State AG Opinions
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Is assaulting a nurse or doctor who treats inmates a felony in Virginia like assaulting a corrections officer?
Only if the medical worker is directly employed by the Department of Corrections, or is a volunteer rescue squad member acting in that role. Medical staff at local jails or hospital ERs treating…
Can a Virginia driver assign medical benefits from their auto insurance policy to a chiropractor who treats them, and are 'no assignment' clauses in the policy enforceable?
Yes, the assignment is enforceable, and a policy clause barring such post-loss assignments is unenforceable as long as the assignment doesn't materially increase the insurer's risk or obligation.
Could a Maine federally recognized tribe license the Incentovation Electronic Pull-Tab System (an electronic terminal that prints win/loss tickets at game time) under the state's amended sealed-ticket statute?
No. AG Janet Mills concluded the system fell outside 17 M.R.S.A. § 314-A as amended in 2009 because the machine itself, rather than a preprinted ticket, determined the outcome of the game. The…
Can someone who breeds birds, rats, mice, or hamsters to sell to pet shops register their delivery vehicle as a 'farm vehicle' for the cheaper Texas plate?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Transportation Code section 502.163, which lets an owner register a commercial vehicle as a 'farm vehicle' for half the normal fee if it is used only to haul…
In Texas, can a repossession agent do locksmith work without a Private Security Act license, or does the repo exemption only cover work tied to the repossession?
The exemption is broader than just investigation, but it is not unlimited. The Attorney General concluded that the Occupations Code section 1702.324(b)(3) exemption for a person engaged exclusively…
Who decides how much, if anything, the judges who sit on a Texas county juvenile board get paid?
The county commissioners court. The Attorney General concluded that Human Resources Code section 152.0034(b), which says a commissioners court 'may reasonably compensate' each juvenile board member…
Could South Carolina share unemployment data with its workforce data warehouse under federal confidentiality rules?
The AG said the proposed state-law amendment alone would not meet federal concerns. It advised making state authority subject to federal Labor Department confidentiality regulations and said the…
Could automated political survey calls ask South Carolina voters to press phone keys?
The AG said automated polling calls could be made if they only gathered a snapshot of voter opinion and did not advocate a particular candidate. It distinguished such surveys from prohibited…
Could Connecticut's Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission hold an annual recognition event and award scholarships?
Yes. Although a 2009 amendment removed an express duty to recognize community accomplishments, the Commission's new education, outreach, information-gathering, and gift-acceptance powers still…
How can a Texas hospital district set a property tax rate again after going years without levying any tax?
The Attorney General had no clean answer, because the Tax Code does not provide one. The Amarillo Hospital District had not levied a property tax since 1996, when it sold its hospital and funded…
If a Texas subdivision project goes dormant, can a city charge higher impact fees when the developer restarts, and can the developer get the old fees refunded?
The Attorney General gave several answers tied to Local Government Code chapters 245 and 395. A municipality must refund impact fees only in the specific situations listed in section 395.025 (for…
Can a Virginia town council start negotiating an employment contract with a town manager without first voting as a body, and can the contract have a multi-year term?
Yes to negotiations: council members can negotiate preliminarily, as long as the appointment and contract are ultimately approved by a council vote. No to a fixed multi-year term: under § 15.2-1503,…
If a Tennessee public board is later found to have been illegally composed, are the decisions it already made still valid?
Yes, under longstanding Tennessee case law. The AG concluded in 2010 that if a court later declared the Tennessee Board of Regents (or any board) improperly composed, the actions taken before that…
Can a circuit court clerk refuse to docket a certified copy of a federal bankruptcy court judgment because it isn't labeled an 'abstract of judgment'?
No. So long as the certified copy contains the information § 8.01-449 requires, it counts as an authenticated abstract of judgment and the clerk has a mandatory duty to docket it.
How did California redevelopment agencies calculate required pass-through payments to other taxing entities?
The 2010 opinion used the statutory percentage of the tax rate applied to the current-year assessed-value increase over the designated adjusted base year. Both values came from the last equalized…
Are a Florida county inspector general's investigation records and meetings confidential under the Sunshine and Public Records laws?
Chapter 2010-130 covered the Palm Beach County Inspector General to the extent the office investigated complaints under a qualifying local ethics code. The AG said the exemption did not apply to all…
Can a Florida public agency cut its terminal sick-leave payout cap below the 480 hours state law requires?
No. The AG concluded that section 110.122(3), Florida Statutes, mandated terminal pay for unused sick leave (one-fourth of hours accrued after October 1, 1973, capped at 480 hours) for state…
Could South Carolina’s law-enforcement training council create a separate officer-certification hearing panel?
The AG said the council could not create an agency-level contested-case panel separate from itself for officer-certification decisions under the authority reviewed. It said a regulation alone would…
When a Tennessee county changes the beer-permit distance rule mid-application, which rule does the beer board apply?
The beer board applies the distance requirement in effect at the time it votes on the application, not at the time the application was filed (Coffman v. Washington County Beer Bd.). If a board…
After the 2008 recession dropped the cost of living, did Washington's voter-passed minimum wage law require Labor & Industries to bump the minimum wage back up automatically as soon as inflation returned, even before the cost of living recovered to pre-recession levels?
