State AG Opinions
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Does the Parole Commission have the authority to impose conditions on a mandatory reentry parole granted under G.S. 15A-1380.2, and if a prisoner refuses the conditions, must the Commission still parole the prisoner?
Yes to conditions, no to forced parole. The Parole Commission may impose the conditions listed in G.S. 15A-1374(b)(6) through (10) on any mandatory reentry parole under G.S. 15A-1380.2, and may impose…
Can a NY town appoint harbor masters with peace officer powers to patrol an inland lake?
Yes, if the lake is 'navigable waters' under Navigation Law § 2(4). The AG concluded Criminal Procedure Law § 2.10(19) gives peace officer status to harbor masters appointed by counties, cities, towns…
Can a NY city's public bus system sell advertising space on the buses to generate revenue?
Yes. The AG concluded that a city operating a public bus system has authority to sell advertising space on the buses, especially when the city uses competitive bidding and applies the revenue to bus o…
Can a NY county and one of its officials sign a contract that gives the official a longer or shorter term than the county charter sets?
No. The AG concluded that when a county charter fixes the term of an office, neither the county nor the officeholder, individually or together, can establish a different term by agreement. Charter law…
Can a NY village mayor appoint one of the trustees to run the village police department as the single police commissioner?
Yes. The AG concluded that Village Law § 3-300(3) authorizes board members to serve as 'single commissioners' in charge of village departments, and § 3-301(3) lets the mayor make that designation. Vil…
When a North Carolina juvenile is committed to the Division of Youth Services and DYS is teaching them in a detention center or training school, can the juvenile's prior local school district refuse to send DYS the student's education records, citing FERPA?
No. FERPA expressly allows disclosure of education records to officials of other schools or school systems where the student is enrolling, subject to parental-notice requirements. DYS schools are the …
Could Idaho voters pass a 1995 initiative giving parents a $500 income tax credit for each child not attending public school, and would that survive the U.S. and Idaho constitutions' bans on aiding religious schools?
Probably yes, with revisions. The proposed credit went directly to parents and depended on individual parental choice, which Mueller v. Allen treated favorably under the federal Establishment Clause. …
Which University of Texas fees are military veterans exempt from under the state tuition exemption?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that veterans who qualified under Education Code section 54.203 were exempt from most dues, fees, and charges at the University of Texas at Austin, but not from …
Could Idaho voters pass a 1995 initiative that banned anti-discrimination protections for gay people, blocked public funds from speech that 'endorsed' homosexual behavior, restricted what teachers and libraries could say or shelve, and would any of those restrictions survive the First Amendment?
The minority-status provision was awaiting U.S. Supreme Court resolution in Romer v. Evans. The public-funding ban was vulnerable under Rosenberger; the public-school provision was vulnerable as viewp…
Could Idaho voters pass a 1995 initiative that banned all abortions after 13 weeks of pregnancy, given the U.S. Supreme Court's 1992 Casey decision?
No, not as drafted. The proposed initiative would have banned previability abortions (abortions before the fetus could survive outside the womb), which Casey clearly forbade. Viability ranges from abo…
If a 1995 ballot initiative changed one word in Idaho's school-bargaining statute (from 'shall' to 'may'), would Idaho teachers actually get to choose their own bargaining representatives?
Probably not. The proposed initiative changed § 33-1271 to make district-level negotiation optional, but did not touch § 33-1273, which made the local education organization the 'exclusive' bargaining…
Can the Cleveland County Board of Commissioners require the Cleveland County and Shelby City school boards to enter into an agreement transferring hundreds of students between the two systems to ease county overcrowding, and even if not, can the two school boards do it voluntarily?
Two answers. First, the county commissioners cannot compel the school boards to enter the agreement. School-board powers under NC law are not subject to that kind of county-commissioner override. Seco…
When a North Carolina superior court clerk shows up to inventory a decedent's safe deposit box, must the bank let in the family or the family's attorney too, and does the clerk have to give the bank advance notice?
Only the clerk (or designated deputy) and a bank representative must be present. Family members and others are not required to attend and the bank cannot insist that they do. The statute doesn't requi…
Can a Maryland county cut a State's Attorney's budget so much that entire categories of crimes go unprosecuted?
