State AG Opinions
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Can a Minnesota sheriff serve documents purporting to be issued by a 'common law court' or 'superior county court of the Minnesota state Republic' that is not established by the Minnesota or U.S. Constitution?
No. The AG concluded that under Minn. Stat. § 387.03, a sheriff is required to execute processes issued only 'by lawful authority,' and so-called common-law courts have no lawful authority because the…
Can a Texas public university waive tuition or fees for its employees or their families?
A university chancellor and a state senator asked whether a Texas public university's governing board could waive tuition and fees outside the situations a statute already lists, for example as an emp…
Can a Texas flood control district use tax money to build parks and trails?
Harris County's county attorney asked whether the Harris County Flood Control District could use tax and bond revenue to build the recreational and environmental improvements authorized by a 1993 law …
Can the North Carolina State Board of Education license its own speech-language teachers for public schools, or does the state's professional speech-pathology licensing board have exclusive authority over that credential?
Yes, the State Board of Education has independent authority. The AG concluded that G.S. § 90-294(c)(4) carves public-school speech-language pathologists out of NCBESLPA jurisdiction when they work sol…
Can New York undercover police officers conduct 'reverse drug sales' — that is, sell controlled substances to suspects as part of a drug investigation — without violating the Public Health Law's drug regulation scheme?
Yes. Although Public Health Law § 3304 makes possession or sale of controlled substances 'unlawful' except as the statute permits, Penal Law § 35.05 justifies conduct otherwise constituting an offense…
Can a New York town license and regulate vans used as taxicabs that operate within its borders, given that the State has centralized regulation of common carriers under the Department of Transportation?
Yes, but only for vans operating as local taxi or livery service entirely within the municipality's boundaries. Transportation Law § 151(11) carves out city-, town-, and village-regulated taxi service…
Can a deed identify the property only by a tax map block-and-lot reference and still be accepted for recording with the county clerk?
Yes. A deed that identifies real property by tax map reference is in recordable form and the county clerk must accept it, whether the grantor is the county (after a tax foreclosure) or a private party…
Does a group of council members meeting informally with an outside organization need to be formally named a 'committee' to count as a public body under Delaware's open-meetings law?
No, under the law as it stood in 1996. The AG reaffirmed its earlier Newark ruling (96-IB02), holding that FOIA doesn't require an ad hoc committee to be formally designated or appointed for the Act t…
How can a New York village dedicate land it already owns as a park, and what happens if it later wants to use the parcel for something else?
A village board of trustees may dedicate village-owned land as parkland either by resolution under Village Law § 6-624 or by local law under the Municipal Home Rule Law. A local-law route requires a p…
When North Carolina pours public money into a beach renourishment project on the Atlantic Ocean and the project restores land that had eroded into the sea, does that new land belong to the State or to the adjacent oceanfront property owner? And does the answer change if the project was privately funded?
Public funding makes the new land the State's. G.S. § 146-6(f) declares that title to land along the Atlantic Ocean raised above the mean high water mark by publicly financed dredging or fill projects…
Could a Delaware school board discuss teacher terminations and layoffs for three hours in closed session, and could it informally poll members on teacher transfers there too?
Yes to both, under the law as it stood in 1996. The AG found that a school board's three-hour executive session was properly devoted to personnel matters tied to terminations and reductions in force, …
If a network of doctors and hospitals contracts directly with a self-insured employer's ERISA plan to provide healthcare to employees on a capitated basis, does the network have to be licensed as an HMO under North Carolina law, or does federal ERISA preempt the state HMO Act?
ERISA preempts the state HMO Act here. The AG concluded that North Carolina's HMO licensure requirements relate to ERISA employee welfare benefit plans by limiting which entities those plans can contr…
Can a town attorney represent a town judge in a grievance proceeding before the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct?
No. Public Officers Law § 18, the local-option defense-and-indemnification statute, only covers civil actions and proceedings in State or Federal courts. A judicial-conduct grievance is not in either,…
Can a New York county civil service commission refuse to hire a security guard applicant for a prior misdemeanor when the State has already registered him as eligible to work as a security guard?
