State AG Opinions
Free state attorney general opinions with plain-English summaries, full citations, and the original source on every page.
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Did the Supreme Court's Cruzan decision change Maryland law on living wills and refusing life-sustaining treatment?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that the Supreme Court's Cruzan decision did not require any change to Maryland's framework for forgoing life-sustaining treatment, set out in the office's 1988 …
If the Maine Legislature removes a position from the unclassified service in one statute but forgets to amend another statute that lists the same position as unclassified, which one controls?
The newer enactment controls. AG Tierney concluded that the later, express amendment removing the Assistant to the Deputy Commissioner of Information Services from the unclassified service prevailed o…
In 1990, did Mexican commercial truck drivers need Texas driver's licenses to operate in Texas?
Yes, under the law and federal determinations addressed in 1990. JM-1226 concluded that Mexican commercial drivers lacked the reciprocal-license exemption and needed a Texas license or another state's…
Can a Texas student keep a car phone in their car parked at school?
Yes, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that the Education Code's ban on students possessing 'paging devices' at school does not prohibit a car telephone sitting in a car p…
Who controlled records that elected Harris County officers stored in the county computer, and could the county allow private dial-up access?
The elected county, district, or precinct officer whose office created or received the information retained statutory control over it, even when it was stored in the county computer. The commissioners…
Does being a 'resident' for Texas insurance guaranty coverage require U.S. citizenship?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that a person does not have to be a U.S. citizen or a legally present immigrant to count as a Texas 'resident' for the state's life a…
Can a Texas city's municipal court warrant officers serve warrants and act as bailiffs?
Yes, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that warrant officers of the Longview municipal court of record, who are certified peace officers, have authority to serve warrants,…
Which groundwater district could tax severed mineral interests when surface owners annexed their land into a neighboring district?
The Santa Rita district retained taxing authority over separately owned severed mineral interests when only the surface owners petitioned to annex their land into the Glasscock County district. A mine…
Which competitive-bidding law governed a Texas county contract to build a vehicle maintenance facility?
The County Purchasing Act governed. The Attorney General concluded that Local Government Code section 271.024 did not independently require bidding and that subchapter B of chapter 271 did not govern …
Can I get a replacement Texas boat title with an affidavit if the original is missing?
It depends on the facts, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that whether the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department can issue a replacement certificate of title for a motorboa…
Do new government purchasing rules apply to a contract that was signed before the law took effect?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that section 140.003 of the Local Government Code, which made district attorney purchases subject to the county competitive-bidding r…
Is a mortgage given to a federal credit union exempt from Maryland's recordation tax?
No. The Attorney General withdrew a 1975 advice letter and concluded that the federal statute exempting federal credit unions from state and local taxes, 12 U.S.C. §1768, does not exempt a mortgage or…
Can a Maryland employer order a workplace drug test without a doctor, and who is allowed to see the results?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that a Maryland employer could contract directly with a laboratory for job-related drug testing; the usual rule that only a physician may order a lab test did no…
Can Texas police accept a bail bond somewhere other than the county jail?
Yes, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that peace officers may accept bail bonds for non-municipal offenses at places other than the county jail under articles 17.20, 17.2…
Can a Texas mental health agency legally pay a parent to provide care to their own mentally disabled child?
Yes, but only in part, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded such a contract is legally valid only if it pays the parent for services beyond what the parent is already legally…
Can a Texas county commissioners court require prevailing wages, health benefits, or English-speaking staff on contracts that aren't public works projects?
Generally no, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded a county must determine and pay prevailing wages, including fringe benefits, on public works contracts, but has no authorit…
If a boarding home is registered with a local mental health authority in Texas, does that automatically exempt it from Texas Department of Health licensing as a personal care home?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that merely being registered under the mental health boarding home statute does not, by itself, bring a facility within the Health an…
Can a Texas city require its outside security guard contractors to provide health insurance to their employees as a condition of winning the contract?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that requiring contractors to provide employee health insurance benefits has no direct relation to the quality of security guard serv…
Did two 1990 Supreme Court rulings make Maryland's parental notification law for a minor's abortion enforceable?
In a 1990 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that two Supreme Court decisions issued that year, Hodgson v. Minnesota and Ohio v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, did not change existing cons…
In Maryland, who pays for a county's child support enforcement office, the state or the county?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that Montgomery County's child support enforcement program was a 'local support enforcement office' and a component of the Circuit Court, so the county, not the …
Can a New Jersey county or town put a non-binding referendum on the ballot asking voters what they think about state tax law or state spending?
No. Counties and municipalities can only put non-binding referenda on their ballots about matters they themselves have authority to act on. State tax policy and state appropriations are committed to t…
Can a New Jersey county pay for a court-ordered jail improvement using a 'special emergency appropriation' (and three-year notes) instead of putting the cost in its annual budget?
