State AG Opinions
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Can the NC Marine Fisheries Commission sue or file a contested case against another state agency (the Department of Environment and Natural Resources) over a permit decision that the Commission thinks harms fisheries?
Almost certainly no. The Marine Fisheries Commission's statutory authority lets it 'comment on and otherwise participate in' permit decisions of other agencies, but does not authorize it to file a law…
If the NC General Assembly abolishes the Ports Railway Commission and lets the State Ports Authority lease port switching operations directly to private operators, would the State Ports Authority become subject to the federal Railway Labor Act?
Highly unlikely. In June 1999 the National Mediation Board ruled that the Ports Railway Commission was no longer a railway 'carrier' under the RLA, mooting the long-running dispute between the State P…
Can a state agency write a bidding specification that only one company's product can meet?
The Attorney General concluded that, as a general rule, the Texas Department of Transportation may not restrict a material specification to suit only one vendor's product when equal-quality material i…
Can a county pay a former employee for unused vacation time after he becomes a county officer?
The Attorney General concluded that where a county's personnel policy credits unused vacation time only on the anniversary of an employee's start date, an employee who resigns before that anniversary …
Does a Texas sheriff have to use competitive bidding to spend jail commissary money?
The Attorney General concluded that a sheriff may spend jail-commissary proceeds under section 351.0415 of the Local Government Code without following the competitive procurement rules of the County P…
What happens to a fire commissioner election if the incumbent runs for a new term when his current term still has a year left?
The election is a nullity. The AG concluded an incumbent fire commissioner serving a term with over a year remaining could not be nominated for a new five-year term. His resignation by word of mouth w…
Can a Long Island town set up its own electric utility to buy cheaper power for residents?
No, not without LIPA's agreement. The AG concluded the LIPA enabling act preempts the field of electric utility service in the former LILCO territory. General Municipal Law Article 14-A authority to f…
Can a Texas county judge act as a surety on a bail bond in the county where he serves?
The Attorney General concluded that a county judge may not act as a surety on a bail bond in the county where he presides. A bail bond is a contract to which the county is a party and in which the sur…
Can a city council member get a copy of the tape of a closed meeting they missed?
The Attorney General concluded that a member of a governmental body may review the tape recording (or certified agenda) of a closed meeting even if the member did not attend it, and that the body cann…
Can a prosecutor require a donation to a charity as a condition of pretrial diversion?
The Attorney General concluded that a county attorney may not condition pretrial diversion on the offender paying $1,500 to a nonprofit organization, even one the county attorney and his assistants se…
Can a Texas city's 4B economic development sales tax be spent on promotion instead of projects?
The Attorney General concluded that sales and use taxes levied under section 4B of the Development Corporation Act of 1979 may only be used to pay or finance project costs. They may not be spent on 'p…
Can a nurse anesthetist in Texas give anesthesia without a physician directly supervising?
The Attorney General concluded that when a certified registered nurse anesthetist selects and administers anesthesia and cares for an anesthetized patient, that is the practice of professional nursing…
Does closing a county road in Texas require a unanimous commissioners court vote?
The Attorney General concluded that closing a public road requires a unanimous vote of the commissioners court, and that this applies whether the road is a through street or a cul-de-sac. Section 251.…
Can a Texas school district give back pay to an employee who was suspended and later acquitted?
The Attorney General concluded that a school district may award back pay to employees who were indicted, suspended or terminated, and later acquitted and reinstated, but it is not required to. The Tex…
Does a Texas police department need a private security license to offer alarm monitoring?
The Attorney General concluded that a city police department is not subject to licensing by the Texas Board of Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies under chapter 1702 of the Occupations…
Can a Texas school district spend money on a private foundation's safety program?
The Attorney General concluded that article III, section 52 of the Texas Constitution does not stop a school district from spending district funds or resources on 'Texas Safe Sports Week' activities, …
Are Texas police protected when escorting a domestic violence victim to get their belongings?
The Attorney General concluded that article 5.045 of the Code of Criminal Procedure protects a peace officer who escorts a victim of family violence back to the residence to retrieve personal property…
Can a charitable raffle in Texas give away a certificate of deposit as a prize?
The Attorney General concluded that a certificate of deposit may not be offered as a prize at a charitable raffle. The Charitable Raffle Enabling Act bars offering 'money' as a prize, and although a c…
Does a Delaware school district violate FOIA by not producing an advisory committee's report if the committee was never actually formed?
No, under the law as it stood in 1999. The AG found the Brandywine School District did not violate FOIA by failing to provide the names of a District Advisory Committee or its report and recommendatio…
Can a researcher force the NC Employment Security Commission to rebuild its workforce-tracking database to use anonymized identifiers so the data can be analyzed without exposing Social Security numbers?
No. NC's Public Records Act does not require a state agency to create a new database it does not already maintain. The Common Follow-Up System links student and worker records by Social Security numbe…
Can a Texas court order the relative a truant child lives with to bring the child to court?
