State AG Opinions
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Were undocumented proxy votes automatically invalid in a Sumter delegation board appointment?
The 2005 AG did not decide that the two proxy votes were valid or invalid. Citing an earlier opinion, he said proxy policy for delegation appointments was a matter for that delegation to resolve;…
Did a South Carolina town have to warn schools and landlords about a registered sex offender?
The 2005 AG said the county sheriff, not town police, had the specified duty to notify nearby school and child-care leaders; no separate duty required notice to a landlord about a tenant’s offender…
Could a Louisiana gravity drainage board call its own acreage-tax bond election?
Yes. The AG concluded that a gravity drainage district's board of commissioners, as its governing authority, could call the special election authorized by R.S. 38:1771 without asking the parish…
Could a Washington mortgage broker deduct loan origination fees or points from business and occupation tax as interest?
The Attorney General concluded in 2005 that the deduction depended on what the payment actually compensated. Points or fees for lending money on qualifying residential mortgages could be deductible…
Can South Carolina's law enforcement agency use emergency regulations to set policing standards for new towns?
The 2005 AG concluded that SLED could issue emergency regulations setting minimum law enforcement standards for municipal incorporation on the public-safety facts it described. He predicted a court…
If a school district calls a special meeting without explaining why it skipped the normal notice period, can re-voting at a later regular meeting fix the problem?
Yes, under the law as it stood in 2005. The AG found the Woodbridge School District violated FOIA by not explaining in its June 13, 2005 special meeting notice why it couldn't give the normal seven…
Can a Delaware police department withhold its internal operations manual and checkpoint procedures from a FOIA request by citing officer safety?
Partly, according to this opinion. A police department's checkpoint guidelines were exempt from FOIA because releasing them could expose law-enforcement tactics and endanger officers, but the index…
Could an Orleans Parish civil sheriff put a deputy on paid leave or assign lesser duties while a federal indictment was pending?
The AG said an indictment was not a conviction and that the deputy should not be suspended or placed on leave before a final conviction. It separately noted the sheriff's broad authority to dismiss…
Could commissioned county animal control and code officers use blue or red lights on county vehicles?
The 2005 AG said the specified animal control, fire code, and building code officers could display blue or red lights on county vehicles because they were commissioned under Section 4-9-145 and had…
Could a private car display POLIZEI lettering and police-style markings in South Carolina?
The 2005 AG thought a private car bearing POLIZEI lettering, stripes, and a shield-like decal violated the vehicle-marking restriction, even without blue lights. He expressly called the conclusion…
Did the federal student aid treatment of Colorado's College Opportunity Fund stipends make them state grants under TABOR?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the way federal student aid programs counted a College Opportunity Fund stipend did not determine whether the stipend was a state grant to a college under TABOR.
Could a Zachary school board member also serve on the city's planning commission?
Yes. The AG concluded that Louisiana's dual officeholding laws did not bar the two positions and that Zachary's home rule charter made the separate statutory bar for municipal planning commissioners…
Could a Louisiana parish notary examining committee pay its members a stipend or reimburse expenses?
The AG said a parish notarial examining committee could not pay its members a stipend or per diem because no law authorized it. Reasonable out-of-pocket expenses could be reimbursed as an…
Could the Caddo Levee District raise its campsite lease rates without a state fee-approval vote?
Yes. The AG concluded that the Caddo Levee District could raise its campsite lease rates because it was a political subdivision, not a state agency subject to the fee-increase provisions the…
Can a part-time Louisiana assistant district attorney also be an elected parish school board member?
Yes. The AG said an assistant district attorney working part time, under the statute's 35-hour weekly full-time threshold, could also serve as an elected parish school board member. It assumed the…
Can a Louisiana justice require a constable at every hearing and reduce the constable's share of civil fees?
The AG said a justice of the peace could require a constable to attend court proceedings under the court's inherent authority. For civil matters, the justice and constable offices each received half…
Must a Louisiana fire district publicly advertise an open job before hiring someone?
The AG found no general state-law requirement that a public entity advertise a vacancy before hiring. It noted that a local policy, contract, or federal desegregation decree could require…
Do Louisiana fire district board members earn a per diem when too few members attend to hold a meeting?
No. The AG said a board gathering that fails for lack of a quorum is not a valid meeting, so attending members receive no meeting compensation. A continued meeting may be paid if a quorum attends…
Can Clinton change a posted council agenda and who appoints its police chief and town clerk?
The AG said a posted agenda could be changed by a two-thirds vote of members present. Clinton's mayor could appoint the police chief and town clerk, but the board of aldermen had to approve the…
Could a Louisiana drainage district collect a renewed tax in an annexed precinct left off the polling-place list?
Yes, on the facts described. The AG said the registrar's omission of one newly annexed precinct did not invalidate the drainage district's tax-renewal election because the vote passed by a wide…
Did an elected employee member of Zachary's civil service board have to keep living and voting in the city?
