State AG Opinions
Free state attorney general opinions with plain-English summaries, full citations, and the original source on every page.
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Can a Louisiana city open a public license tag agency inside the city court building?
Yes. The governing authority of the City of Shreveport may apply to serve as a public tag agent and operate the agency inside the Shreveport City Court building, subject to approval by the Louisiana O…
Can a Louisiana neighborhood improvement and security district use public funds to send its members to social functions like sporting events or theater productions?
No. Sending district members to social functions that do not directly serve the district's legislatively-created purpose (beautification, security, overall betterment) is a prohibited donation of publ…
What problems did the Idaho AG flag with the revised grocery sales tax exemption ballot initiative?
Two main concerns. The Certificate of Review found the revised initiative (1) likely violates the single-subject rule of Idaho Const. art. III § 16 and Idaho Code § 34-1802A by including a wholesale r…
If a Delaware town holds a private meeting with a developer, refuses to let residents observe, and then doesn't even respond to the FOIA petition, what happens?
It loses by default. The Town of Blades violated FOIA by failing to demonstrate that a private meeting between Town officials and a developer (which residents were barred from observing) was held in c…
Why did Missouri reject Garret Schmidt's Chapter 128 initiative petition 2026-068?
The petition failed to identify whether it changed Missouri statutes or the Constitution, and it did not place all new matter in sequentially numbered divisions. The opinion did not review additional …
Did Missouri approve the no-cost fiscal note summary for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-048?
Yes. The attorney general approved the fiscal note summary's legal content and form; the summary estimated no state or local governmental costs or savings, but the review did not examine that estimate…
What fiscal impact did Missouri approve for Richard von Glahn's initiative petition 2026-047?
The approved summary estimated no state or local governmental costs or savings, but said tax revenue could decrease by an unknown annual amount depending on business decisions. The review did not exam…
Did Missouri approve the no-cost fiscal note summary for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-046?
Yes. The attorney general approved the fiscal note summary's legal content and form; the summary estimated no state or local governmental costs or savings, but the review did not examine that estimate…
Did Missouri approve the no-cost fiscal note summary for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-045?
Yes. The attorney general approved the fiscal note summary's legal content and form; the summary estimated no state or local governmental costs or savings, but the review did not examine that estimate…
Did Missouri approve the no-cost fiscal note summary for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-044?
Yes. The attorney general approved the fiscal note summary's legal content and form; the summary estimated no state or local governmental costs or savings, but the review did not examine that estimate…
If I'm a transfer-on-death beneficiary on a South Carolina boat title, can the DNR refuse to issue me a new title because there's still a lien on it?
No. Once the owner dies, DNR's job is ministerial: it must issue the new title to the named TOD beneficiary even if a lien is still recorded. The lien stays valid against the boat, but the agency cann…
Does a West Virginia county courthouse have to close on Juneteenth if the governor doesn't recognize it as a state holiday, and do deputy sheriffs get overtime that day?
Yes, the courthouse and its annexes must close because Juneteenth is a federal holiday under 5 U.S.C. § 6103(a) and West Virginia Code § 7-3-2 forbids county commissions from keeping courthouses open …
Did Missouri approve the no-cost fiscal note summary for Terrence Wise's initiative petition 2026-043?
Yes. The attorney general approved the fiscal note summary's legal content and form; the summary estimated no state or local governmental costs or savings, but the review did not examine that estimate…
Did Missouri approve the no-cost fiscal note summary for Terrence Wise's initiative petition 2026-042?
Yes. The attorney general approved the fiscal note summary's legal content and form; the summary estimated no state or local governmental costs or savings, but the review did not examine that estimate…
Did Missouri approve the no-cost fiscal note summary for Terrence Wise's initiative petition 2026-041?
Yes. The attorney general approved the fiscal note summary's legal content and form; the summary estimated no state or local governmental costs or savings, but the review did not examine that estimate…
Did Missouri approve the no-cost fiscal note summary for Terrence Wise's initiative petition 2026-040?
Yes. The attorney general approved the fiscal note summary's legal content and form; the summary estimated no state or local governmental costs or savings, but the review did not examine that estimate…
Did Missouri approve the no-cost fiscal note summary for Terrence Wise's initiative petition 2026-039?
Yes. The attorney general approved the fiscal note summary's legal content and form; the summary estimated no state or local governmental costs or savings, but the review did not examine that estimate…
How can a career technical education district (CTED) and a member school district structure payments for shared career technical programs without exceeding cost?