The Attorney General concluded that a court hearing a truancy case may compel a juvenile who lives with a custodian, an adult the child resides with such as an aunt, uncle, or grandparent, to appear b…
Does a Texas 4B economic development corporation have to follow public bidding rules when it sells land?
The Attorney General concluded that a section 4B development corporation is not a 'political subdivision,' so it does not have to follow section 272.001 of the Local Government Code, the notice-and-bi…
Can a Texas hospital district board meet in closed session to review a doctor's competence or hospital privileges?
The Attorney General concluded that a hospital district's governing body acts as a medical peer review committee under the Medical Practice Act when it decides whether a physician should receive hospi…
When calculating an NC Supreme Court Justice's longevity pay, does service as Administrative Office of the Courts director or assistant director count? What about service as an assistant district attorney?
The AG concluded that AOC director and assistant director service counts toward longevity for a NC Supreme Court Justice, because those positions were already explicitly equated with superior-court-ju…
In New York, can the lawyer who represents a fire district also be a volunteer firefighter in that same department?
Yes, the offices are not per se incompatible. The AG reasoned that because Town Law § 175(3) lets a volunteer firefighter serve on the fire commission (making policy), the same firefighter may also se…
Can a New York town ban its civilian employees from carrying their licensed firearms while on duty?
Yes. The AG concluded a municipality may prohibit on-duty firearm possession by employees with full carry licenses. A pistol license is a privilege, not an absolute right. Penal Law § 400.00(6) bars m…
Can a dental practice pay a management company a percentage of practice revenues, or must the fee be tied to specific services? And what contract terms cross the line into the unlicensed practice of dentistry?
Revenue-based fees turn the management company into a participant in the practice (illegal). Fee-for-service compensation, where the management company is paid based on the value of services delivered…
Can Texas public universities consider race in awarding financial aid after Hopwood?
The Attorney General withdrew a 1997 letter opinion (LO-97-001) that had read the Fifth Circuit's Hopwood decision to bar Texas public universities from considering race in any higher-education benefi…
Can a Texas city give a tax abatement for moving a building to a new spot on the same property?
The General Land Office asked whether moving a structure from one spot to another on the same property counts as a 'specific improvement or repair' that can support a tax abatement under chapter 312 o…
Does a large Texas city have to spend half its hotel tax on tourism advertising?
The Attorney General concluded that the rule in section 351.103(a) of the Tax Code, which makes a large municipality spend at least half its hotel occupancy tax revenue on tourism and convention adver…
Can a Texas county trade its surplus equipment for goods instead of cash?
The Attorney General concluded that a county has no authority to exchange surplus property for non-monetary consideration. Sabine County had received a bid offering rock worth $20,000 for surplus equi…
Can a Texas juvenile court hear a truancy case against a 17-year-old?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a juvenile court could not hold an adjudication hearing for someone referred as a truant by a justice or municipal court when the conduct behind the referral ha…
Does a Texas county clerk have to collect reimbursements when one county pays another county's mental health proceeding costs?
No statute imposes that duty on the county clerk. The Attorney General concluded that a county clerk had no statutory duty to collect the reimbursements a county might be owed for mental health servic…
When DC General Hospital was reorganized into the Public Benefit Corporation in 1997, did an arbitration award issued to nurses days before the transition transfer to the PBC, or stay with the disappearing hospital?
It transferred. Section 207(a)(4) of the 1996 Public Benefit Corporation Act transferred all 'functions, assets, property, records and obligations' from DCGH to the PBC. 'Obligations' includes contrac…
Was the 1891 Texas law that disincorporated the City of San Elizario constitutional?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the 1891 special act repealing the Legislature's earlier incorporation of San Elizario violated neither section 56 nor section 57 of article III of the Texas C…
Can a Texas county road commissioner buy county auto parts from a company he owns?
No. The Attorney General concluded that under Transportation Code sections 252.005 and 252.006, a county commissioner acting as precinct road commissioner could not purchase, or authorize precinct emp…
If a North Carolina statute (G.S. § 7B-3400) says minors are subject to their parents' supervision and control 'notwithstanding any other provision of law,' does that wipe out the separate minor-consent statute (G.S. § 90-21.5) and let parents stop a county health department from giving birth control to a teenager without their consent?
No. AG Mike Easley's office concluded that the two statutes address different subjects and do not actually conflict. G.S. § 7B-3400 sits in Article 34 of the Juvenile Code and is about getting runaway…
What are the legal limits on the Minnesota State High School League's board term dates, credit transactions, committee minute-keeping, gift-giving, and retreat expenses?
The 1999 amendment made League board terms run August 1 to July 31 (no longer governed by § 15.0575's January end date). Direct billing arrangements with hotels and airlines aren't credit cards. The L…
Can a Texas school take away perfect-attendance rewards from a student with an excused absence?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a school may not deny a 'perfect attendance' benefit, such as skipping a test or final exam, to a student whose absence was excused under Education Code section…
Can a Texas county collect the extra statutory-county-court fees and costs under Government Code section 51.702?
