a power of attorney to sign an owner-builder permit application?
The AG predicted that a court would require the owner of record to appear and sign personally to claim the owner-builder exemption. A power-of-attorney representative would not substitute for the…
Could Kenner accept the lowest pipe-supply bid after the bidder added a yearly price increase?
The AG concluded that Kenner had to reject the apparent low bid as nonresponsive. The bid documents required unchanged prices for the contract term, but the bidder added an annual escalation condition.
What did Idaho's AG say about the 2013 minimum wage ballot initiative?
The certificate of review described the initiative's proposed schedule (raising minimum wage to $9.80/hour by 2018 with annual CPI-W adjustments after) and noted parallel federal FLSA provisions for…
Can a county council use generic boilerplate language on every meeting agenda to reserve the right to go into executive session on any topic?
No FOIA violation was found here, but the AG warned that using generic boilerplate language listing every possible executive-session exemption on every agenda, regardless of whether the Council…
Could New Iberia use its share of a dedicated sales tax to buy a street sweeper?
No. The AG said the sales tax proceeds had to be spent for the purposes voters approved. The proposition earmarked the municipality's share for drainage facilities and related capital improvements,…
Could a South Carolina mayor’s festival committee meet privately about alcohol sales and town liability?
The AG said a mayor-appointed advisory committee was a public body and could not privately discuss the festival contract merely because council might negotiate it. It could receive legal advice in a…
Does a West Virginia county commission have to fund a sanitarian at the local health department, what minimum funding does it owe the health department, and can it skip publishing legal notices in one of two same-owner newspapers that are listed as opposite-politics papers?
The AG concluded: (1) state law requires a county commission to provide 'financial support' to a local health board it created, but does not require funding for any specific position like a…
Can a town board member also work as a paid employee of the town housing authority that the town board oversees?
No. The AG concluded the two positions are legally incompatible. Because the town board appoints, removes, and approves compensation for the housing authority board, a town board member who is…
Can the state convict someone of continuously sexually abusing a child even if the jury can't agree on which specific incidents happened?
Mostly yes. The AG concluded HB1293's proposed offense of continuous sexual abuse of a child was defensible on jury unanimity grounds because the offense is a continuing course of conduct (jurors…
Could Texas cities and school districts offer domestic partnership benefits to employees?
Senator Dan Patrick asked whether article I, section 32 of the Texas Constitution stopped Texas cities, counties, and school districts from offering domestic partnership benefits to their employees.…
Can a Texas county auditor inspect inmates' property held in the county jail?
The Tarrant County district attorney asked whether the county auditor could examine inmates' noncash property held at the county jail to verify the property receipts, after the sheriff refused on…
Did a Kentucky local agency have to bid out an insurance broker contract?
The Kentucky AG said in 2013 that the answer depended on whether the agency had adopted the Model Procurement Code. An agency that had adopted it had to follow its applicable broker-contract…
When a Tennessee school district's enrollment falls but its charter schools grow, which year's charter enrollment determines BEP funding?
The AG concluded that the district had to allocate funds to its charter schools based on the students attending them in the current school year, even though the district's BEP funding was based on…
Can the state bar insurance companies from giving discounts based on group membership or employer affiliation?
Yes. The AG concluded Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-8-104(18), which prohibits insurance companies from offering insurance discounts or other preferences based on a person's affiliation with or employment by…
Can Tennessee give state gasoline tax revenue to a private property owners association to maintain private roads that the public uses?
Yes. The AG concluded that allocating part of the state gasoline tax to a private property owners association for maintaining privately-owned roads that are open to public travel would be a…
Did a student switching from public school to homeschooling have to wait a full year to join school activities?
The AG predicted that an academically eligible public-school student would not automatically lose a year of interscholastic eligibility after beginning an approved home-school program. The opinion…
Could Napa police officers use quo warranto to contest the city's new HR director's authority?
No. The Attorney General said the dispute concerned overlapping duties between Napa's human-resources and personnel offices, while no one claimed the other director's office. It denied permission…
Could a county add new projects when renewing a capital-project sales tax before voter-approved projects were finished?
The AG said no in the shortfall situation presented. If the original tax did not fund the projects voters approved, a reimposed tax had to continue those specific projects and their priority order,…
Can a Texas commissioners court change the weekday it holds its regular monthly meetings?
A county district attorney asked whether a commissioners court could change the day of the week it convenes for its regular monthly term during the current fiscal year, after it had already…
Is it constitutional for a Texas judge to shorten a state jail sentence for program participation?
A district attorney asked whether article 42.12, section 15(h)(6) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which lets a judge shorten the time a defendant must serve in a state jail felony facility by up…
Did South Carolina investigators have to allow internal affairs staff or department lawyers into officer-shooting interviews?
The AG said an uncharged officer’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel had not attached during the criminal investigation, and Garrity protection depended on job-loss coercion. It declined to decide…
Can a Virginia circuit court appoint a guardian ad litem to represent minor children in a workers' compensation case pending before the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission?
Yes. The Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission cannot appoint a guardian ad litem itself, and the general guardian-ad-litem statute (§ 8.01-9) does not literally cover minor claimants (as…
What was the Florida Water and Land Conservation ballot amendment, and how was it reviewed?