An IGA between a CTED and a member district must say that payments cannot exceed the actual cost of the services the member district provides. Two of the four payment methods East Valley Institute of …
Did Missouri approve the form of Michael Lester's initiative petition 2026-067?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-067 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
When a South Carolina school district declares surplus and decides to sell or lease vacant land with no building on it, does the charter school right-of-first-refusal in § 59-40-170 apply?
No. AG Wilson concluded that § 59-40-170's first-refusal rule applies only to 'buildings' and 'portions of buildings,' not to undeveloped property without a building. The statute uses 'building' and '…
Are hemp-derived edibles, drinks, and other ingestible products legal to sell or possess in Mississippi without going through a medical cannabis dispensary?
No, generally illegal. Selling a hemp-derived ingestible product not approved by the FDA is prohibited under the Uniform Controlled Substances Law unless sold through a licensed medical cannabis dispe…
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-066?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-066 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 2026-065?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-065 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
If the Arkansas Department of Corrections plans to release a current agent's personnel file under FOIA, is the supervisor-completed promotion recommendation a personnel record or an evaluation record, and is a college transcript releasable?
The promotion recommendation is an evaluation record, not a personnel record, because it's created at the employer's request to evaluate the employee. Since the agent has not been suspended or termina…
If Kansas transfers the Shawnee Indian Mission to the Shawnee Tribe, can the state still enforce a no-gaming restriction?
Only if the Shawnee Tribe clearly and unequivocally waives its sovereign immunity. The Attorney General concluded that a proposed state bill authorizing transfer of the Shawnee Indian Mission to the T…
If a North Dakota airport authority misspells the email when notifying the city auditor of a special meeting, has it given valid notice?
No. Posting a notice at both terminals on the day of the meeting was not enough. A typo that prevented the city auditor from receiving the notice, plus failure to alert the official newspaper, was not…
If a North Dakota Governor's written veto message says one thing about which language is being struck, but the marked-up bill attached to it says another, which one controls?
The written statement of objections controls. The North Dakota Constitution requires the Governor to return the vetoed bill or item with a written statement of objections, and the words used in that s…
Does Santee Cooper have legal authority to sell electricity directly to the City of Rock Hill, given that S.C. Code § 58-31-320 lists specific customers Santee Cooper has 'the right' to serve and doesn't mention municipalities?
Yes. AG Wilson concluded that § 58-31-320 does not prohibit Santee Cooper from selling electricity to Rock Hill. The statute's 'electric utility' carveout covers municipal utilities like Rock Hill (a …
Can a Mississippi auxiliary deputy sheriff who is not certified make traffic stops, write tickets, transport inmates, or make arrests?
No to all of the above. An auxiliary deputy sheriff is a part-time law enforcement officer under Section 45-6-3(d) and must be BLEOST-certified. An uncertified person cannot serve as an auxiliary depu…
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-064?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-064 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 2026-063?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-063 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 2026-062?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-062 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 2026-061?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-061 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 2026-060?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-060 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 2026-059?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-059 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 2026-058?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-058 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 2026-057?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-057 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Does the United Keetoowah Band's April 2025 signing of Oklahoma's model gaming compact create a valid agreement with the State?
No. Oklahoma's offer to enter the Model Tribal Gaming Compact expired on January 1, 2020 (the end of its initial term), and the Compact's auto-renewal provisions only protect compacts that were alread…
Under South Carolina law, is a vape shop classified as a 'tobacconist'?
South Carolina law does not define 'tobacconist.' A vape shop is regulated as a 'tobacco retail establishment' under § 16-17-501(9), a much broader category that also covers grocery stores, convenienc…
In rural Arkansas, can the quorum court raise volunteer fire department dues without going back to the voters, and can the dues be charged on a timberland parcel that doesn't have a house or business on it?
Whether the quorum court can raise dues without an election depends on what voters originally approved: if the original ballot measure didn't lock in a specific rate, the quorum court can raise dues; …
Can the Boy Scouts (now Scouting America) sell off any of the 2,840 acres they got from the State of Arkansas in 1976 without losing the property to the state, and is the 1973 act that created those restrictions still good law?
No, they can't sell. The 1976 deed contains direct restraints on alienation (no sale, donation, lease, or conveyance) plus an indirect use restriction. Although direct restraints are normally void at …
Can a county library board claim the entire balance of the county public library fund (from voter-approved millage) and hold it in its own bank account, paying expenses directly without going through the county treasurer?
