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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If a North Carolina driver forfeits bond on a South Carolina traffic ticket, can NC DMV use that as a basis for sanctions like points or suspension on the NC license?
Yes. The AG concluded the DMV is no longer prohibited from acting on a South Carolina bond forfeiture. Two old NC Supreme Court cases (Wright and Donnelly) blocked sanctions because the SC defendant h…
Could residents transfer their neighborhood from Dallas ISD to Richardson ISD without approval from the Dallas school board?
No. Although Education Code section 19.022 created a detachment-and-annexation procedure, section 19.008 required majority approval from the Dallas ISD trustees before any boundary change could take e…
When two 1985 Texas bills created conflicting administrative penalties under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which scheme controlled?
House Bill 1732's penalty scheme controlled in its entirety. The Health Department did not have to combine nonconflicting details line by line from House Bill 2091, though the Board of Health could ad…
Could Texas deny a chiropractor a reciprocal license solely because the chiropractor's home state used basic-science exams instead of required college courses?
Not automatically. Texas could consider its college-course requirements when evaluating reciprocity, but the other state's standards needed to be substantially equivalent rather than identical, and th…
Did Texas impose a rollback tax when land remained in agricultural use but no longer met the intensity standard for open-space appraisal?
No. Section 23.55 imposed the rollback tax only when the land's use changed; losing special-appraisal eligibility while continuing livestock production was not a change in use.
When I close on a DC mortgage in the middle of the month, can the lender still charge me interest at closing for the days between closing and the start of the next full month?
Yes. DC's 1987 Wet Settlement Act does not prohibit 'odd-days' interest at closing once the loan documents are signed and the funds are delivered to the settlement agent. The Act stops a lender from c…
Can a Maryland governor pull back a recess appointee's nomination before the Senate votes on it?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a Maryland governor may withdraw the Senate nomination of a recess appointee at any time before the Senate acts on it, including a nomination …
Could the Comptroller certify appropriations for a new biennium when the current biennium was expected to end with a deficit?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that Texas Constitution article III, §§49 and 49a did not expressly forbid carrying an expected deficit into the next fiscal period. The Comptroller nevertheles…
Could the Texas medical board require extra postgraduate training from foreign medical graduates who qualified under section 5.04?
No. The board could not impose the additional training and other requirements authorized by section 3.04(a)(5) on applicants who qualified under section 5.04, but it could apply the general licensing …
Did a Texas food distributor need Railroad Commission authority to deliver federal commodity food without transportation compensation?
No, under the facts presented. A food distributor that was ordinarily a private motor vehicle owner did not become a regulated contract carrier when its state contract provided no compensation for tra…
Could the Texas Anatomical Board send a donated body to a foreign country?
No. The Attorney General concluded that statutory authority to transport a body to 'another state' meant another state within the United States, not a foreign country.
Could Harris County appoint one special judge to run night and weekend detention hearings for all fourteen county criminal courts?
No. The cited statutes allowed appointment of a special judge for an absent judge in an existing court, but did not authorize a single special judge to represent all fourteen courts in a separate jail…
Can a nonprofit that receives Maryland state grant money publish a report rating legislators' votes on an unrelated policy issue?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Planned Parenthood of Maryland's publication of a report rating legislators' votes on Medicaid abortion funding did not misuse its state famil…
Could Maryland's old Board of Medical Examiners refuse to renew a doctor's license just because it thought the doctor had violated a disciplinary rule?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded the Board of Medical Examiners could not deny a physician's license renewal or reinstatement based on its own finding that the physician violated a…
Could an Ector County commissioners court hire outside counsel to handle criminal bond forfeitures?
No general authority allowed the commissioners court to do so. Bond forfeitures remained criminal cases assigned to the county or district attorney, although a judge could appoint an attorney pro tem …
Could the Texas Railroad Commission confiscate abandoned-well equipment to pay a plugging contractor under section 89.085?
No. The Attorney General concluded that section 89.085 was facially unconstitutional because it allowed confiscation and sale without an adequate hearing that satisfied due process.
Could a city with no existing property tax adopt the additional one-half-percent sales and use tax authorized to reduce property taxes?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that a city imposing no ad valorem tax could not adopt the additional one-half-percent sales and use tax authorized by House Bill 79 because that tax was design…
Which Texas farm-product lien, filing, and criminal provisions were preempted by the federal Food Security Act of 1985?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that 7 U.S.C. §1631 preempted Texas Business and Commerce Code §9.307(a) and (d), which exposed farm-product buyers to secured creditors under less favorable no…
How much could a Texas county charge a community-college district for assessing and collecting its property taxes?
For most junior-college districts, the county could charge a reasonable fee no greater than its actual costs. For a joint-county junior-college district, the parties could agree on compensation capped…
Was the federal parent-corporate guarantee for hazardous-waste facility liability a valid and enforceable obligation under Texas law?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that a parent-corporate guarantee tracking the federal form created an enforceable third-party creditor-beneficiary contract under Texas law. A claimant still n…
Could a Texas city require veterinarians to provide lists of owners whose animals received rabies vaccinations despite a confidentiality rule?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a municipal ordinance enacted under the Rabies Control Act took precedence over the veterinary board's general client-confidentiality rule.
