State AG Opinions
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Could South Carolina buy all shares of a company solely to obtain its land and liquidate it?
The 2005 AG said the proposed stock purchase would not violate the state’s joint-ownership ban if the State immediately liquidated the company to acquire its land for a public purpose. The…
How does a Texas county split funds with a new hospital district that covers only part of the county?
Liberty County asked the Attorney General how to divide county money with the newly created Liberty County Hospital District No. 1, which sits inside the county but does not cover all of it. Under…
Could a Walterboro planning commissioner also direct a regional council and work for the airport commission?
The 2005 AG said the three roles could be held together. He treated the regional council executive director and the airport commission’s paid secretary as non-office positions, while saying a…
Can a Delaware town withhold months of executive session minutes just by labeling the sessions Personnel and Legal Issues?
No, under the law as it stood in 2005. The AG found the Town of Middletown had no lawful basis to withhold months of executive session minutes, since most of what its council actually discussed…
Can a Texas state agency board delegate authority to approve an interlocal contract?
The Texas A&M University System asked whether the Interlocal Cooperation Act (Government Code chapter 791) lets a state agency's governing body delegate the authority to approve an interlocal…
Could Iberia Parish install paid-for driveway culverts and regulate waste pickup stations?
The AG said Iberia Parish could install a driveway culvert in the public right of way when the owner paid the project's fair-market costs. It could require permits for solid-waste pickup stations…
Could Tega Cay council members join a public meeting by telephone without a separate ordinance?
The 2005 AG said Tega Cay’s proposed telephone-meeting procedure would comply with the state FOIA because the meeting remained open, noticed, and recorded. He said a separate ordinance did not…
Could Louisiana's State Museum create its own police force with peace-officer powers?
The AG found no statutory authority for the State Museum Board to create its own law-enforcement force. It said capitol police were peace officers and that their jurisdiction could extend to…
Who controlled Elloree’s water system, its rates, property, contracts, and surplus revenue?
The 2005 AG treated Elloree’s water commission as a town agency with independent management of the water system and rates, while the town owned the infrastructure. The council had to concur in debt…
Who signed Elloree’s water-extension contracts: the town council or water commission?
The 2005 AG said the Elloree Water Commission was the contracting party for extensions of the town water system. The town council still had to approve an extension beyond town limits; the commission…
Could a Louisiana drainage district spend money on a ditch extending beyond its boundaries?
Yes. The AG said R.S. 38:1764 expressly allowed a gravity drainage district to extend canals or ditches beyond its boundaries to secure a proper outlet for district waters, so the district could…
Could Louisiana sell sixteenth-section school lands without a local school board's consent?
The AG said the state owned sixteenth-section school lands and could sell them without the local school board's consent, subject to the required township vote and sale procedures. It also described…
If a board member develops a conflict of interest after a contract is signed, is the contract still valid?
The Texas A&M University System asked whether its pre-existing contract with a law firm became invalid after a person who joined the A&M Board of Regents then became a partner in that firm. The…
Could North Myrtle Beach ban filling a privately owned, nonnavigable lake by ordinance?
The 2005 AG said an owner of the lakebed could fill the portion of a nonnavigable lake above that property, and the city could not enact the proposed blanket ban. He said a takings claim was…
Did choosing a victim for gender or disability alone make a crime a California hate crime in 2005?
The California AG concluded in 2005 that selection based on a victim’s gender, disability, or perceived vulnerability did not alone establish a hate crime. Bias motivation toward the protected…
Did Beauregard Parish's old dry-ward votes still restrict alcohol sales after election districts changed?
No. The AG concluded that Beauregard Parish's new election districts were considered wet because no district, as newly constituted, had held a local option election prohibiting alcohol sales. The…
Were West Jefferson Service Corporation's records subject to Louisiana's Public Records Law?
Yes. The AG concluded that West Jefferson Service Corporation was a quasi-public corporation subject to Louisiana's Public Records Law because of its close relationship with West Jefferson Medical…
Could Ville Platte use criminal court fund money to pay off-duty officers for a LACE detail?
Yes. The AG applied its earlier LACE opinions to Ville Platte and said criminal court fund money could pay off-duty officers for a local enforcement detail when the police chief, city judge, and…
Could a Louisiana legislator nominate a student from another parish for a Tulane legislative scholarship?
Yes. The AG concluded that, under the 1982 amendment to the Tulane scholarship agreement, a legislator could nominate a Louisiana resident from outside the legislator's own parish or district.
Who transported and paid for a patient under Louisiana emergency mental-health certificates?
The AG said the sheriff where a patient was located executed a properly issued physician emergency certificate, regardless of the patient's residence. Commitment costs were paid by an able patient…
Could Plaquemines Parish voters abolish their civil-service system with a local referendum?
