State AG Opinions
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In Texas, do all judges in a county have to give arrest warnings, or just the justice of the peace?
The Attorney General concluded that every officer who is a magistrate under article 2.09 (district judges, county judges, county-court-at-law judges, statutory probate judges, justices of the peace,…
Can Texas stop minors from crossing into Mexico, or limit where teenagers can be near the border?
The Attorney General drew a line between two different things. A state law that tries to stop minors from crossing the international border would intrude on the federal government's exclusive power…
Can a Texas county sheriff send jail inmates to work for a nonprofit, and what approval is needed?
The Attorney General concluded that a county sheriff has no free-standing power to run an inmate work program. The only legal sources for one are article 43.09 or 43.10 of the Code of Criminal…
Could a California city reserve toddler playground equipment for young children?
The California AG concluded in 2006 that a city could restrict use of small-child play equipment in a park’s tot lot to young children. The age limit served the stated safety and…
Could a West Feliciana school board member also work for the parish tax assessor?
No. The AG applied the explicit statutory bar on a school board member holding any office or employment with an assessor.
Could Lake Charles apply a manufacturing-equipment tax exclusion to part of the city, choose fewer exclusions, or phase them in?
The AG found no law prohibiting a local manufacturing-equipment sales and use tax exclusion within only part of Lake Charles. It also concluded that a political subdivision could adopt fewer than…
Could a South Carolina developer give an unlicensed homebuyer a gift for referring a buyer who purchases a home?
The AG said the rewarded referrer could be treated as an unlicensed real estate broker if the gift was valuable consideration. It applied a court decision on bringing parties together, while…
Could one person serve on both South Carolina’s Education Oversight Committee and Conservation Bank Board?
The AG concluded that both seats were public offices for purposes of the state constitution. Holding them at the same time would violate its dual office holding prohibition.
Did California’s Megan’s Law website rule make registered sex offenders a protected housing class?
The California AG concluded in 2006 that the ban on misusing website information for housing decisions did not by itself make registrants a protected class under the Fair Employment and Housing Act.…
Could a Lexington-Fayette council member also direct Kentucky's Cabinet ombudsman office?
No. The AG classified the Cabinet for Health and Family Services ombudsman executive director as a state officer and a Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council member as a county officer. It concluded…
Could a South Carolina mayor require separate mayoral approval to fire a city administrator?
The AG read the statute to give a mayor one vote as a council member, without a separate veto over a city administrator’s removal. It said an employment-contract term requiring separate mayoral…
Which local governments and projects qualified for California tribal casino impact grants in 2006?
The California AG read “local government jurisdiction” for proximity-based nexus grants as a city’s or county’s territory, excluding special districts from that grant category. Eligible projects had…
Could St. Landry Parish use sheriff sales-tax revenue to pay local police departments for law enforcement work?
The proceeds could be used only for the voter-approved purposes of deputy salaries and law-enforcement operations. The AG said the sheriff could pay local police departments for specified…
Could FEMA place temporary trailers for displaced residents in New Orleans City Park after Katrina?
The AG said the specific 18-month FEMA trailer arrangement did not violate the park’s residential-use restriction or convert its recreational use, provided the affected land was restored. It…
Was equipment leased by a Louisiana church or public agency exempt from property tax?
No under the constitutional exemptions discussed. The AG said Article VII, Section 21(A) and (B)(1)(a) required public or qualifying nonprofit ownership; a public agency’s or church’s lease of…
Could Amite council members each control a district improvement allocation in the town budget?
The mayor prepared the budget and, after adoption, authorized spending from its funds. If a district allocation did not specify projects and amounts, the mayor also chose the improvements; the…
Could Louisiana's Firefighters Retirement System grant COLAs to pre-1986 retirees without meeting the funded-ratio test?
No. The AG concluded that the Firefighters Retirement System could not grant a cost-of-living adjustment to anyone, including members eligible or retired before June 28, 1986, unless its actuary and…
Could a Louisiana town shut off current services to collect open-account balances more than three years old?
The AG said Maringouin could not enforce the described open-account balances after the three-year prescriptive period or shut off current services to collect them, though a debtor could pay…
Could South Carolina’s archives director accept a university teaching honorarium?
The AG said the director could teach and accept the offered $2,500 honorarium if the course did not divert the director’s time or attention from official duties. It also recommended seeking State…
Could a hospital district keep contracting with partnerships partly held by a director’s spouse’s IRA, or buy out that interest?
The California AG concluded in 2006 that the district could not make or renew contracts with the partnerships while the spouse’s IRA held the interests, despite their small size. A sale to an…
Could a St. Mary Parish hospital district pay for a chiller its private hospital lessee was obligated to buy?
