State AG Opinions
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Can a Delaware public body vote in public to hire one of two final job candidates without naming them at the time of the vote?
Yes, under this 2005 opinion. The AG found no FOIA violation when New Castle County Council's Personnel Committee voted publicly using Candidate A and Candidate B rather than their names. The…
Can the Texas Lottery Commission sell its promotional merchandise to the public?
The Texas Lottery Commission hands out branded promotional goods (koozies, T-shirts, scratch-off coins, ornaments, towels, sports bags) to lottery players and retailers, and it asked whether it…
Can a Texas county official suspend an employee with pay?
A Brooks County official (the sheriff, who also served as tax assessor-collector) suspended a deputy with pay after the deputy was indicted, even though the office had no written policy on paid…
Could the mayor of Hollywood, South Carolina also serve as the town’s zoning administrator?
The 2005 AG said no. The zoning administrator’s permit and enforcement powers made it a second public office, state law separately barred mayors from other municipal office or employment, and the…
Could Charleston voters misassigned to District 5 vote in the corrected District 7 special election?
The 2005 AG said qualified Plantation Apartments voters should be allowed to vote in the new District 7 special election even if the county’s mapping error had let them vote in District 5 the…
Can a licensed video poker device maker supply software for Louisiana's central monitoring system?
Potentially. The AG said a licensed device manufacturer could develop, supply, or perhaps maintain software for Louisiana's video poker monitoring system, but could not control polling or remote…
Can a Texas school district build on leased private land and lease out its unused land?
The Port Neches-Groves ISD wanted a 50-year (renewable to 100-year) deal with Huntsman Petrochemicals: lease Huntsman's land for $1 a year to build schools on it, and in return let Huntsman use a…
Could South Carolina’s Insurance Reserve Fund insure a defender corporation and its employees against tort claims?
The 2005 AG said no. He read the fund’s authority as covering government entities and their personnel, while treating defender corporations and their employees as private nonprofit entities for this…
Was the Beaufort Water Festival’s paid River Rally card event a prohibited lottery in 2005?
The 2005 AG said yes. Participants paid for cards drawn at docks and could win prizes based on their hands, meeting the opinion’s prize, payment, and chance test. He also said the event violated a…
Can a Texas economic development corporation pay for road or highway construction near its industrial park?
The Athens Economic Development Corporation, a 4A corporation funded by city sales-tax money, owns an industrial park reachable only by one farm-to-market road. The Texas Department of…
Could Charleston County’s human services director serve on Hollywood Town Council?
The 2005 AG found no state dual-office violation because the director was an employee, while a council member held public office. He left the possible federal Hatch Act restriction unresolved and…
Could a South Carolina town refuse to authorize tattoo facilities after the state legalized regulated tattooing?
The 2005 AG read the new law as letting a locality withhold the required authorizing ordinance, preventing a tattoo facility from receiving a license there. He considered that local-option scheme…
When must a school employee and parish councilman leave those roles after winning a school board seat?
The AG said the St. Mary school board employee could campaign while employed but had to resign that job immediately upon election to his employing board. He could keep his parish council seat until…
Can a Texas county improve and assess costs for a subdivision road that is partly inside a city and partly in its ETJ?
Residents of the Skyview Subdivision in Caldwell County asked the county to bring their road up to county standards, maintain it, and bill the cost to property owners under Transportation Code…
Do public members of a Texas state board or commission get paid a daily per diem for their service?
The Commission on State Emergency Communications, which oversees Texas's 911 system, has five members appointed to represent the general public. Its executive director asked the Attorney General…
Was an entire gaming machine illegal if it offered prohibited poker alongside legal games?
The 2005 AG said a machine offering simulated poker was contraband under the statute even if it also offered lawful games. For other card games, officers and then a magistrate had to assess the…
Did Red River Parish have to keep funding garbage collection with surplus sales-tax revenue?
No. The AG said the parish police jury could allocate surplus proceeds among the uses listed in the voter-approved tax proposition, including but not limited to garbage collection. The proposition…
Could a Louisiana council privately discuss hiring a parish attorney and rank candidates in writing?
The AG said council members could discuss a parish attorney appointment in executive session under the cited personnel exception, with advance notice and a candidate's right to demand public…
Could a Louisiana public port accept company stock to settle a bankruptcy debt?
Yes. The AG said the Greater Baton Rouge Port Commission could accept stock distributed under a bankruptcy plan as payment of a debt, because it was not purchasing shares as a public investment. The…
Can a Louisiana police chief adopt a policy allowing drivers to exceed posted speed limits?