This is the Attorney General's petition asking the Florida Supreme Court to review a proposed constitutional amendment, the Water and Land Conservation initiative, which would dedicate at least 33…
When a city's planning commission also serves as the regional planning commission for the city's urban growth area, can it require developers in that area to post performance bonds and submit to city inspection?
Yes. Once designated as the regional planning commission for an urban growth area, a municipal planning commission may enforce subdivision regulations there, including bonds or letters of credit and…
If a Minnesota township acquires a residentially-restricted lot from the state through tax forfeiture, can the township override the restriction and use the lot as a public park?
No. The AG concluded that under Minn. Stat. § 282.01, subd. 6, the state's conveyance of tax-forfeited land is 'subject to easements and restrictions of record' as of the tax judgment sale date, and…
Can a Florida police officer temporarily fill in as acting city manager?
No, not when the city manager position is itself an 'office.' The AG concluded that the constitutional ban on dual office-holding in Article II, section 5(a) applies even to a short, unpaid,…
Could National Park Service rangers issue South Carolina uniform traffic tickets inside federal park sites?
The AG said no under the then-current state ticket statute: federal rangers were not state or local payroll officers within the definition used for uniform traffic tickets. Their limited state-law…
Could a South Carolina adult face charges for knowingly allowing minors to drink, and could a county adopt a social-host ordinance?
The AG said existing contributing-to-delinquency and alcohol-transfer laws could reach described social-host conduct, depending on the facts and prosecutor’s judgment. It predicted that a county…
Who paid West Feliciana Parish library vendors and staff: the police jury or library board?
The AG concluded that the West Feliciana Parish Police Jury had to pay the library's expenses and maintenance costs monthly, with board approval. West Feliciana was absent from the statute's list of…
Could a South Carolina university-trustee screening committee use the four-percent property-tax assessment to judge residency?
The AG said the legislative screening committee had broad discretion in assessing trustee candidates’ residency, subject to judicial review. It also said spouses could have different legal…
Could San Jose police officers sue over whether the city bargained before putting pension changes on the ballot?
Yes. The Attorney General granted the police officers' association permission to bring a quo warranto suit over whether San Jose met its bargaining obligations before placing pension changes on the…
Does the Texas Open Meetings Act apply to a legislative advisory commission?
A state representative who chaired the Partnership Advisory Commission asked whether the commission, which reviews public-private partnership proposals and makes recommendations, was subject to the…
Does Texas require competitive bidding for Permanent School Fund investments?
The chair of the State Board of Education asked whether the board must use the competitive bidding process in the State Purchasing and General Services Act for three kinds of Permanent School Fund…
Can a Virginia city council appoint its own mayor or council members to the Fort Monroe Authority Board of Trustees?
No. Article VII, § 6 of the Virginia Constitution and Va. Code § 15.2-1535 prohibit a governing body from appointing its own members to other 'offices' the body fills, unless general law provides an…
If a union publishes a member's Social Security number, can the member sue under Virginia's identity-protection statute, or does federal labor law preempt the claim?
The AG could not give a definitive answer without the facts of a Virginia case. He identified persuasive arguments that the NLRA does not preempt § 59.1-443.2(A)(1), but said Virginia courts would…
Can Virginia's wildlife agency prohibit the use of dogs when it issues a bear kill permit to protect farm property?
No. Once the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries issues a bear kill permit under § 29.1-529 to address property damage, the AG concluded the Director cannot restrict the permit to…
Can a Virginia city require contractors to hire local residents for city construction projects?
No. The AG concluded that under Dillon Rule principles and the Virginia Public Procurement Act, the City of Hampton lacked authority either to give bid preference to contractors who would hire…
Can Virginia's Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund be used to buy a new office building for the Workers' Compensation Commission?
No. The AG concluded the Workers' Compensation Commission could not use Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund money to buy a new headquarters building. Future legislation could authorize that use, and…
Could a full-time district attorney's employee also be deputized to sign court subpoenas?
The AG found no dual-officeholding bar to a full-time district attorney support employee's narrowly described part-time deputy-clerk appointment to sign subpoenas. It separately warned of a possible…
Did LSU need legislative approval to lease an entire state public hospital to a private operator?
The AG concluded that the LSU Board of Supervisors did not need legislative approval merely to lease an entire hospital under its management. A lease still had to assure continued legally required…
Did a property-tax exemption also excuse a building from a Louisiana fire-district service charge?
The AG concluded that fire-protection service charges assessed per residential or commercial structure were specific taxes, not value-based property taxes. A building's exemption from ad valorem tax…
Could Marksville pay to defend its mayor against a civil suit naming him individually?
The AG said Marksville could choose to fund its mayor's defense if the civil suit arose from acts within his official duties; the city had to make that factual finding. An individual-capacity label…
How much could Bienville's mayor spend after the village failed to adopt a new general-fund budget?
The AG said the mayor could not incur general-fund liabilities or authorize expenditures beyond the Local Government Budget Act's automatic reappropriation and emergency-spending provision. The…
Could the Red River Waterway Commission build an RV park next to a boat ramp?
Yes, for the proposal described. The AG treated an RV park built alongside or in conjunction with a Bayou Pierre boat ramp as a related facility under the Red River Waterway Commission's enabling law.
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