No. The AG read the hospital lease to make the private operator responsible for equipment purchases and found no district obligation to replace the chiller. Paying for it with public funds would…
Who paid to jail and transport an Abbeville felony suspect when Vermilion Parish's jail was full?
The AG said Vermilion Parish's police jury bore the costs of housing, care, and required transport for a state felony detainee arrested by Abbeville police, even without a city-sheriff housing…
Could federal hurricane cleanup turn a private Louisiana road into a public road through tacit dedication?
No. The AG said the federal agencies' entry for hurricane cleanup did not itself create a public-road interest. The cited tacit-dedication statute applied to roads maintained for three years under…
Did Louisiana's property-control agency oversee statewide firefighter and municipal-police retirement systems?
No. The AG concluded that the Firefighters' Retirement System and Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System were outside the Louisiana Property Assistance Agency's jurisdiction under that…
Did Louisiana firefighters' state supplemental pay count when calculating unused leave at retirement?
Yes. The AG concluded that state supplemental pay had to be included when calculating a firefighter's accrued annual and sick leave upon retirement. It relied on the statute including that pay in…
Did Louisiana public-school background checks cover outsourced cafeteria, bus, janitorial and maintenance workers?
Yes. The AG read the 2005 amendment to cover workers employed by contractors to perform the cafeteria, transportation, janitorial or maintenance services a public school board otherwise could staff…
Could Baton Rouge Crime Stoppers use court-derived funds for legal fees or directors’ insurance?
Court-derived funds under Article 895.4 could pay legal fees or directors’ insurance only if Crime Stoppers determined the costs were directly related to obtaining information on criminal activity.…
Could a Louisiana court reimburse a judge's lawyer fees for fighting a personal subpoena and pursuing contempt proceedings?
No. The AG said the judge's personal-capacity subpoena was unrelated to an act performed as a judge, and his later contempt proceeding was one he initiated rather than a damages claim against him.…
Could Cankton require markings on village vehicles and regulate who drove or rode in them?
Yes. The AG found no conflict between Cankton's Ordinance 01-05 and the state vehicle-identification statute. Village vehicles had to meet both marking rules, while the ordinance's driver and…
Can a Delaware town require someone to explain why they want public records, or prove Delaware residency, before handing them over?
No to both, under the law as it stood in 2006. The AG found the Town of Townsend's public records form violated FOIA by requiring requesters to state their reason for requesting records and to prove…
Did a California school speech-language services credential by itself qualify its holder as a federal Medicaid speech pathologist?
No. The California AG concluded in 2006 that the credential’s requirements were not equivalent to the federal standard because they lacked a comparable specialized exam and a post-graduate mentored…
Could a Louisiana school board help pay LSU AgCenter 4-H agents working in parish schools?
Potentially. The AG said educating children was a public purpose and a school-board duty, satisfying two requirements for a cooperative funding agreement with the LSU AgCenter. The board still had…
Was South Carolina’s lieutenant governor a constitutional officer in 2006?
Yes. The AG said the lieutenant governor’s office was created by the South Carolina Constitution, making its holder a constitutional officer.
Could a Bamberg County election commissioner stay in office while running for county council?
The AG said a commissioner with jurisdiction over the county council election had to resign on filing as a candidate. The commissioner had to tender the resignation to the appointing body, which had…
Could a South Carolina sewer district waive grinder-pump fees for low-income households?
The AG said Greenwood Metropolitan District lacked statutory authority to waive the monthly grinder-pump charge based on household income. It said the district would need a general law granting that…
When must an Oregon health licensing board hand over its investigation file to a licensee facing discipline?
The duty to disclose investigative information to a licensee or applicant kicks in when (1) the board itself votes to issue a notice of intent to impose a disciplinary sanction and (2) the licensee…
Could an Arcadia housing-authority commissioner also serve as an elected council member or mayor?
Yes. The AG treated the housing-authority commission as a part-time appointive office. The cited dual-officeholding prohibition applied to a full-time appointive office held with a local elective…
Could a Winn Parish police juror run for Winnfield police chief without resigning?
Yes, the police juror could run without first resigning. If elected chief of police, however, he could not hold both elective offices at once and had to resign the police-juror office.
Could a Caddo Parish waterworks employee also serve on the parish commission?
No on the facts presented. Although the parish and waterworks district counted as separate political subdivisions, the AG said the parish commission's power to abolish the district made the two…
Could a Stonewall town council member serve as an unpaid volunteer police officer?