A county commissioners court could authorize collection of the fees and costs under Government Code section 51.702, relying on a Wichita County district court declaratory judgment that upheld the stat…
What procedures can a Texas therapeutic optometrist perform after the 1999 change to the surgery definition?
The Texas Optometry Act forbids a therapeutic optometrist to perform surgery. After the 76th Legislature added a statutory definition of 'surgery' in 1999, that definition controls. The Attorney Gener…
Can the Texas Court Reporters Certification Board reject or penalize a court reporting firm's registration?
No to both. The Attorney General concluded that the Board had a mandatory duty to accept a correctly completed registration application from a court reporting firm; registration just identifies the fi…
How many city officials can sit on a New York public housing authority board at the same time?
Only one. The AG concluded Public Housing Law § 30(4) caps municipal-official representation at a single board member. Utica had two officials serving, the Commissioner of Public Safety and a Zoning B…
In New York, can a village trustee who is also a volunteer firefighter serve on the village board of fire commissioners?
Yes. The AG concluded village trustees may be appointed to a board of fire commissioners (no more than two trustees on it), or one trustee may serve as the single fire commissioner in charge, even whi…
Can a New York village treat unanswered citations for code violations like littering as civil default judgments?
No. The AG concluded that Atlantic Beach could not adopt a local law allowing the village to obtain and enforce default judgments against people who ignored citations for village-law violations. Code …
Could the DC Board of Education remove its own sitting President mid-term by a simple majority vote at a meeting, with no advance written charges and no hearing?
No. The Board's enabling statute is silent on removal, but Board Rule 108.1 incorporates Robert's Rules of Order for debate and proceedings. Under Robert's Rule § 60, an officer with a defined term ca…
Can a Texas municipal judge also serve as a director of the Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority?
Generally no. The Attorney General concluded that the Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority is not a soil and water conservation district, so its directors do not fall within the only exception to artic…
Can a Texas district clerk refuse to file an inmate's divorce petition because the inmate is trying to meet the county residency rule with prison time?
No, not on the clerk's own authority. The Attorney General concluded that filing a petition is a ministerial duty, so a district clerk has no power to refuse inmate divorce petitions. A district judge…
Is Texas's $150 hazardous-substance registration fee legal, or does federal toy-safety law override it?
It was legal. The Attorney General concluded that section 501.024 of the Health and Safety Code, requiring makers and distributors of hazardous substances to register annually with the Texas Departmen…
Can a Texas county give a private company an economic development grant that works like a property tax break?
Not under the statute Dallas County relied on. The Attorney General concluded that section 381.004 of the Local Government Code did not authorize a county commissioners court to make economic developm…
Can Texas leave home schoolers out of a school voucher program for private and religious schools?
Probably, with a caveat. The Attorney General concluded that the Legislature may exclude home schools from a voucher system for private and parochial schools as long as the exclusion bears a rational …
Can Texas require a new water well to sit a minimum distance from the property line?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation rule requiring a water well to be located a minimum distance from a property line fell within the Department's r…
Can a Texas county use taxpayer money to hire a lobbyist to influence the Legislature?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that section 305.026 of the Government Code authorizes a county to spend public funds to retain a registered lobbyist to communicate with legislators on the county'…
Can a Texas court charge a separate filing fee for a forced-medication hearing for someone already committed?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a hearing on the involuntary administration of psychoactive medication under section 574.106 of the Health and Safety Code is a distinct legal action, not mere…
Can a Texas county withhold a justice of the peace's pay over a judgment for unpaid property taxes?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that once a valid judgment for delinquent property taxes has been entered against a justice of the peace, section 154.025 of the Local Government Code bars the coun…
Can Texas collect its controlled-substances drug tax after someone has already been criminally prosecuted for the same drugs?
The Attorney General concluded that the chapter 159 controlled-substances tax is a criminal punishment, not an ordinary revenue measure. Under the Court of Criminal Appeals decisions in Stennett and W…
Who controls a Texas juvenile probation department's budget and staff pay, the county commissioners court or the juvenile board?
The Attorney General concluded that a juvenile probation board is an independent entity, so the county commissioners court's authority over it was narrow. Under Local Government Code section 111.094, …
Are members of the New York State Deferred Compensation Board covered by the State for legal defense and indemnification if they get sued?
Yes. The AG concluded Board members are 'employees' in the service of the State under Public Officers Law § 17 and are entitled to defense and indemnification. The Board is not a public benefit corpor…
When a state-paid teacher leaves a NC public school district, can the school board move a current locally-paid teacher into the now-vacant state-funded position to keep state money flowing?
Yes. NC's broad general grant of authority to local school boards (G.S. 115C-36 and 115C-40) gives them control over which qualified employees to assign to state-funded versus locally funded positions…
Can a Texas county auditor make the county attorney turn over receipts for spending from the hot check fund?
The Attorney General concluded that yes, a county auditor could require the county attorney to provide receipts for purchases (or reimbursements) from the 'hot check' fund, as long as doing so was an …
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