Yes, with limits. New York's Security Guard Act sets minimum registration standards for security guards but does not preempt an employer's right to apply more stringent hiring standards. The Nassau Co…
If a New York city mayor resigns on August 1, when does the city hold an election to fill the seat?
November election. Under N.Y. Const. art. XIII, § 3 and Public Officers Law § 42(1), a vacancy in the office of mayor of the City of Watervliet that occurred on August 1, 1996 had to be filled for the…
Can a school board review scholarship applications behind closed doors if they include student transcripts and parents' tax returns?
Yes, under the law as it stood in 1996. The AG found the Woodbridge Board of Education properly discussed scholarship applications in executive session because the applications included student transc…
Could the Idaho Park and Recreation Board spend recreation registration fees, fuel-tax revenues, and capital-improvement money on general agency overhead, and could it redirect a $25,000 RV-fund earmark away from gateway visitor centers?
The Board could spend administrative funds and a share of fuel-tax revenue on overhead but had to limit vendor handling fees to registration costs, and it could not unilaterally undo the legislature's…
Can my wages be garnished in Texas to collect a defaulted student loan?
Two Texas officials asked about garnishing or withholding wages for unpaid student loans, and the Attorney General gave two answers. First, the state comptroller could not withhold a salary or retirem…
How did Texas school districts have to procure insurance and related administrator services under Education Code section 44.031?
Under the 1996 statute, a school district had to use one of section 44.031’s six best-value procurement methods for a nonexempt contract worth at least $25,000 in a twelve-month period. Insurance was …
Can Texas exclude a teacher's driver-education pay when calculating Teacher Retirement System benefits?
A state representative asked whether a 1995 amendment to Government Code section 822.201(c) was constitutional. The amendment excluded payments for teaching a driver education and traffic safety cours…
Can an optometrist in Texas use cocaine eye drops to diagnose eye conditions?
The Texas State Board of Medical Examiners asked whether the Texas Optometry Board could adopt a rule letting a therapeutic optometrist administer cocaine eye drops for diagnostic purposes. The Attorn…
Can a licensed chiropractor in Texas practice acupuncture without a separate license?
The Texas State Board of Acupuncture Examiners asked whether a licensed chiropractor could practice acupuncture without holding a separate acupuncture license. The Attorney General concluded that acup…
Can Texas suspend an emissions inspection station's license before a hearing without violating due process?
The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission asked whether a federal requirement, that the state immediately and temporarily suspend a vehicle-emissions inspection station's or inspector's licen…
Who pays for a Texas jail inmate's medical care if the inmate isn't indigent: the county or the hospital district?
Two county officials (a district attorney and a county auditor) asked the Attorney General who must pay when a county jail inmate who is not eligible for indigent health care under chapter 61 of the H…
Can the same person in New York serve as police chief of one town and as a board of assessment review member in a different town?
Yes. A person may serve simultaneously as chief of police of one New York town and as a member of another town's board of assessment review. No statute prohibits the combination, and the People v Gree…
Can a New York town or village provide legal defense and indemnification for officers of a joint fire district under Public Officers Law section 18?
No. Only the joint fire district itself may provide defense and indemnification under POL § 18, because the district exists to benefit the property within it, not the constituent municipalities.
In New York, is the district attorney required to prosecute violations of a village's local laws and ordinances?
No. The DA can require local officers or the village attorney to handle prosecutions of petty offenses and violations of village regulations, as long as the DA stays informed and consents to non-DA ap…
Can a government building hosting a polling place ban campaigning outside on its own property?
The Attorney General concluded that a governmental entity hosting a polling place could not prohibit electioneering in a traditional public forum, such as a park or sidewalk, or in any part of the fac…
When the NC Hearing Aid Dealers and Fitters Board issues a 'private reprimand' to a licensee, is that reprimand a public record under Chapter 132? And what happens to the record when the licensee refuses the reprimand?
An accepted private reprimand is a public record. § 93D-13 lets the Board issue private reprimands as discipline, but 'private' here means delivered personally to the licensee rather than broadcast; i…
Can a New York town use a different definition of 'mobile home park' for its site-plan review than the State law uses for landlord-tenant regulation?
Yes. New York Real Property Law § 233's regulation of mobile home parks preempts local laws on mobile home park landlord-tenant relations but does not reach local site-plan review or zoning. So a town…
In New York, can the same person serve as deputy town supervisor and president of a local school board at the same time?