The Attorney General concluded that a county could not fund a State's Attorney's office so far below need that entire categories of significant crimes, such as domestic violence or robbery, would go u…
Can a NY county legislator also hold a paid civil-service job in the county's social services department?
No. The AG concluded the two positions are incompatible. Even though the legislator is in a collective bargaining unit (so his immediate salary is fixed) and the social services commissioner runs day-…
Can a NY village board reappoint one of its own members as the village's building and bingo inspector?
No. The AG concluded the building inspector's actions (proposing permits and condemnation recommendations) are reviewed by the village board, so the offices are inevitably and recurrently conflicting;…
Can a NY county coroner also serve as a village trustee at the same time?
Yes. The AG concluded no statute bars the combination (County Law § 411 prohibits an elective county officer from holding another county or town elective office or a city supervisor seat, but pointedl…
How do you have to serve a Texas tenant when you sue for eviction and back rent together?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that the streamlined service rules for evictions (forcible detainer actions), Texas Rules of Civil Procedure 739, 742, and 742a, do not apply to a suit for rent …
Can a Texas county make the county attorney put the hot-check fund in the county budget?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that the county attorney's hot-check fee fund, the money collected under article 102.007 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for handling dishonored and forged che…
Do NY state agencies and law enforcement employers have to follow the ban on asking job applicants about their workers' comp claim history?
Yes. The AG concluded that Workers' Compensation Law § 125 applies to state agencies and municipal law enforcement entities. The statute makes it unlawful for any employer to inquire into or consider,…
Can a NY teacher who supervises a college student teacher accept a tuition waiver or cash stipend from the college?
Yes. The AG concluded that General Municipal Law § 805-a does not bar a school district employee from accepting a tuition waiver or cash stipend from a college in return for supervising the college's …
Can North Carolina counties hire private companies to run their county jails, force their sheriffs to accept jail privatization, or combine two existing county jails into a 'district confinement facility' run by a private contractor with non-certified guards?
No to all of it. The sheriff has a non-delegable statutory duty to be the keeper of the county jail under §§ 162-22 and 162-24. A county cannot privatize a jail unilaterally; cannot force the sheriff …
If Texas wins my unpaid-wage claim, can I collect on the state's lien myself?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that the Texas Employment Commission had no authority to hand off (assign or transfer) a lien or notice of assessment for unpaid wages to the worker who filed th…
Can Texas appraise open-space farm and ranch land by the cash lease method?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that the cash lease method of valuing open-space farm and ranch land for property tax was constitutional. Article VIII, section 1-d-1 of the Texas Constitution r…
Can people who live downstream in another state and would lose water because of a North Carolina interbasin transfer participate in the EMC permit hearing or challenge the certificate after it's issued?
Yes on both counts. The interbasin transfer statute lets anyone submit comments at the public hearing, with no residency requirement, and the NC Administrative Procedure Act lets any aggrieved person …
Can a Texas court appoint a paid lawyer for a poor death-row inmate's habeas appeal?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that a Texas trial court did have the power to appoint a lawyer for an indigent capital murder defendant in a postconviction habeas corpus proceeding under Code …
Can Maine constitutionally credit interest earned on Highway Fund investments to the General Fund?
No. The AG concluded the 1991 amendment to 5 M.R.S.A. § 135, which directed that interest earned on Highway Fund investments be credited to the General Fund, was unconstitutional under Me. Const. art.…
How wide is a NY town road that became a highway just by public use over time?
The width of a town highway established by use under Highway Law § 189 is determined by the actual extent of public use, not the statute's three-rod default. The Court of Appeals in People v Sutherlan…
Can a North Carolina municipal hospital legally join a physician-hospital organization (PHO) and put public money into it, so the hospital can compete in the managed care market?
Yes on all three counts. The AG concluded that NCGS 131E-7(b) authorizes municipal hospitals to enter joint ventures with physicians to create local PHOs that then form a Statewide PHO, that the expen…
When someone dedicates a street to a city, and that street ends at a navigable river, who gets the right to build a pier or dock at the water's edge: the original landowner who kept fee title to the soil under the street, or the city that accepted the dedicated easement?