Yes. The AG said the city residency and voter-registration qualifications applied throughout service on Zachary's Municipal Employees Civil Service Board, including to members elected by classified…
Can Texas revoke a manufactured home's title statement if it was moved without paying property taxes?
The Hunt County Attorney asked whether the state housing department must revoke a manufactured home's 'statement of ownership and location' when the home is moved out of the county without paying…
Can a home-rule city's voters change the city's election date by charter amendment after the state deadline?
After the San Marcos City Council used a state-law window to move the city's general elections from May to November, the Hays County District Attorney asked whether the city's voters could later…
Could Connecticut’s governor create a contracting standards board by executive order?
The AG concluded that the governor could establish an interim contracting board with largely advisory functions by executive order. He identified constitutional and statutory concerns where the…
How specific did a Washington school board’s resolution need to be before placing a bond issue on the ballot?
The Attorney General concluded in 2005 that the resolution had to state the maximum debt and bond term, identify the specific buildings affected, and fairly inform voters of the general nature and…
After the U.S. Supreme Court's Kelo decision allowed economic development takings, what limits did Maine law place on eminent domain, particularly for residential property?
The Maine AG explained that Kelo v. New London set a federal floor for eminent domain, not a ceiling. Maine's Constitution had its own public-use plus public-exigencies test, and Maine statutes…
Can a Delaware school district withhold job interview scoring sheets from a FOIA request to protect the applicants' privacy?
Yes, according to this opinion. Even though FOIA's personnel-file exemption doesn't technically apply to job applicants, the AG found a common-law privacy exemption protects interview panel scoring…
Could a Lockport zoning commissioner also work full time as a parish permits coordinator?
Yes. The AG concluded that Lockport's part-time zoning commissioner could also work full time as a parish permits coordinator. The parish job was employment, not another public office barred by the…
Could a Louisiana police jury stop a parish library board's planned bookmobile purchase?
Yes. The AG said Natchitoches Parish Police Jury could override the library board's vote to proceed with bookmobile bids because the police jury held fiscal control over the parish agency and the…
Did a Louisiana police chief have to resign to run for parish sheriff?
No. The AG said the Zwolle police chief could campaign for Sabine Parish sheriff while remaining chief if campaign activity stayed off duty and did not interfere with his official responsibilities.…
Could a Louisiana parish contribute public funds to a Medal of Honor memorial outside the parish?
Yes. The AG concluded that St. Helena Parish's police jury could contribute to a proposed Louisiana Medal of Honor park and museum, treating a public tribute to the state's military honorees as a…
Can a Louisiana parish use an equipment tax to buy land and a building for its road department?
No. The AG said Franklin Parish's voter-approved tax for maintaining, operating, and buying equipment did not authorize land or building purchases, even for equipment storage and offices. The parish…
Could a Louisiana town ordinance make police obey every lawful request of the mayor and aldermen?
No to that broad command. The AG said a town could assign additional duties to its police chief by ordinance, but Sibley's ordinance could not require police to carry out all lawful requests of the…
Was a Louisiana city marshal's office a Safe Haven location for an infant?
No. The AG concluded that the Lafayette City Marshal's office was not a designated emergency-care facility under the Safe Haven law as it stood in 2005. The office was neither listed separately nor…
Can a single person serve on a New York town zoning board of appeals and also work as the ZBA's secretary, when the secretary is hired by the board itself?
No, not under the circumstances here. The ZBA selects its own secretary annually. Under the Wood v. Whitehall public-policy rule, a board cannot appoint one of its own members to another position…
Was an appointed New Orleans traffic court clerk required to join the Louisiana clerks' retirement fund despite a conflicting city ordinance?
Yes. The AG said R.S. 11:1511 required the appointed New Orleans Traffic Court clerk to belong to the Clerks' of Court Retirement and Relief Fund throughout her service; a contrary city ordinance…
Could a Webster Parish sales tax auditor also serve on Minden's city council?
Yes. The AG said the Webster Parish Sales and Use Tax Commission and the City of Minden were separate political subdivisions, so the dual officeholding laws did not bar the auditor from serving as a…
Did Carencro have to pay an extra crime-lab bill after remitting required court costs?
The AG said that if Carencro had paid all court costs required for the Acadiana crime lab, it should not be denied further lab service. If approved lab costs exceeded fee revenue, the member…
Could a Louisiana school board ban smoking even in outdoor areas of school property under the statute examined in 2005?
The AG concluded that the school-specific statute contemplated a designated smoking area on school property, so the Rapides Parish board could not use a blanket ban to erase that exception. The…
Could a drainage district buy equipment owned and used mainly by its parish?
No, on the facts presented. The AG said the Duralde Gravity Drainage District could not buy equipment titled to and operated mainly by the Evangeline Parish Police Jury when the district's expected…
Did Amite have to recover health premiums it mistakenly paid for individual policies?