Yes. The AG said a town council member could serve as a volunteer police officer because the unpaid service was not employment under the dual-officeholding law. The opinion distinguished that…
Could a Calcasieu Parish drug task force reimburse the district attorney for an assigned prosecutor?
Yes. The AG said the district attorney and local task-force participants could make an intergovernmental agreement for an assistant district attorney to advise the team and handle its cases, with…
Could Louisiana homeowners keep the homestead exemption after transferring naked ownership to a revocable trust?
No. The AG concluded that property owned by a revocable trust did not qualify for the Louisiana homestead exemption under the constitutional provisions it analyzed, even when the former owners…
Were profits from employee-owned vending machines in New Iberia city buildings public funds?
No. The AG concluded that profits from machines owned, operated and maintained by New Iberia employees without public money were not public funds. Employees could use those profits for the purposes…
Could a Louisiana town demolish a dangerous school-board building and place a lien on the school property?
The AG said Saint Joseph could use its demolition power on a dangerous school-board building within town limits. A lien for its costs on the board's public property was at least of questionable…
Could Hammond Rural Fire Department offer Louisiana's deferred compensation plan to its paid staff?
Yes. The AG concluded that Hammond Rural Fire Department could offer the Louisiana Deferred Compensation Plan to its employees under the described arrangement with a public fire district. It did not…
Could a South Carolina sheriff keep a computer network separate from the county’s?
The AG said a sheriff’s department could maintain an independent network for law-enforcement records. The county, however, retained discretion over whether to support a grant application to fund…
Could one person serve on a Chesterfield County transportation committee and school board?
The AG said simultaneous service would most likely violate South Carolina’s constitutional ban on holding two public offices. It relied on earlier opinions treating both positions as offices for…
When did ordinary Kentucky laws passed in the 2006 regular session take effect?
The AG said ordinary 2006 regular-session acts took effect at the first moment of July 12, 2006, after 90 full days following final adjournment. It excluded general appropriation bills and acts with…
Must a Louisiana condominium declaration show how each unit owner’s share of common expenses is calculated?
Yes. The AG said the declaration had to give enough information for an owner to determine the owner's share of common expenses and how it was calculated. A formula was one permissible format; a…
Could parties waive a Louisiana notary's duty to record a mortgage?
The AG said parties could agree among themselves not to record a mortgage, but that agreement did not waive the notary's statutory duty or make the unrecorded act effective against third parties. It…
Could South Carolina’s Forestry Commission pay 2005 employee bonuses beyond its carry-forward funds?
The AG said yes. It read the fiscal-year 2005 appropriations provision as authorizing the bonuses without limiting their funding source to money carried forward from the prior year.
Did South Carolina speech and hearing licenses satisfy federal Medicaid provider rules in 2006?
The AG found the state’s speech-language pathology license routes consistent with federal qualifications. Audiology depended on the license route: a current ASHA certificate qualified, while other…
Does a Texas therapist need a separate state license to treat sex offenders, on top of their professional license?
The Attorney General concluded that a person needs two licenses, not one, to provide sex offender rehabilitation services in Texas. The professional license (as a physician, psychiatrist,…
Could a South Carolina solicitor reduce a second-offense domestic violence charge to a first offense?
The AG said a solicitor had discretion to reduce the charge. It also said first offenses belonged in summary court, while eligible second-offense cases could be transferred from general sessions…
Could South Carolina DHEC regulate development outside coastal critical areas through bridge-permit rules?
The AG reaffirmed that DHEC had authority to adopt the proposed minimum standards for coastal-island bridge applications, including measures for nearby land affecting critical areas. It limited the…
Was an Arcadia council special meeting valid when the public saw notice but some officials did not?
The AG said the posted notice met the public-notice rule and treated the particular meeting as a legal public meeting. Arcadia still needed an ordinance specifying notice to council members and the…
Could Morgan City’s port district give its executive director a fixed two-year contract with removal only for cause?
No. The AG said the proposed two-year contract improperly limited the board’s ability to remove the executive director at will and gave him a term longer than some appointing commissioners’ terms,…
Could East Feliciana Parish use public funds to install a drainage culvert on private property?
Yes, if the work served a public drainage purpose. The AG said East Feliciana's police jury could install or replace culverts on public property and could work on private property to improve the…
Did Connecticut need another legislative review after a state board ratified its property sale vote?
No, on the facts presented. The AG said the State Properties Review Board's public ratification related back to its earlier vote, and the agreement and supporting record had not changed, so the…
Did Connecticut's convention center law block Hartford's living wage rule for its downtown hotel?
No, the project statute did not preempt Hartford's living wage ordinance as applied to the hotel's later private operations. The AG read the statute's local-law bar as covering development and…
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