No, when the county already knew about the obligation at budget-writing time. The Director of Local Government Services must reject a final county budget that leaves out a known, foreseen liability an…
Can the trustees of a Texas municipal firefighters' pension fund enter into securities lending agreements with a corporate borrower?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that securities lending agreements are not among the investments the fund's governing statute authorizes, since they are contractual …
Can a Texas county pay a rural fire prevention district or a volunteer fire department to provide fire protection, and does creating a fire district take away the county's own fire protection power?
Yes, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded a county keeps its authority to provide fire protection even after a rural fire prevention district is created covering the same are…
Can a Texas transit authority charge the state more per bus ticket for Medicaid riders than it charges the general public?
The Attorney General did not decide this question in 1990. The opinion concluded that whether such pricing violated state nondiscrimination statutes, the federal Rehabilitation Act, or the Urban Mass …
Can a city like Boise require the State of Idaho to pull a city building permit, or pay city plumbing and electrical inspection fees, before constructing or remodeling a state building inside city limits?
No. The Idaho legislature has fully occupied the field of state-owned building construction (Idaho Code § 67-5711). City building, electrical, and plumbing codes do not apply to state projects, and th…
When a Texas court orders a property tax refund, does the taxing unit have to pay interest, and how is that interest calculated for multi-year cases?
Yes, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded a taxing unit must pay interest on any refund paid on or after June 15, 1989, regardless of when the underlying lawsuit was filed, a…
Can a member of a Texas county housing authority board keep the frequent flier miles earned on trips the authority paid for?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that because housing authority commissioners serve without compensation, a commissioner may not personally keep or use airline mileag…
How is an independent or petition candidate listed on a Maryland general election ballot?
The Attorney General worked through Maryland's tangled ballot-designation statutes in 1990 and concluded that a petition candidate registered as 'declined' and not affiliated with any party or partisa…
Could a Texas state employee use sick leave when adopting a child under the 1989-1990 appropriations act?
Yes, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded a state employee adopting a child under three years old could use sick leave, in an amount comparable to what a natural mother would…
Did Maryland's mortgage escrow interest law apply to loans made under the credit grantor closed end credit provisions?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that CL §12-109, Maryland's requirement that lenders pay borrowers interest on residential first-mortgage escrow accounts, applied to loans made under any subtit…
Can the Texas Veterans Land Board invest veterans' fund money in repurchase agreements or mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by GNMA?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded the Texas Constitution limits idle Veterans Land Fund and Housing Assistance Fund money to 'bonds or obligations of the United States…
Is it unconstitutional for a Texas law to let larger cities keep a bigger share of interstate highway traffic fines than smaller cities?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded the population-based classification had a reasonable basis tied to the risk of small cities using radar enforcement on interstate hig…
Can a Texas county donate money or services to a chamber of commerce that runs a local festival?
No, not as an unconditional gift. The Attorney General concluded the Texas Constitution bars a county from donating money, property, or services to a chamber of commerce or similar private corporation…
Can a Maryland social services caseworker report a client's crime to the police, or does confidentiality law forbid it?
It depends on how the employee learned the information. The Attorney General concluded that a social services employee may always report a client's criminal activity learned off-duty in a personal cap…
Can a Texas state housing agency hold title to foreclosed mortgage properties through a bank trustee, and does it have to pay property taxes on them?
Yes to both, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded the Texas Housing Agency could hold foreclosed properties either in its own name or through a bank acting as its trustee-age…
Does an appraisal district need approval from three-fourths of local taxing units just to lease office space, or only to buy a building?
Only to buy or build. The Attorney General concluded that the Tax Code's three-fourths taxing-unit approval requirement applies to an appraisal district's purchase, sale, construction, or renovation o…
Can a Texas state agency use interest earned on money in a special fund to pay administrative costs if a budget rider only mentions fees as the funding source?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the legislature had not actually appropriated the interest earned on deposits in the Texas Exporters Loan Fund for administrative costs, because a budget rider …
Can a Texas city require its own license, tax, or bond from an air conditioning contractor who already has a state license?
No, for license taxes, occupation taxes, and bond requirements. The Attorney General concluded that state law (V.T.C.S. art. 8861) makes a state license valid statewide and preempts municipalities fro…
Can a Texas city give an employee a cash advance on salary not yet earned?
Generally no. The Attorney General concluded that a salary advance is a loan of public funds, and without a clear public purpose behind it, a court would likely find it violates the Texas Constitution…
Can a Texas county still pay the salary of an employee who owes back property taxes to the county?
Yes, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that the Local Government Code provision barring salary warrants to anyone 'indebted' to the county did not reach ordinary delinquen…
If a Texas county can't mail a property tax bill because it doesn't know the owner's address, does the tax ever become delinquent?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that section 31.04 of the Tax Code, which postpones the delinquency date when a bill is mailed late, only applies when a bill can be mailed at all. When no bill can…
Can a school principal or superintendent force a teacher's grievance hearing to be held in a closed executive session?