The AG said Amite was not obliged to seek reimbursement of individual health-policy premiums paid for an employee and alderman if all parties acted in good faith. It did not decide their good faith…
Could Baker shift school millage to a city tax and keep the extra revenue?
No. The AG said that even if Baker levied a tax under the cited constitutional school-funding provision, every dollar of its proceeds had to support public elementary and secondary schools. The city…
Can a Louisiana constable collect traffic court costs or witness fees for testifying?
The AG said a constable could not receive a portion of court costs from traffic citations because traffic cases were criminal matters. A constable could receive witness fees when required to appear…
What yard waste or land-clearing material could be burned in Youngsville under Louisiana law?
Under the 2005 state rules the AG examined, a Youngsville landowner could burn attended, noncommercial yard waste limited to leaves, grass, twigs, branches, and vines. A separate land-clearing…
Can a Louisiana mayor cut budgeted retirement contributions for city court judges and employees?
The AG said Monroe's mayor could not unilaterally reduce retirement contributions for sitting city court judges because the constitution protected their retirement benefits during their terms. It…
Must a Louisiana narcotics officer use a marked car, and when do threats against an officer count as public intimidation?
The AG said the cited arrest rule did not require a marked car or uniform for the described narcotics interdictions, absent a contrary provision. Threats against an officer amounted to public…
Can a Louisiana police department buy marked patrol cars with drug forfeiture money?
Yes, in the situation described. The AG said Westlake could use its allocated drug-forfeiture proceeds for marked patrol cars used by officers trained in narcotics work when the cars had a clear…
Could a Louisiana mayor direct a clerk to add or remove items from the town council agenda?
Yes, within limits. The AG said Amite's mayor could review the agenda and direct the clerk to add or remove items if that did not conflict with the clerk's statutory duties or procedures adopted by…
Could an East Carroll prison district board lease its jail or contract out its management?
The AG said Prison District No. 1 was administered by East Carroll alone and its board composition followed the single-parish rule. The board could not enter a proposed prison-facility lease or…
Could a Louisiana city pay a police sergeant a delayed seniority raise retroactively?
It depended on the source of the raise. The AG said Rayne could pay back wages from the date it became obligated to award the increase, but a discretionary raise for work already paid could be an…
Could a South Carolina fire marshal also serve as a Group I constable?
Yes, the 2005 AG concluded that the Irmo Fire Marshal could also serve as a Group I constable. Fire marshal was an office for dual-office purposes, but the constitutional exception covered the…
Did Louisiana's hog-dog fighting law prohibit hunting hogs with dogs?
The 2005 AG said a hog-and-dog hunt was a violation if injury was possible or reasonably likely, even without intent to injure. It also said the statute excepted lawful hog hunting for harvest; the…
Can a Texas nonprofit give a savings bond or prepaid card as a charitable raffle prize?
A county attorney, on behalf of a hospital that runs an annual fundraising raffle, asked whether the Charitable Raffle Enabling Act lets a nonprofit award savings bonds or prepaid bank credit cards…
How must a Texas county account for and spend the excess court-cost contributions the state returns to it under Government Code 26.008?
A county auditor asked whether Government Code section 26.008 requires a separate fund and budget for the excess court-cost contributions the state comptroller returns to the county each year, what…
Is the 1838 Live Oak Treaty between the Republic of Texas and the Lipan Apaches still a binding agreement?
A state senator asked whether the 1838 Live Oak Treaty, signed by the Lipan Apaches and the Republic of Texas, is still binding. The Attorney General concluded it likely is not. After Texas joined…
Did the 1961 repeal of a highway statute turn ambiguous county road deeds into fee ownership?
The California AG concluded in 2005 that repealing the highway statute did not convert ambiguous county road conveyances into fee title. The parties’ intent controlled; if a deed remained ambiguous,…
Could a rice-field owner bait and post navigable water to stop public duck hunting?
The 2005 AG concluded that baiting and posting the described broken-bank rice field to stop public hunting would violate the hunting-obstruction provision if the waterway was navigable and no…
Could Aiken County stop getting the auditor endorsement before recording scanned deeds?
No. The 2005 AG said deeds still needed the county auditor endorsement before recording. If the endorsement was customarily shown by an auditor stamp, the new imaging system did not remove the…
Could a Louisiana private college receive Aid to Independent Colleges payments for a student whose tuition was partly paid by TOPS?
Yes. The AG said TOPS was student tuition aid, not another institutional reimbursement program. An eligible independent college could therefore receive Aid to Independent Colleges payments for…
Do the Texas Recreational Use Statute's liability limits for cities and counties apply to bike facilities, or only skating areas?
A state representative asked whether two subsections of the Texas Recreational Use Statute (Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 75.002, subsections (f) and (g)) applied to a state, county, or…
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