No. Because Plaquemines Parish adopted its civil-service system under the constitution's permanent local-option provision, the AG said neither the council nor parish voters could abolish it by local…
Who set employment rules for a full-time Harahan police employee outside civil service?
The AG said the employee was governed by the Harahan Police Department's rules and the elected chief's supervision, rather than the city's general non-civil-service ordinance. The chief could set…
Did Harahan's city personnel rules or its police department rules govern a civilian police employee's compensatory time?
The AG concluded that the Harahan Police Department's rules governed its civilian employee, rather than the city's general personnel rules. Under the facts the chief described, the department's…
Can two neighboring county attorneys appoint each other as assistant county attorneys?
The county attorneys of Jeff Davis and Presidio counties, each a one-lawyer office, asked whether they could appoint each other as unpaid assistant county attorneys so a neighbor could cover…
Can a constable investigate a crime anywhere in the county, or only in their own precinct?
A Tyler County prosecutor asked whether a constable can investigate a crime that did not happen in the constable's view, and whether that authority covers the whole county or only the constable's…
Can a county commissioner also serve as a paid municipal judge in a city in the same county?
The Bell County Attorney asked whether a county commissioner could be appointed, for pay, as the municipal judge of a city in the same county and hold both jobs at once. The Attorney General…
What does 'citizen of Texas' mean for the veteran tuition exemption in Texas?
A state senator asked the Attorney General to settle how to read the 'citizen of Texas' requirement in the veteran tuition exemption, Education Code section 54.203, which colleges and the Higher…
Can a Delaware town discuss ordinary contracts, tax delinquencies, and town hall space in a closed personnel-and-legal executive session?
No. The AG found five unlawful closed-session discussions: zoning procedures, two contracts, town hall space, and a tax delinquency. The council also failed to notice two matters it voted on after…
Could Donaldsonville abolish the civil-service system created by its home-rule charter?
Yes, through a charter amendment approved by city voters. The AG said Donaldsonville could propose abolishing its charter-created civil-service system, but the charter barred submitting an amendment…
Could a South Carolina legislator serve while his spouse sat on a regional hospital board?
The 2005 AG found no automatic bar to the representative’s service because his wife sat on the hospital board. He said a matter affecting either spouse’s economic interest could trigger written…
Do term limits count a Colorado special-district director declared elected without a vote or one who resigns early?
In this 2005 opinion, the AG concluded that a special-district director declared elected after an uncontested election was cancelled still counted as an elected official for term limits. A director…
Could West Baton Rouge Parish charge a wastewater development impact fee under its home rule charter?
No. The AG treated West Baton Rouge Parish's proposed wastewater development impact charge as a tax designed to raise parish revenue. It concluded that the parish's home rule charter and general…
Can the public obtain Louisiana public-school students' names and addresses, and can board members see them?
The AG said public-school students' names, addresses, and phone numbers in school records were exempt from disclosure to the general public. It also said a school board member could access that…
Could a Louisiana town match donations for one park without giving the same amount to another?
Yes, conditionally. The AG said Amite's council could match a private group's $25,000 for equipment at one park without appropriating an equal amount for another, so long as the choice had no…
Can the Texas Structural Pest Control Board regulate removal of animals like raccoons and squirrels?
The executive director of the Texas Structural Pest Control Board asked whether the Board could regulate (license) people who remove vertebrate animals like armadillos, squirrels, skunks, and…
Could a SC scrap buyer accept a foreign photo license for a large copper purchase?
The 2005 AG said no where the seller’s only identification was a foreign-issued photo license. The copper-purchase statute he applied listed four accepted identification types, and a foreign license…
Can a Delaware county council add a contract vote and an executive session to its agenda at the start of the same meeting?
No, under the law as it stood in 2005. The AG found Sussex County Council violated FOIA by adding both a fence-contract change order and a request for an executive session on land acquisition to its…
Could ten year restricted accessory apartments count toward a Connecticut housing moratorium?
The AG did not give a definitive yes or no on whether ten year deed restricted accessory apartments counted toward an affordable housing moratorium. He found the statutory wording pointed toward a…
Could Webster Parish's watershed district charge cities, rural nonprofits, and home wells a commercial water fee?
No. The AG concluded that the district's authority to charge for commercial use of water resources did not reach cities, member-owned nonprofit rural water systems, or private domestic well users.
Could Connecticut move inmates to halfway houses before half their sentence was served?
The AG concluded that Connecticut could not release inmates with sentences of two years or less to a halfway house under the community placement statute before they served half their sentence. It…
Does a New York state legislator have to give up the legislative seat to serve as an officer in the New York Guard? And can the legislator accept the state pay for guard service?