Yes. New York's bar on a town supervisor sitting on a school board doesn't extend to the appointed office of deputy town supervisor; the AG's office superseded a contrary 1966 opinion in concluding th…
Can the Rensselaer County Attorney in New York also serve as counsel to the Troy Industrial Development Authority?
Yes. The Rensselaer County Attorney can also serve as counsel to the Troy Industrial Development Authority. The two are legally independent of each other, the county is not the city, and TIDA is an in…
Can the same person in a New York town serve as both the town's appointed assessor and the local political party chair?
Yes. A New York town assessor may also serve as a local political party chairperson. A political party chair is a party office under Election Law § 1-104(5), not a State or local public office. The do…
If a New York town supervisor sends his resignation letter to the town board with a copy to the town clerk, is that a valid resignation?
Yes. A New York town supervisor's resignation became effective once a copy of the resignation letter was delivered to the town clerk's office, even though the letter was technically addressed to the t…
Do North Carolina's rural telephone membership corporations (the cooperative-style entities that provide phone service in many rural counties) have to follow the state's Open Meetings Law?
Yes. The AG concluded that telephone membership corporations established under Article 4 of Chapter 117 are 'public bodies' under the Open Meetings Law because G.S. § 117-33 expressly declares them to…
If a North Carolina city or town officer arrests someone (often for DWI) but the local magistrate or chemical analyst isn't available, can the officer drive the arrestee outside the officer's territorial jurisdiction to find one?
Yes. The AG concluded that when no magistrate or chemical analyst is available within the officer's territorial jurisdiction, transporting the arrestee outside the jurisdiction is a necessary duty und…
Can Maine spend Highway Fund money on ferries?
Yes, but only for ferries that carry motor vehicles as part of the state highway system. The Maine AG concluded that the constitutionally dedicated Highway Fund could support a ferry that functions as…
Can a Maryland city let a county licensing board hear appeals under the city's own electrical code, or does letting the county 'administer or enforce' municipal law stop short of quasi-judicial appeals?
Yes. The opinion concluded that the Prince George's County Board of Registration for Master Electricians and Electrical Contractors could legally be authorized to hear appeals arising under the City o…
If a North Carolina statute tells the Natural Heritage Trust Fund Board to set aside 'not to exceed 20%' of newly acquired land's value for a stewardship account, does the Board have to actually fund the account, or can it leave the account at zero?
The Board does not have to fund the account. The AG concluded that § 113-77.7(c)'s 'not to exceed twenty percent (20%)' language sets a ceiling, not a floor. Reading the statute to require a mandatory…
Does Section 19 of L.D. 1892 (the Compact for Maine's Forests) need a two-thirds vote to be enacted as a competing measure?
The Maine AG concluded that Section 19 of L.D. 1892, which prescribed how the Compact for Maine's Forests would be submitted to voters as a competing measure to the citizen-initiated clearcutting ban …
If a city council committee of three members is meeting publicly, can a fourth council member walk in without separate notice, and what happens if a quorum then gathers?
The fourth member may observe without separate notice, but cannot participate in the committee's discussions or deliberations. The AG concluded that mere passive attendance does not trigger Open Meeti…
Can a Texas juvenile board run an alternative school for students expelled but not found delinquent?
On behalf of the Harris County Juvenile Board, the county attorney asked whether a county juvenile board may provide educational services at a juvenile justice alternative education program (JJAEP) to…
Can a deaf person get a court interpreter to serve on a Texas grand jury or attend a juvenile hearing?
The Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired asked the Attorney General three things about interpreters for deaf and hearing-impaired people in court: who is entitled to one, what qualificat…
Is Texas's three-fourths vote requirement to approve a protested subdivision replat constitutional?
Representative Harvey Hilderbran asked whether the three-fourths supermajority vote that Local Government Code section 212.015(c) requires a city planning commission or council to muster before approv…
Can a North Carolina dentist contract with a third-party company for back-office and business-support services (rent, staff, scheduling, purchasing, marketing, bookkeeping, even bridge loans) without that arrangement counting as the unauthorized practice of dentistry under § 90-29(b)(11)?