The AG said a police chief could not adopt a department policy that effectively allowed speeds above posted limits. Speed limits and zones had to be established or changed by municipal ordinance…
Could a Louisiana court pay a judge's defense lawyer while judicial misconduct allegations were still pending?
No. The AG said the court could not pay the judge's legal fees while the Judiciary Commission allegations were unresolved. Reimbursement from the Judicial Expense Fund could follow exoneration if…
Could a Louisiana parish police jury remove a tourist commission member before a fixed term ended?
No. The AG concluded that the Natchitoches Parish Tourist Commission was a separate state political subdivision and the police jury lacked authority to remove its members before their fixed terms…
Did a Louisiana city need a possession lawsuit before donating tax-adjudicated land to a nonprofit?
The AG concluded that a municipality did not have to file a possession suit under the cited leasing statutes before a qualifying donation of tax-adjudicated property to a nonprofit. The donation…
Could Louisiana favor a locally made fire truck or a Louisiana vendor in a public purchase?
The AG said Louisiana law offered a conditional preference for fire apparatus produced or assembled in the state, based on the product rather than the bidder's address. A separate reciprocity law…
Could Louisiana's state long-term care ombudsman comment on legislation despite the ban on state employees lobbying?
The AG said the state employee lobbying restriction did not prevent the long-term care ombudsman from performing official duties that included analyzing laws and recommending changes. It relied on…
Could a Louisiana school board lend assistive technology to a student for home use?
The AG said a school board could provide a school-owned assistive device for home use when a legal educational obligation required it, including an IEP team's determination that home access was…
Could a Louisiana town acquire cemetery land so it could spend public funds mowing it?
The AG said Arcadia could acquire the cemetery parcel and pay to maintain it if town officials found the acquisition served the public interest. The AG did not determine who already owned the parcel…
Could a Union County drug and alcohol commissioner also serve on Lockhart Town Council?
The 2005 AG said no. He treated both the county drug and alcohol commission seat and the Lockhart council seat as public offices under the South Carolina dual-office prohibition.
Who owns Oregon's rivers and lakes, and when can the public use a waterway whose bed is privately owned?
Oregon owns waterways that were tidally influenced or 'title-navigable' (capable of supporting trade and travel) at statehood in 1859. Even when the streambed is privately owned, the public may…
Must a physician chosen for a Louisiana hospital service district board live in the district?
Yes. The AG said the physician chosen for Richland Parish Hospital Service District No. 1-B must be a qualified voter and resident of that district. Its special rule for a six-member board did not…
Could a Louisiana school board build an industrial park on sixteenth-section school land?
No. The AG concluded that East Feliciana Parish School Board could not itself develop an industrial park on a sixteenth-section tract using an economic-development grant. It described a limited…
Could a Louisiana city cap how much unused vacation leave employees carried into the next year?
The AG concluded that New Iberia could set reasonable limits on when earned vacation leave had to be used and how much could carry over. Its analysis relied on employees having an opportunity to use…
Did Louisiana's expanded homestead exemption also expand the senior property-tax assessment freeze?
No. The AG said the 2004 expansion of the homestead exemption did not change the separate Special Assessment Level requirements. A claimant still needed the homestead exemption and had to meet the…
Could Baton Rouge require its water company to fluoridate water and charge customers for it?
The AG concluded that Baton Rouge's city-parish council could require community water fluoridation by ordinance, that the local water company would have to comply, and that the ordinance could…
Could a Louisiana city let an owner redeem tax-adjudicated property after the three-year period?
The AG said a municipality could allow an owner to redeem adjudicated property after the three-year period if it had not sold or contracted to sell it. Proper notice to the tax debtor and qualifying…
How was a Louisiana school employee's retirement benefit affected by working three more years after DROP?
The AG said that when a school retirement participant worked at least thirty-six months after ending DROP participation, the retirement benefit included the original base benefit plus an added…
Could a Louisiana town council member also hold an administrative job with the town police department?
No. The AG said Louisiana's dual-officeholding law barred an elected council member from also being employed by the same town, whether the police department job was full time or part time.…
Could a Louisiana town's part-time assistant police chief also work full time as its water superintendent?
Yes, on the facts given. The AG said Louisiana's dual-employment law barred two full-time government jobs but did not bar one part-time and one full-time job, provided the duties of neither position…
Could a Louisiana public water district ignore a contract overpayment instead of trying to recover it?
No. The AG concluded that making no recovery effort would violate Louisiana's constitutional bar on donating public funds. The water district had to use every reasonable means to recover the…
Did federal bus insurance rules cover a Louisiana school board and its contract drivers on paid out-of-state trips?
The AG said the school board's own passenger trips were exempt from the federal motor carrier insurance requirements because the board was a political subdivision. Its contract bus operators,…
Were a Louisiana planning commission's loan committee meetings open to the public?