Yes to both. Article III, § 7 of the New York Constitution makes a legislator who accepts a state civil or military office vacate the seat, with an exception for 'a member of the national guard or…
Can a Texas county take a private subdivision road into its county road system by accepting a gift?
Landowners on a private subdivision road, Lynnwood Lane, offered to give Waller County an easement or deed and the materials to fix the road up if the county would take it into the county road…
Can the same person serve as assistant fire chief of a New York fire district and also as the paid firehouse maintainer?
No, the positions are incompatible. Town Law § 176-a(1) makes the fire chief responsible for supervising all officers and employees of the fire department, and the assistant fire chief exercises the…
Can a New York town replace the town board's power to fill an elective-office vacancy by appointment with a requirement that a special election be held?
Yes. Town Law § 64(5) gives the town board power to fill a vacancy in an elective town office. Under Municipal Home Rule Law § 10(1)(ii)(d)(3), the town can supersede that with a local law requiring…
Can a New York town adopt a local law making zoning violations subject only to fines (no jail), even though Town Law § 268 says zoning violations carry potential jail time of up to six months?
Yes. The AG concluded that a town could supersede Town Law § 268 to remove incarceration from first and second zoning offenses and impose fines only. The opinion found no preemption. It said the…
Did Varnado's aldermen have to notify the elected police chief before raising an officer's pay?
Yes. The AG said Varnado's elected police chief had to receive notice before the mayor or board acted on a part-time officer's raise, so he could perform his statutory duty to make recommendations…
Which per diem law governed Amite River Basin drainage district board members in 2005?
The AG said R.S. 38:3304 governed the Amite River Basin district's board per diem because the district was neither a levee district nor a levee and drainage district under R.S. 38:308. The cited…
Could Church Point limit police take-home vehicles or force sale of its drug dog?
The AG said Church Point's mayor and aldermen could restrict police vehicles outside town limits for nonofficial use, but had to recognize on-call travel as official use. The board could not…
Does a private Louisiana school escape proprietary-school regulation if it is paid under a state contract?
No, under the facts posed. The AG said payments from a state agency for services under a contract were an indirect benefit, not the direct and significant public support required for the…
Can a Louisiana town forgive payments in lieu of taxes owed by its housing authority?
Yes. The AG said Elton could agree to waive sums owed by its housing authority as payments in lieu of taxes. The statute exempted housing authorities from ordinary local taxes and let a municipality…
Could a Louisiana law-enforcement planning district buy a surplus police vehicle without a public auction?
Yes. The AG treated the Capital District planning agency as a political subdivision and concluded it could buy a surplus Baton Rouge police vehicle through an intergovernmental agreement without the…
Does a bail bondsman's old or out-of-county license count toward their bail bond limit?
The Brazos County Attorney asked whether a bail bond board could count a surety's earlier, expired license toward the limit on how much in bail bonds the surety may write, under Occupations Code…
Could a Maryland mortician transfer a funeral-home license to an LLC they owned alone?
No under the 2005 Morticians Act. The AG said the Board could not transfer an individual mortician's license to an LLC, even one solely owned and managed by that mortician, and an unlicensed LLC…
Could Jasper County use special-source revenue bonds to help build school facilities?
The 2005 AG predicted a court would allow Jasper County to issue the bonds for school construction because schools could count as county infrastructure under the statute. He said courts had not…
Who paid for a juvenile's detention before adjudication under Louisiana Children's Code article 815(E)?
The AG concluded that the parish or municipality requesting a juvenile's placement in a regional detention center or shelter care facility was responsible to that facility for the confinement costs…
Does losing the signed superintendent contract end a Louisiana school superintendent's employment?
No. The AG said the loss of Iberville Parish's executed superintendent contract did not end the superintendent's employment. A lost written agreement could be proved through the methods described by…
Could a co-owner walk across a drainage district's right of way to reach the rest of the family's land?
Yes, on the described facts. The AG said a co-owner could walk across the drainage district's right of use to reach other family land because ordinary walking did not pose an unreasonable danger to…
Could a Louisiana parish tax commission use surplus collections to settle a mistaken sales-tax distribution?
The AG concluded that the Evangeline Parish tax commission could pay a misallocation settlement from its general fund. Its existing articles required surplus commissions to be distributed to taxing…
Could Louisiana's funeral licensing board send disciplinary decisions to a national regulator database?
The AG concluded that the Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors could share disciplinary information with a national database for member regulators, but only after its action became final and…
Could a Wyoming county commission appoint a 'special prosecutor' to assist the elected county and prosecuting attorney while keeping that attorney under the commission's supervision, and could the elected county attorney's father be hired into that position?
No on both counts. Attorney General Patrick Crank concluded that the Big Horn County Commissioners had no authority to manage or supervise an attorney prosecuting criminal or juvenile cases, that…
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