No. Initiative 688 (RCW 49.46.020(4)(b)) treats the minimum wage as a one-way ratchet during a downturn-recovery cycle. L&I cannot reduce the minimum wage when CPI-W declines, but it also cannot…
Could Wicomico County's licensing board fine or suspend the county liquor control board?
The Attorney General concluded that Wicomico County's Board of License Commissioners had no authority under the Alcoholic Beverages Law to enforce retail sales rules against the county Liquor…
Could a South Carolina coroner authorize cremation or organ donation when a death was tied to a crime covered by the evidence preservation law?
The Attorney General concluded that a coroner should not authorize cremation of a body linked to an offense covered by the Preservation of Evidence Act. Organ or tissue donation could proceed only…
Can a notary public in Tennessee notarize their own spouse's signature?
The Tennessee AG advised against it. Notaries take an oath to act 'without favor or partiality,' and the AG concluded in 2010 that the spousal relationship prevents that. A spouse-notarized…
Did two directors of a Texas water conservation district have to disclose their conflicts of interest and sit out a vote on a district rule that benefited them?
The Attorney General could not give a yes-or-no answer, because it turned on facts the opinion process cannot resolve. Chapter 171 of the Local Government Code requires a local official with a…
Did South Carolina DNR have to use the Administrative Procedures Act to make special boating rules for local waters?
The Attorney General concluded that special boating rules limited to a political subdivision’s waters did not require Administrative Procedures Act promulgation because they lacked general statewide…
Could neighbors who shared a private-road easement stop a school bus from using the road to pick up a student?
The Attorney General concluded that the neighbors’ easement rights did not make them owners entitled to bar the bus. It predicted that a court would view twice-daily school bus travel to serve a…
Does the 2010 Virginia law delaying collection of residential cash proffers until after final inspection apply to proffer agreements signed before July 1, 2010, and is that constitutional?
Yes. Section 15.2-2303.1:1 applies to cash proffer agreements made before July 1, 2010, so localities cannot demand payment until after final inspection. The retroactive application does not violate…
Could the Richland County sheriff manage Columbia’s police department without holding a second public office?
The Attorney General concluded that the sheriff could manage the city police department under the proposed contract without violating South Carolina’s dual-office prohibition, provided he held no…
Can a Virginia school division employee run for and serve on that same school board, and can a Department of Health employee run an outside radon-testing business?
No, an employee of a school board cannot serve as a member of that same school board. A Department of Health employee may run a radon-testing consulting business on personal time, as long as the…
Can a Tennessee public school require students to pay fees for field trips that take place during regular school hours?
No. Requiring students to pay a fee for a field trip that took place during the required 180 instructional days violated Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-2-110(c). Schools could request fees, but could not…
Could a California coroner share a deceased prisoner's samples with the state DNA lab?
The California Attorney General concluded in 2010 that a coroner could give the state DNA lab access to samples already collected during a postmortem examination of a qualifying inmate or parolee.…
Can a Virginia sanitary district build and run community buildings or recreational facilities outside its own boundaries to serve district residents?
Generally no. A sanitary district can only operate community buildings and recreational facilities within its boundaries, unless it reaches an agreement with another jurisdiction under § 15.2-1300…
Could South Carolina State University trustees rescind a presidential selection and erase the meeting minutes?
The Attorney General concluded that the board could rescind its prior presidential-selection action, subject to its bylaws, but could not destroy or distort minutes recording what it had done. The…
What must a Delaware town put on the agenda and record in the minutes before closing a meeting for litigation strategy?
FOIA requires the executive-session purpose on the agenda and the public vote to close the meeting in the minutes. The reason need not also appear in the minutes, though the AG recommended that…
Can a school district withhold a special-education lawsuit settlement from a reporter by calling it a confidential student record?
Not automatically, the AG found. In this dispute, it directed the district to ask the Johnson family for written consent within seven days. If they did not consent, the district had to submit the…
Could Oregon's Department of Education let a school district keep using the ACT instead of the state-contracted SAT-family test, given the law required the chosen contractor to be able to provide statewide data?
A contractor testing in only 13 of 197 districts could still meet the statewide-data criterion if it could compile the results of all its Oregon testing. The AG did not approve a waiver for the ACT…
When could the St. Mary's County school board meet privately for administrative business?
The Attorney General concluded that the St. Mary's County school board had to hold many administrative activities in open session under its local Open Meetings Act, even when State law would allow…
Could a nonresident South Carolina child enroll in a school district by owning real estate there without a release from the home district?
The Attorney General concluded that a child who met the district-property, academic, conduct, and payment conditions did not need a release from the home district and could not be refused by the…
If a Virginia school board has a vacancy, does that lower the number of members needed for a quorum?
Yes. A school board consists of the members who are 'duly appointed or elected.' A vacancy reduces that count, which in turn reduces the majority needed for a quorum.
Could the South Carolina Ethics Commission decide that a campaign-finance provision was unconstitutional?
The Attorney General concluded that the Ethics Commission could interpret the Ethics Act but could not rule on a provision’s constitutionality. Only a court could make that determination.
