State AG Opinions
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Does a Texas county clerk have to file a UCC lien that lists the same person as both debtor and secured party?
The Attorney General concluded that a county clerk does not have to accept a purported UCC financing statement that names the same person as both the debtor and the secured party, because such a docum…
Can a Texas county quietly raise elected officials' salaries by more than the amount in the public notice?
The Attorney General concluded that section 152.013(b) of the Local Government Code requires a commissioners court to publish notice of the maximum proposed salary increases for elected county and pre…
Can a Texas county put probation department employees under its civil service system?
The Attorney General concluded that a county cannot include community-supervision-and-corrections department employees (probation officers and staff) in a county civil-service system, even one expande…
How does a Texas county split national forest money among its school districts?
The Attorney General concluded that under section 130.906 of the Local Government Code, a county that receives federal national forest revenue must divide the school share among all its school distric…
Could a Vermont sheriff charge a service-of-process fee for finding the right address or otherwise locating someone, even if no service was actually made?
No. The fees in 32 V.S.A. § 1591(1) were payable only on presentation of a return of service. The activity that triggered the flat fee was the actual service of process, not the preparatory work of lo…
When an Oregon court seals someone's criminal record, do public-safety agencies like DPSST have to seal their certification records too, or can they still consider the past conviction?
The AG concluded that an order under ORS 137.225 sealing a set-aside conviction reached DPSST records of that conviction once DPSST had a certified copy or actual knowledge, but did not require DPSST …
Can a city park board let a public hotel sell gym memberships to local residents?
The Attorney General concluded that a municipal park board may adopt rules letting a hotel it manages under section 306.032 of the Local Government Code sell health and fitness center memberships to n…
Does Texas's disabled parking placard law require two accessible spaces in a small lot?
The Attorney General concluded that section 681.009(e) of the Transportation Code does not require two disabled parking spaces where the federal ADA and Texas accessibility guidelines require only one…
Can a Texas county move car registration fee money into its general fund?
The Attorney General concluded that motor vehicle registration fees allocated to a county must be credited to the county road and bridge fund and used for road and bridge construction, maintenance, an…
Does a Texas judge auto-resign just by seeking a party's nomination for another office?
The Attorney General concluded that a county court at law judge who merely seeks a political party's executive committee nomination to be the party's general-election candidate for a new office does n…
Does a Texas agency post its own meeting notice when its board attends a Sunset hearing?
The Attorney General concluded that when a quorum of a state agency's governing board attends a Sunset Advisory Commission public hearing and one or more of them testifies, answers questions, or other…
In New York, can the same person serve as town assessor and as a member of the school board?
Yes. The AG concluded the two offices are compatible. No statute barred the combination (Town Law § 20(4) covers only elective town offices and the assessor here was appointive; Education Law § 2103 d…
Can a New York district attorney also sit on a BOCES board or a local school board?
No. The AG concluded that the elected part-time district attorney's broad, nondelegable prosecutorial discretion was incompatible with holding policymaking positions on the BOCES and school board with…
Can a New York city ask the state to install a 15 mph school speed limit on a state highway running past a college?
No. The AG concluded that colleges and universities are not 'schools' under Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1620, because the DOT regulation governing school speed limit signs requires the institution to ha…
Can a town in New York appoint its tax certiorari defense attorney to serve as deputy supervisor?
No. The AG concluded the conflict was structural, not waivable. As deputy supervisor, the attorney would negotiate his own contract renewal with colleagues on the board and advise the town board on li…
In New York, can the county legislature let social services department attorneys handle their own litigation without going through the county attorney?
Yes. The AG concluded that under Social Services Law § 66(1), a county legislative body may directly authorize attorneys appointed by the social services commissioner to represent the department in li…
In New York, can a part-time assistant county attorney also serve as mayor of a city in that county?
Yes, under the facts presented. The AG concluded the positions are compatible: County Law § 411 does not bar the combination, the two positions are in separate governmental units (no subordination), a…
Can a Texas hospital district hold an election to raise the maximum tax rate set when it converted?
The Attorney General concluded that a hospital district governed by chapter 286 of the Health and Safety Code has no authority to hold an election to raise the maximum property tax rate its voters app…
How much jail-time credit do you get for an unpaid Class C misdemeanor fine in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that a defendant jailed for failing to pay a fine on a Class C misdemeanor must be credited at a rate of not less than $100 for each day, or part of a day, served. Becau…
Can a large Texas county build or replace a cattle guard on a county road?
The Attorney General concluded that section 251.009 of the Transportation Code authorizes only counties with fewer than 60,000 residents to build cattle guards on county roads. Because Webb County's p…
Does a New York public library need voter approval to be dissolved and to transfer its property to a free association library?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Abolition under Education Law § 268 requires voter approval. But the Board of Regents can dissolve a public library under §§ 219 and 220 without voter approval, and a libr…
Does the Hiawatha Light Rail Project Management Plan submitted by the Metropolitan Council to the Federal Transit Administration properly allocate responsibility between the Council and the Minnesota Department of Transportation, given that the enabling statute makes MnDOT responsible for design and construction?