Yes. The 1996 AG opinion concluded that an outside management or services company can lawfully provide a long list of business-support services to a dentist (office leasing, administrative staffing, s…
Did Texas have to indemnify volunteers, contractors, and state-agency workers who helped a regional poison control center?
Health and Safety Code section 777.007 covered only poison-control-center employees, meaning compensated workers whose work the center had the right to control. It did not cover volunteers, independen…
When someone overpays the North Carolina highway use tax at the time they title a motor vehicle, what is the deadline to claim a refund, and how should the Division of Motor Vehicles handle Class A and Class B commercial motor vehicle refund requests after the 1993 statutory cap reduction?
Generally, refund claims must be filed within six months after payment of the tax, since no return is filed for highway use tax. The 1993 amendment lowering the maximum tax on Class A and B commercial…
Can the Maine Legislature appropriate against the state's reserve account for uncollectible tax receivables?
The Maine AG concluded that the Bureau of Accounts and Control's reserve account for doubtful tax receivables is properly maintained under 5 M.R.S.A. § 1541(1) and generally accepted accounting princi…
Does the Maine Legislature need a two-thirds vote to enact a competing measure to an initiated bill?
No. The Maine AG concluded that a competing measure to initiated legislation requires only a simple majority. The constitutional provision authorizing competing measures (art. IV, pt. 3, § 18(2)) does…
Can a Delaware resident force a county zoning office to produce a list under FOIA if the office never created or kept that list?
No, under the law as it stood in 1996. The AG found that the Sussex County Planning and Zoning Office did not violate FOIA by failing to produce a list of nonconforming structures and uses, because th…
When a Suffolk County, New York, landowner files a certificate to abandon a paper street, does the town assessor have to rubber-stamp it, or can the assessor refuse?
Discretion. Under Real Property Law § 335(3), when a landowner in Suffolk County files a certificate of abandonment for a subdivision (including paper streets), the assessor or board of assessors in e…
Do unpaid volunteers serving on New York's regional EMS councils and medical advisory committees get state-paid legal defense and indemnification if they are sued for committee work?
Yes. The AG concluded REMSCO and REMAC members are state 'employees' for purposes of Public Officers Law § 17 and are eligible for defense and indemnification when sued over acts within the scope of t…
Can a school board discuss a dispute between a board member and a district employee in closed executive session under Delaware's open-meetings law?
Yes, under the law as it stood in 1996. The AG found the Woodbridge Board of Education properly discussed a board member's conduct toward a guidance counselor and principal in executive session, becau…
Can a Texas Lottery Commission member solicit political contributions as a private citizen?
The Executive Director of the Texas Lottery Commission asked whether a commissioner could solicit or advise political contributions while acting as a private citizen, and whether banning that would vi…
Could a Texas judge decide how a probationer’s partial payment would be allocated among court costs, fees, and fines?
Under the law in 1996, article 42.12 gave a judge discretion to impose and allocate most court costs, fees, and fines for a defendant placed on community supervision. The required monthly supervision …
Can a Texas school board member take back a resignation before a successor is chosen?
On behalf of the Bridge City Independent School District, Representative Ron Lewis asked whether a school board member who resigns can withdraw the resignation before a successor qualifies for office.…
When can a Texas county salary grievance committee meet to raise elected officials' pay?
San Jacinto County's Criminal District Attorney, Robert Hill Trapp, explained that the commissioners court approved a $1,000 raise for elected officials for 1995 but failed to give the public the requ…
Can the Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspect a private prison holding only federal inmates?
Representative Robert Junell asked whether the Texas Commission on Jail Standards can regulate and inspect the Eden Detention Center, a facility the City of Eden leases and operates under contract wit…
Is Texas's $5 million liability cap for excursion train accidents constitutional?
Representative Clyde Alexander asked whether a 1995 Texas law (article 9030) that caps an excursion train operator's liability at $5 million per occurrence violates the Texas Constitution's open court…
Can a Minnesota township use town funds to reimburse a former police chief for the costs of defending criminal charges that were ultimately dismissed?
No. The AG concluded that no statute requires or authorizes town reimbursement of criminal defense costs. Minn. Stat. § 465.76 authorizes such reimbursement only for cities and counties, and the AG de…
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