Yes. Under A.C.A. § 13-2-404(c)(3), if the quorum court enacts an ordinance directing the county treasurer to release the undistributed balance of the county public library fund, the library board can…
Can the Miami City Commission move municipal elections from odd to even years, or change officials' terms of office, without a vote of the electorate?
No. Because Miami sits in Miami-Dade County, the 1885 Florida Constitution and the County's Home Rule Charter make the voter-referendum process the exclusive method for amending a municipal charter. T…
Is a Kentucky school board's vote to raise the occupational license tax valid if the board didn't give the required public notice first?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the Fayette County School Board's May 27, 2025 vote to raise the occupational license tax was unlawful and void because the board did not publish the one-week p…
If I'm about to sue Delaware police and probation in federal court over a stop, can I still use FOIA to get the records I'll need for my case?
No. After Tom Somers Jr. sent the Department of Correction a preservation-of-evidence letter saying he was preparing a federal civil rights lawsuit (which he then filed on May 7, 2025), DOC and DSP pr…
If the directors of a Tennessee mutual-benefit nonprofit (one with no members) abuse their authority or breach their duties, who can sue them?
Another director on the board can bring a derivative suit on behalf of the corporation. The Tennessee Attorney General can file a direct action seeking judicial dissolution or remedies for ultra vires…
When state employees get a big raise, what is the cap on a Tennessee certified elections administrator's annual pay increase: 5% (the cap on county-officer raises) or 10% (the cap in the elections administrator statute)?
10%. Tennessee Code Annotated § 2-12-208(f) specifically governs elections administrators and caps their annual increase at 10% of the prior year's state-employee raise. The 5% cap in § 8-24-102(d) ap…
When a charter school messes up its CalSTRS reporting or contribution payments, can the state Teachers' Retirement Board fine the county office of education that submits the reports on the charter school's behalf? And can the county recover the cost from the charter school?
Yes to both. The Teachers' Retirement Board can assess penalties under Education Code sections 23003, 23006, and 23008 against an intermediary county superintendent of schools for charter school error…
Can a Florida chief judge ban state attorneys and their investigators from carrying firearms in the courtroom?
No. State attorneys, assistant state attorneys, and their investigators are statutorily defined as law enforcement officers and are exempt from Chapter 790's restrictions when acting in the line of du…
What does the Arkansas Attorney General have to consider when deciding whether to certify a ballot title for an initiated constitutional amendment, and why was the original 'Arkansas Ballot Measure Rights Amendment' ballot title rejected on its first submission?
The AG checks (1) whether the popular name accurately and impartially identifies the proposal, (2) whether the ballot title summarizes the amendment fairly, briefly, and without partisan tilt or techn…
Can Kansas legally negotiate a gaming compact with the Wyandotte Nation without violating its existing state-run casino contracts?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded the Governor has a federal duty under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) to negotiate in good faith with the Wyandotte Nation over a Class III gaming compact, …
Why did Missouri reject Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-051?
The attorney general rejected the petition because its signature sheet did not correctly address the current secretary of state. The opinion did not review whether the petition had additional defects.
Why did Missouri reject Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-050?
The attorney general rejected the petition because its signature sheet did not correctly address the current secretary of state. The opinion did not review whether the petition had additional defects.
Why did Missouri reject Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-049?
The attorney general rejected the petition because its signature sheet did not correctly address the current secretary of state. The opinion did not review whether the petition had additional defects.
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-48?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-48 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 a Kansas school district use bond money to improve a sports complex it only leases, not owns?
Yes, with a limit. The Attorney General concluded that a school district's limited home-rule authority under K.S.A. 72-1138(e) lets it spend district funds to improve leased property for district purp…
When a Delaware city wants to withhold a developer's PowerPoint presentation as 'commercial' information, what does the city actually have to prove?
Wilmington violated FOIA by withholding a developer's presentation under the commercial-and-financial-information exemption (29 Del. C. § 10002(o)(2)) without enough evidence to support each of the th…
Can a South Carolina municipal council limit a speaker to a single three-minute slot at public comment, even if the speaker holds power of attorney to speak on someone else's behalf?
Yes. AG Wilson concluded that a content-neutral rule barring speakers from stacking their personal time with time allotted to others (including those who have given them power of attorney) is consiste…
Did Missouri approve the form of Richard von Glahn's initiative petition 2026-47?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-47 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 2026-46?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-46 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
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