No, not if the teacher wants it open. The Attorney General concluded that section 2(g) of the Open Meetings Act only permits, but does not require, a closed session for personnel matters, and an emplo…
Does a company dredging under a Texas School Land Board easement need a separate state permit to disturb sand, shell, gravel, or marl?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded the company's dredging was performed under state authority because it was done pursuant to the School Land Board's own easement, so i…
Can a Texas commissioners court award a design-build contract for a public building through competitive bidding?
No, not if the contract includes architectural or engineering services. The Attorney General concluded that Texas's Professional Services Procurement Act barred commissioners courts from awarding thos…
Can a sheriff promote his own son or daughter after he takes office if they already worked there?
No. The Attorney General concluded that while the nepotism statute let the sheriff's son and daughter keep the jobs they already held when their father took office, it barred him from promoting them a…
Can a real estate agent who sits on an appraisal district's board sell a building to that same appraisal district?
It depends on the facts. The Attorney General concluded that if the board member was contractually the seller's agent only, there was no conflict-of-interest violation, but if the board member also ac…
Can a county auditor require constables to submit a monthly report listing every paper they served?
No, not the kind of report described here. The Attorney General concluded that a county auditor could not require constables to file a monthly report listing the civil and criminal instruments they re…
Can Maryland suspend a lawyer's license to practice law for failing to pay workers' compensation assessments?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that Article 101, §91's requirement to suspend a delinquent employer's 'license to do business' applies to attorneys who fail to pay assessments owed to the Uninsur…
Do special-education suspension and expulsion protections apply to private schools in Maryland?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that a State-approved private school offering special education had to protect a disabled student against a suspension or expulsion that disrupts the child's edu…
When a logging operation transports forest products in a heavy truck, do the drivers need a commercial driver's license (CDL), or do they qualify for the same farm-vehicle exemption available to traditional farmers?
They qualify for the farm-vehicle exemption only if the forest products were raised and grown by the employer and the employer is not in the business of buying products for resale. If the forester buy…
Do the county committees that plan local jail and probation facilities have to hold their meetings in public under Texas open-meetings law?
No, not this kind of committee. The Attorney General concluded that a community justice council, created by district judges to help plan community corrections facilities and recommend how state funds …
When a city no longer needs a vehicle seized in a drug case, does it have to sell it at a sheriff's auction?
Yes, for forfeitures that happened before October 18, 1989. The Attorney General concluded that a political subdivision, including a home-rule city, that acquired a vehicle by forfeiture under the Tex…
When the Maine Legislature authorizes a state agency to sign a contract with a local utility, can the utility sue the State if the agency breaches that contract, or does sovereign immunity still apply?
The utility can sue. AG Tierney concluded that when the Legislature authorized the Department of Corrections to contract with the Warren Sanitary District through Chapter 23 of the 1989 Resolves, it i…
Does the Texas Internal Auditing Act require state agencies to follow its rules, or are they just suggestions?
The Attorney General concluded that the Texas Internal Auditing Act's requirements are mandatory, not merely advisory guidelines, so a covered agency must appoint a certified public accountant or cert…
Could Maryland deny Medicaid and state medical assistance to people incarcerated in jails and prisons?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that Maryland's policy of excluding people incarcerated in detention centers from Medical Assistance Program coverage was authorized by both federal and state la…
After the 1990 Legislature added SDCL 43-4-22(18), which exempts transfers 'for which no consideration was given' from the real estate transfer fee, is an exchange of one parcel of land for another parcel of land still subject to the transfer fee, or is it now exempt?
Still subject to the fee. AG Tellinghuisen ruled that exchanging one parcel of land for another parcel is a transaction with consideration (each parcel is the consideration for the other), so SDCL 43-…
Who hires and fires the staff of the Idaho POST Academy: the POST Council or the Director of the Department of Law Enforcement?
The Director of the Department of Law Enforcement. The POST Council sets training standards but has no statutory authority to hire or fire staff, so the default rule of Idaho Code § 67-2705 (departmen…
What does this Idaho AG opinion (1990-06-22) say about Director of Dept. of Law Enforcement is appointing authority of Idaho Racing Commission.?
Source PDF unavailable. The Idaho AG opinions index lists this opinion at https://ag.idaho.gov/content/uploads/2018/04/OP90-03-1.pdf but that URL serves the text of Opinion 90-3 (concealed weapons) in…
Can a Maryland county charge condominiums, co-ops, and HOAs a per-unit fee for a county dispute-resolution service?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that Montgomery County's proposed per-unit fees on condominiums, cooperatives, and homeowners associations, meant to fund a county dispute-resolution service, we…
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