The PMP is ambiguous and could be interpreted in more than one way. The AG concluded that conformity with state law depends on implementation. As long as the Commissioner of Transportation issues the …
Can North Carolina pay its current state employees a 'Referral Incentive Award' for identifying and recommending people for hard-to-fill state positions, or does the state employment-agency statute prohibit that kind of payment?
Yes, the state can pay the referral incentive. The 2000 NC AG opinion concluded that N.C. Gen. Stat. § 126-18 does not bar an Office of State Personnel-administered Referral Incentive Award program th…
Can Georgia constitutionally bar Department of Public Safety employees from contributing to political campaigns in county or state elections?
Yes, with one limit. The Georgia AG concluded that O.C.G.A. § 35-2-12 may be enforced to prohibit DPS employees (including state troopers) from making political contributions in county or state primar…
Can Oregon's State Treasurer sell state bonds online and post the official statement on a website instead of mailing paper copies?
The AG concluded that the Treasurer could conduct competitive bond and COP sales over the Internet, including open-bid auctions and maturity-by-maturity sales, and could publish the preliminary and fi…
Can a Texas licensing board outsource its scholarship program to a private nonprofit?
The Attorney General reached three conclusions. The legislative appropriation for the architectural-examination scholarship fund was backed by pre-existing law (section 7A of article 249a), so it did …
Can Texas punish someone for handing out anonymous campaign flyers?
The Attorney General concluded that section 255.001(a) of the Election Code, which requires political advertising to identify who paid for it, cannot constitutionally be enforced against a private ind…
Can the state demand a jury trial in a Texas juvenile case?
The Attorney General concluded that the state has no right to a jury trial in a juvenile proceeding. Under the Family Code, only the child and the child's attorney can waive the child's right to a jur…
Can a Texas state agency turn its website into a portal for outside online courses?
The Attorney General concluded that the State Board for Educator Certification has no authority to use its official website as a portal giving direct access to distance-learning courses developed and …
Can a Texas university move donated endowment funds to its private foundation?
The Attorney General concluded that money donated to a state university for a restricted purpose, like endowed faculty positions or scholarships, is held in a charitable trust. To shift control of tho…
Can a Texas county stop an elected official from sending staff home early?
The Attorney General concluded that an elected county official can dismiss the employees in his or her office for all or part of a day, for any reason, as long as the closure serves some public purpos…
Does a public body have to let people speak at its meetings, and does a vague agenda item like committee meeting notices need to list every topic?
No to public comment, under the law as it stood in 2000, and yes to a real agenda requirement. The AG found FOIA doesn't require a public body to accept public comment at an open meeting, and that a m…
Can a Texas county let oil companies run temporary water lines along a county road right-of-way?
The Attorney General concluded that a county's right to allow public utility lines on or under its road right-of-way does not, by itself, give it the legal right to grant a separate easement to a thir…
Is a Texas oyster-bed lease permanent, and can it be sold or passed to heirs?
The Attorney General concluded that an oyster-bed lease under chapter 76 of the Parks and Wildlife Code is a year-to-year (periodic) lease, not a perpetual one, so the state can end it at the close of…
When does a Texas city tax abatement end if the owner joins the city council?
The Attorney General clarified that a municipal property tax abatement ends on the date the owner assumes office as a member of the city council, not on election day and not at the end of the year. Be…
Can dedicated cemetery land in Texas be sold or used for something else?
The Attorney General concluded that land dedicated as a cemetery must be used as a cemetery unless and until the dedication is removed, and selling the land does not change that. Moving remains to ano…
If my Texas dig is delayed, do I have to call the line-locate center again?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Section 251.151 of the Utilities Code requires an excavator to notify a notification center no earlier than 14 days before digging begins, so if the start date slip…
Can a Texas public board go into closed session to discuss a contract?
The Attorney General concluded that under section 551.071 of the Government Code a governmental body may meet privately with its attorney in executive session to get advice on the legal issues raised …
Does a Texas county auditor's salary cap include the state salary supplement?
The Attorney General concluded yes. A county auditor's compensation may not exceed what the highest paid elected county officer (in Henderson County, the county attorney) receives, and section 152.032…
Who can electronically transfer county tax money to the Texas county treasury?
The Attorney General concluded that county tax funds can be moved electronically from the tax assessor-collector's account at the county depository to the county treasury, even though no statute spell…
Could a Vermont town clerk lawfully refuse to issue civil union licenses, and what penalties applied if she did?
No. Under Act 91 § 5 the town clerk had a mandatory duty to issue civil union licenses to any qualified applicant. Refusal exposed the clerk and the town to a Rule 75 court order compelling issuance, …
Was the Aroostook Band of Micmacs required to file a certificate with the Maine Secretary of State under the 1989 Settlement Act, and what happens if no certificate was filed?
Deputy Attorney General Paul Stern responded to outside counsel that he had reviewed his original files concerning the Aroostook Band of Micmacs Settlement Act of 1989 (P.L. 1989, c. 148) and found no…
Can North Carolina's Massage and Bodywork Therapy Board require massage schools to post a guaranty bond as a condition of approval, charge schools fees for the approval process, and require approval as a prerequisite to operating?