The city. When a dedicated street terminates at a navigable waterway, the dedication carries with it, by necessary implication, the right of the city to extend the street into the water by constructin…
If the NY Employment Relations Board chairman takes an unpaid leave from his law firm partnership during his term, does he satisfy the 'devote his entire time' rule?
Yes. The AG concluded that a person appointed Chairman of the Employment Relations Board could take an unpaid leave of absence from the law firm of which he was a partner, without dissolving the partn…
If only two of five school board members attend an informal staff meeting, does that violate Delaware's open meeting law?
Not on this record. The opinion found that two of the Woodbridge School District's five board members attending an informal 'administrative-staff meeting' did not violate the open meeting law, since t…
When two state agencies regulate the same waters and adopt directly conflicting fishing rules, which one wins?
Neither. Both rules are 'effective' because the NC Marine Fisheries Commission and the NC Wildlife Resources Commission have overlapping concurrent jurisdiction in 'joint fishing waters.' The MFC's cl…
Does the federal Brady Act force a state mental health agency to give gun-buyer records to police?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that the federal Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act did not require or authorize the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation to disclose conf…
Can a Texas school take and keep a student's pager if it's only leased, not owned?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that Education Code section 21.309, which barred students from carrying pagers at school and required confiscation and forfeiture to the district, applied to lea…
Can the NC General Assembly give tax refunds or credits to former federal employees even though courts say the state owes them nothing?
Yes. The exclusive emoluments clause in Article I, § 32 of the NC Constitution prohibits exclusive privileges to a class without a corresponding public service rationale. But case law treats prior pub…
Is North Carolina's attorney discipline statute (Chapter 84) an unconstitutional delegation of judicial power, and can an NC attorney be disciplined here based on discipline in another state?
No to both halves. NC Chapter 84 is not an impermissible delegation of legislative power; the courts have repeatedly upheld the State Bar's role. Chapter 84 does not violate separation of powers becau…
If Texas changes just two senate districts, does the whole senate have to run for re-election?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that any legislation redrawing Texas senate districts, even a bill touching only two of the thirty-one, is an 'apportionment' under article III, section 3 of the…
How specific does a Delaware public records request have to be for the city to have to respond to it?
Under the law as it stood in 1995, a request must describe the documents sought specifically enough for the public body to actually locate them. A resident's request for information on the status of u…
Can a Texas county or school district skip competitive bidding by buying through the state catalogue?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that a local government (a county, city, school district, junior college district, or other political subdivision) that takes part in the state's cooperative pur…
Can you get a pardon in Texas after completing deferred adjudication?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that a person who successfully completes deferred adjudication community supervision and has the charges dismissed and is discharged under article 42.12, section…
Can the NY DEC run a no-purchase-necessary sweepstakes to boost subscriptions to The Conservationist magazine?
No. The AG concluded that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation could not undertake a promotional sweepstakes (even one with no purchase required) to promote subscriptions to The…
Can the NC legislature lease the bottom of state-owned navigable waters to private marinas for a nominal fee without violating the state constitution?
Likely yes for the nominal fee, with caveats. The proposed bill setting a $1,000-per-acre one-time fee for marina easements over state-owned submerged lands probably survives the exclusive emoluments …
Would a Maine bill exempting migrant-labor mobile home parks from health and safety regulation violate equal protection?
Yes. The AG concluded LD 507, as amended, would violate the equal-protection clauses of the U.S. and Maine Constitutions. The amendment would have stripped migrant-labor mobile home parks of the licen…
Who is responsible for administering the optional retirement program for Maryland public college employees?
The opinion concluded that no single entity 'sponsored' Maryland's Optional Retirement Program for public college employees; responsibility was divided by statute among the Board of Trustees of the Re…
Can a NC state agency pledge securities as collateral for a private historic-preservation loan?
Yes. The Department of Cultural Resources has express statutory authority under N.C.G.S. § 121-11 to provide assistance to corporations engaged in acquiring, maintaining, preserving, restoring, or dev…
Can a Maryland circuit court clerk administer the oath of office to a public official who lives in a different county?