Could one person serve on both Gaffney’s zoning appeals board and the Cherokee County school board?
The Attorney General concluded that simultaneous service on those two boards violated South Carolina’s constitutional prohibition on holding two public offices. It treated each board seat as an…
Does Florida's home-address exemption for police protect a former officer's old addresses, and must he request it?
Two points. First, a former law enforcement officer now working for a town in a non-police job had to ask in writing to keep the public-records exemption for his home address, because the town was a…
When a soil and water conservation district seat goes vacant in Florida, how long does the board's appointee serve?
Until the next scheduled general election. When a soil and water conservation district seat became vacant, the remaining supervisors could appoint a successor, but only through the next general…
Can a Delaware state agency redact the names of people who wrote in or signed a petition about a road project?
No, the AG found. Because commenting on a road study was voluntary and served the public's interest in overseeing a government decision, rather than the agency's own information needs, the minimal…
If a Washington state, city, or county employee thinks their employer shorted them on wages, can they file a complaint with Labor & Industries and get an investigation?
Yes. The 2006 Wage Payment Act (RCW 49.48.082-.087) covers public employees, even though the older 1935 wage-collection statutes did not. The Department of Labor & Industries must investigate wage…
Could South Carolina’s Workers’ Compensation Commission charge a filing fee for hearings, settlements, and motions?
The Attorney General concluded that the fiscal 2010–11 appropriations proviso authorized a $25 filing fee for each requested hearing, settlement, or motion, with a waiver for an indigent individual.…
Could a South Carolina associate probate judge hold that office in two counties at once?
The Attorney General concluded that an associate probate judge could hold that office only in the judge’s home county because the statute required county voter qualification. The judge could still…
Could a South Carolina state representative also work as a public school football coach and athletic director?
The Attorney General concluded that the coaching and athletic-director jobs were employment rather than public offices, so holding them alongside a House seat did not violate the dual-office rule.…
Could South Carolina’s nursing board require already-licensed nurses to undergo fingerprint-based criminal background checks?
The Attorney General concluded that the Board of Nursing had implied authority to require current licensees to complete state and federal fingerprint-based checks. The opinion left who should pay…
When a Virginia judge verbally orders sheriff's deputies to take a sentenced defendant into custody for a number of hours, with no written order, is that direction binding and is the sheriff's office protected from liability?
Yes. A verbal sentencing order is binding on the sheriff's office, just like a written one, and deputies acting under it generally enjoy the same qualified sovereign immunity as in any other…
Can a Virginia general district court or J&DR court impose a pre-filing review requirement on a vexatious litigant, and can it bar an attorney or pro se litigant who is engaging in unauthorized practice or unethical conduct?
Yes to both. Section 8.01-271.1 lets a district court impose a pre-filing review requirement as an 'appropriate sanction' when a litigant files frivolous or harassing pleadings. The court also has…
Does Tennessee's 2010 amendment to the Sheriff's Civil Service Law on political activity apply to fundraising done before the law took effect?
No. The 2010 amendment to Tennessee's Sheriff's Civil Service Law political-activity rules (2010 Tenn. Pub. Acts Ch. 1025, signed June 9, 2010) does not apply to fundraising or campaign activities…
Can a Tennessee city or county employee run for elected office while keeping their job?
Generally yes. Tennessee state law does not bar local employees from running for elective office, and Tenn. Code Ann. § 7-51-1501 overrides any city or county charter that would. But the federal…
If two Texas groundwater districts both annex the same land, which one gets to regulate and tax it?
The Attorney General could not definitively answer, calling it an apparent question of first impression. Two groundwater conservation districts had each annexed the same roughly 14,202 acres in…
Can a Texas school superintendent who has final hiring authority employ a relative of a school board member, or does the nepotism law block it?
Generally no. The Attorney General concluded that after the Legislature added Education Code section 11.1513(f), a school district is generally prohibited from employing a person related (within the…
Can a Texas school district run fiber-optic cable along a county road right-of-way without the county's permission?
No. The Attorney General concluded that no statute gives an independent school district the right to access and use a county road right-of-way to install fiber-optic cable, so the district was not…
If my land was annexed into one Texas groundwater conservation district but later included in a new district the Legislature created, which district covers it?
The later special law wins. The Attorney General concluded that when a groundwater conservation district annexed a tract in an adjacent county under general law, and the Legislature then created a…
How long does a Florida city have to issue a red-light camera ticket, and can it cite the driver named in the owner's affidavit?
A city had at most 60 days from the violation to mail a red-light camera citation: up to 30 days to notify the registered owner, then a 30-day window for the owner to pay or respond. If the owner…
Could South Carolina employment-agency deputies prosecute criminal violations of the agency’s laws in magistrates court?
The Attorney General concluded that the criminal-prosecution statute controlled even in magistrates court. Any authorization for department deputies to prosecute cases had to come separately from…
Could South Carolina’s Forestry Commission use fitness tests for fireline employees and revise the testing program?
The Attorney General concluded that the Commission could set reasonable fireline fitness standards and that its proposed annual testing and physician-statement option appeared reasonable. A worker…
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