Yes. The AG said the South Central Planning and Development Commission's loan advisory committee and loan administration board were subject to open meetings law. They could discuss confidential or…
Did a Louisiana parish or municipality pay the coroner's fees and autopsy costs?
The AG said the payer depended on the death's cause and location. For natural causes, the deceased's municipality or parish of domicile paid; for other deaths, the municipality or parish where the…
Could a Louisiana parish reimburse an official's legal fees after he lost a dual-officeholding case?
No. The AG concluded that Acadia Parish Police Jury could not reimburse a former official's defense fees in a dual-officeholding declaratory judgment: the court found a violation and ordered him to…
Could Louisiana assess property tax on oil or gas a producer stored before its first sale?
The AG said no: oil or gas held by its producer, including at the extraction site after severance, was not subject to ad valorem tax before the first sale. The opinion rejected treating the producer…
Where did a Louisiana public works steering committee have to meet to nominate commissioners?
The AG said the St. Landry public works steering committee had to hold commissioner-nomination meetings in each precinct, including when replacing a member. Notice could be given through the…
Could Louisiana's boxing commission pay ringside doctors more than the $50 exam fee?
The AG concluded that the $50 statutory cap covered a physician's examination of contestants, not additional ringside attendance, advice, or services requested by the boxing commission. It…
Who controlled Louisiana fire-insurance rebate funds after a parish paid a volunteer department?
Under R.S. 22:1585D, the AG said the Tangipahoa Parish treasurer had to pay the Natalbany Volunteer Fire Department's proportionate rebate share to its fiscal agent within 30 days of receipt. Once…
Could a Louisiana liquor licensee hold a wine tasting away from its licensed premises?
No. The AG concluded that a liquor permit allowing wine sampling on the licensee's premises did not extend to tastings at another location. It found the alcohol-control rule requiring on-premises…
Was a sweet-potato warehouse on nonfarming land exempt from Louisiana property tax?
The AG said a building qualified as a farm structure for the cited property-tax exemption only if it stood on land devoted to agriculture. It did not decide whether the specific sweet-potato…
Could a Louisiana city self-insure a council member instead of buying life insurance?
Yes, on the facts presented. The AG said it found no provision of law barring Baker from self-insuring one council member's life instead of providing the previously approved life-insurance policy.
Could a Louisiana city marshal use personal commissions to supplement deputy salaries?
The AG concluded that commissions paid to the marshal personally could not be used directly by his office to supplement deputy marshals' salaries. He could donate part of those commissions to the…
Can a Louisiana mayor require a council member to co-sign town checks?
The AG concluded that the mayor could require a council member's second signature if the mayor still signed every check, the co-signer had no discretion to refuse, and the mayor could revoke the…
Could a parish retiree receive unused sick leave pay if pension payments began later?
On this employee's specific facts, the AG concluded that Beauregard Parish owed payment for accumulated sick leave even though his pension benefits began after he stopped working. The opinion read…
Is it constitutional for Texas to make overlapping appraisal districts tax a property at the lowest appraised value?
When a property sits in two or more appraisal districts at once (which happens when a taxing unit crosses county lines), Tax Code section 6.025(d) tells the chief appraisers, if they cannot agree on…
Could a Louisiana town council require police to issue enough tickets to meet budgeted fine revenue?
No. The AG concluded that a Lawrason Act town council could not set direct or indirect traffic-ticket quotas for the police department. A budget forecast of fine revenue did not transfer the police…
Could Washington agricultural producers elect a commodity commission’s members, and could the agriculture director reject that plan?
The Attorney General concluded in 2005 that RCW 15.66.110 allowed all or a majority of commodity commissioners to be elected by affected producers. The agriculture director was not required to adopt…
Did St. George’s proposed exclusive water supply contract require a town vote and referendum?
A senior assistant attorney general said yes. He treated the proposed twenty-year agreement with the Lake Marion Regional Water Agency as an exclusive water franchise requiring a two-thirds town…
Could an Allendale social services director keep the job while running for clerk of court?
The 2005 AG knew of no general rule requiring the director to resign before running. He advised checking with a DSS attorney because local law or county or state DSS policy might address the candidacy.
Did Connecticut’s insurance guaranty cover stop loss benefits owed by a failed insurer?
The AG concluded that benefits Legion Insurance Company owed above the deductible on ProFlow’s excess loss policy were covered by the Connecticut Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association Act.…
Could Georgetown County assign delinquent tax collection to its county treasurer?
The 2005 AG said no under the law he reviewed. County council could not transfer the delinquent tax collector’s duties to the treasurer; the General Assembly would have to make that change by law.
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