The Attorney General concluded that a circuit court clerk could not travel outside the clerk's own county to administer an oath of office, but a clerk could still swear in an officer who lived in, or …
When a NY district attorney resigns and someone is elected to fill the vacancy, does that person serve the full four-year term or just out the predecessor's unexpired term?
Full four-year term. The AG concluded that the person elected in November 1995 to fill the Rockland County DA vacancy serves for a full four-year term, not the balance of the predecessor's term. Const…
Can a teacher chaperoning a school trip accept a free trip or perks from the tour company?
Generally no. The AG concluded that when a school chaperone has discretion to choose the ski area or tour operator and receives free trips, lift tickets, or shop discounts from the chosen vendor, the …
If I file a complaint about a North Carolina police officer, can the city's Internal Affairs Division (IAD) tell me the outcome? And can the press get a copy of the IAD letter?
The letters IAD sends to a citizen complainant are personnel records under N.C.G.S. § 160A-168 and are confidential. The city can release them to the complainant only by following one of the personnel…
Is proposed legislation that would repeal North Carolina's intangibles tax on stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and other evidences of debt, and replace it with a 1% additional tax on capital gains realized from selling those instruments, constitutional under both the federal Due Process Clause and the NC Constitution's prohibition on retrospective taxation (Art. I, Sec. 16) if the new tax is enacted mid-year (July or August 1994) but applies to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 1994?
Yes, with one reservation. The federal Due Process Clause does not flatly forbid retroactive taxation; it asks whether the retroactivity has become 'harsh and oppressive.' Mid-year income tax legislat…
Can the Commissioner of Banks construe the phrase 'trust assets' in N.C.G.S. § 53-122(1) (which sets bank-examination assessment fees) to include all fiduciary assets except real estate held by a bank's trust department, including guardianships, managing agencies, and safekeeping accounts? And does the agency have to refund trust-assessment fees previously collected on that broader basis, as a prior Commissioner's January 1995 letters suggested?
Yes, the AG concluded the Commissioner may construe 'trust assets' to include all fiduciary assets (except real estate) held by the bank's trust department, not just narrow express trusts. The Office …
Can a Texas court clerk turn unclaimed court funds over to the state without a judge's order?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that section 117.002 of the Texas Local Government Code is valid and constitutional. Under it, money deposited with a county or district clerk in a court case th…
Would Maine's proposed takings bills (LD 170 and LD 1217) trigger Article IX, Section 21's mandate clause and force the State to fund local compliance?
Yes. The AG concluded LD 1217 and LD 170 would constitute mandates under Me. Const. art. IX, § 21 in at least three ways: temporary-takings compensation owed by a municipality even after it stops regu…
Can a NY county pass a term limits law for elected officials without a public referendum?
Yes. The AG confirmed Informal Opinion No. 83-10 and the Court of Appeals' Roth v Cuevas decision: a county may use its home-rule authority to limit the number of consecutive terms an elected officer …
Can a NY police department post the results of internal discipline on a bulletin board that only officers can see?
Yes. The AG concluded that Civil Rights Law § 50-a was enacted to stop disclosure of officer personnel records to litigants who would use them to harass or impeach officers, not to bar internal depart…
If a DWI victim recovers under their own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, does that recovery reduce what they can collect from North Carolina's Crime Victims Compensation Fund?
Yes. The 1995 NC AG opinion concluded that UM/UIM proceeds paid to a DWI victim count as a 'collateral source' under N.C.G.S. § 15B-2(3), so the Crime Victims Compensation award must be reduced by the…
Would Maine's proposed bans on professional strikebreakers and permanent replacement workers (LD 686 and LD 316) be preempted by federal labor law?
Yes, both. The AG concluded LD 686 (banning professional strikebreakers via civil injunction) and the LD 316 committee amendment (banning permanent replacement workers) would very likely be found pree…
In New York, can a village mayor fill a mid-term vacancy in an appointed office without board of trustees approval?
Yes. Under New York Village Law § 3-312(3), the mayor appoints to fill the unexpired term without board approval. When the term expires, the next appointment requires board confirmation under § 3-301(…
Does a Texas school district have to take competitive bids before buying insurance?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that a Texas school district must put a contract for the purchase of insurance out for competitive bids if the contract is worth $25,000 or more over a twelve-mo…
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