The 2000 NC AG opinion gave three answers. (1) NO bond: The Board cannot require schools to post a guaranty bond as a condition of approval, because the Massage and Bodywork Therapy Practice Act does …
What does 'adequate' mean when North Carolina law requires county commissioners to provide 'adequate' funding to a community college?
'Adequate' meant 'sufficient to meet specific requirements,' a standard imported from a 1951 NC Supreme Court decision and consistent with both Black's Law Dictionary and the American Heritage College…
Does putting his investments into a blind trust let a Georgia public officer skip itemizing them on his ethics disclosure form?
No. The Georgia AG concluded that the Ethics in Government Act has no blind-trust exemption, and a public officer who is the sole beneficiary of a blind trust still holds a direct ownership interest i…
Can a Maryland town's charter bar its own employees from also serving on the town council, or does the state law protecting public employees' political rights (the anti-Hatch Act) override that kind of local rule?
No, the anti-Hatch Act does not preempt that kind of charter provision. The opinion concluded the anti-Hatch Act protects a municipal employee's right to run for town council, but a town charter may s…
Can a NC hospital authority sell vacant land to a doctor without following the special hospital-property sale procedures in § 131E-13?
Yes, if the vacant land is not 'necessary, convenient, or related' to the operation of any hospital facility owned by the authority. The AG concluded that the term 'hospital facility' in both the Muni…
Can North Carolina warehouses legally store video poker machines that would be illegal to operate in the state?
No. The NC AG concluded in 2000 that even storing or warehousing video poker machines that would be illegal to operate is itself unlawful. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-304 makes it unlawful to 'manufacture, o…
Does repeal of the federal supply schedule program change Texas local government purchasing authority?
The Attorney General concluded that when Congress repealed the federal program that let states and local governments buy off the General Services Administration's federal supply schedules, the one Tex…
Do Texas police have to take a missing 17-year-old into custody if the teen does not want to go?
The Attorney General concluded that article 63.009(g) of the Code of Criminal Procedure requires an officer who locates a seventeen-year-old reported as a missing child to take possession of the child…
In Texas, who pays to bury an indigent person, the county or the family?
The Attorney General concluded that under section 694.002 of the Health and Safety Code, the county must provide for and pay to dispose of a deceased pauper's remains according to its own rules, even …
Can a Texas county use a state salary supplement to pay the employer's payroll taxes on it?
The Attorney General concluded that section 46.0031 of the Government Code does not permit a county to pay the employer's share of employment taxes (such as FICA) on a county attorney's state 'supplem…
Could a North Carolina home-schooled teenager who used a hunting rifle on family property under a parent's supervision lose their learner's permit or driver's license under the 'Lose Control, Lose Your License' law?
No. The AG read the statute literally and concluded that 'enumerated student conduct' triggering license revocation required the conduct to actually 'result in disciplinary action.' Disciplinary actio…
Can the NC Department of Transportation award engineering and surveying contracts to the lowest bidder instead of selecting based on qualifications?
Mostly no, with narrow exceptions. The AG concluded that for federal-aid highway projects, the federal Brooks Act and 23 U.S.C. § 112 required qualifications-based selection (QBS), period. Low-bid awa…
Which acknowledgment form do New York county clerks use for real property deeds, corporate documents, and out-of-state filings?
Three rules. Real property conveyances (including by corporations) and non-real-property filings by non-corporations use § 309-a. Non-real-property corporate filings use § 309. Out-of-State acknowledg…
What standard must a Texas state agency meet to override a parent's rights over their child?
The Attorney General concluded that a state agency that tries to interfere with a parent's fundamental right to direct the upbringing of his or her child must satisfy the 'compelling state interest' s…
Can a Maryland county condition part of a school board's budget on the board agreeing to things like creating auditor positions, studying bus fleet options, or sharing a health insurance plan with the county?
Mostly yes, with one exception. The opinion concluded a county may condition release of budget funds to a local board of education on reasonable, nonsubstantive procedural requirements, such as a flee…
Can Maryland's Insurance Commissioner discipline or overrule the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund (MAIF) the same way it regulates private car insurers?
Mostly yes, with limits. The opinion concluded MAIF, the state's auto insurer of last resort, is generally regulated like any private insurer, so the Commissioner can order it to stop unfair claims pr…
Does the University of Delaware have to follow the same FOIA open-meeting and records rules as a city council?
No, under the law as it stood in 2000. The AG found the University of Delaware's FOIA obligations are narrower than a typical public body's: it only has to disclose records tied to the expenditure of …
Does a New York municipality have to pass a local law to adopt Public Officers Law § 18 defense and indemnification for its employees, or can a resolution do it?
A simple resolution works. The AG concluded Public Officers Law § 18(2)(a) explicitly lists 'local law, bylaw, resolution, rule or regulation' as ways to adopt the statutory scheme. A municipality can…
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