When could the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse inspect treatment facilities, and when did another inspection or national hospital accreditation replace its inspection?
In 1987, the Attorney General said the Commission could inspect an alcohol-treatment facility unless another agency had performed an inspection that substantially complied with its requirements. It co…
Did Rusk County still have an elected county school superintendent after the governing statute was repealed?
No. The office ceased to exist when the last elected superintendent's term expired on December 31, 1982; the county judge could perform the remaining statutory duties as ex officio county superintende…
Could the Texas chiropractic board refuse to let a blind applicant take the licensing examination?
No. The board could exclude an otherwise eligible applicant only for reasons listed in the chiropractic licensing statute, and blindness was not one of those reasons.
Could the Texas Air Control Board require an air permit for an incinerator used entirely onsite in a federal Superfund cleanup?
No, if the incinerator was part of a removal or remedial action conducted entirely onsite and selected and carried out under CERCLA section 121. The opinion said federal law displaced the permit requi…
Which conditions gave a person standing to complain of employment discrimination under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, and did perceived impairments count?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that the Act's definition was not limited to the listed mental and physical conditions and could include chronic illnesses and contagious diseases. A person dis…
Did a Foreign Service officer automatically keep Texas domicile so a dependent child could pay resident university tuition?
No automatic presumption applied. Unlike active military personnel, a Foreign Service officer living abroad was presumed domiciled where the officer lived, although evidence of an intent to retain Tex…
After the 1986 law moved DHR and Correction educational employees off the State Personnel Act, who sets their salaries, and must those salaries exactly match the public school teacher pay scale?
(1) Whether a particular position is a teaching/educational position exempt from the State Personnel Act is decided initially by DHR or DOC, with appeal to the State Personnel Commission under § 126-5…
Did free newspaper and television promotional games using randomly selected bingo-style numbers violate the Texas Bingo Enabling Act, and did federal broadcasting law preempt the state rule?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that an unlicensed game awarding prizes from randomly selected numbers or symbols was illegal under the Bingo Enabling Act unless a statutory exception applied,…
Could Public Utility Commissioners independently sign a stay of a hearing examiner's order, and could the commission privately review allegedly privileged material in a contested case?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that the Public Utility Commission had to act as a body in a properly noticed meeting when staying a hearing examiner's interim order; circulating an order for …
Could a Texas home-rule city regulate intracity towing and set towing rates, and could the Railroad Commission do the same?
A home-rule city could regulate intracity towing and set rates so long as its rules did not conflict with state law or violate federal antitrust law. The Railroad Commission lacked statutory authority…
Could the Guadalupe Valley Hospital borrow money for equipment and renovations, and could its board approve the loan without separate city and county action?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that the city and county operating an article 4494i joint hospital could borrow for equipment and renovations when repayment from hospital operations was reason…
Can Maryland's Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission rewrite its own program development criteria on its own authority?
Only in a limited way, according to this 1987 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission could adopt minor, non-substantive amendments to its program deve…
Can a driver be charged in North Carolina for passing a stopped school bus with its stop arm out if the bus is on a school driveway, not a public street?
No. G.S. 20-217, North Carolina's school-bus-stop-arm law, applies only when the bus is stopped on a 'street or highway.' Under G.S. 20-4.01, 'street' and 'highway' both require the path to be 'open t…
Can a Maryland regional planning council keep unspent local government contributions as its own reserve fund?
No, according to this 1987 opinion. The Attorney General concluded the Regional Planning Council could not carry over unspent local government contributions from one fiscal year to the next as a reser…
Can a government agency require bidders to attend a pre-bid conference or lose their bid?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that even if a State solicitation labeled attendance at a pre-bid or pre-proposal conference as mandatory, a bidder's failure to attend could not b…
Did the 'exclusive franchise' language in the Idaho telephone deregulation bill (H.B. 149) violate the Idaho Constitution's right of telephone companies to construct lines?
The AG concluded H.B. 149's 'exclusive service area franchise' language could be read constitutionally if it meant existing certificates were preserved as valuable property rights, subject to administ…
How did indigent-health-care costs affect a county's 1986 tax rollback threshold, and could the assessor recalculate the effective tax rate after the tax plan took effect?
In 1987, the Attorney General said Hardin County had to include enough in its 1986 tax rate to pay the added costs of the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act, and that portion was excluded when det…
Could the Texas Polygraph Examiners Board conduct oral licensing examinations privately and withhold reusable questions and answers?
Yes, within the opinion's limits. A session used only to ask and answer questions, without board deliberation, was not a meeting under the Open Meetings Act, and unused or reusable written exam materi…
Does a North Carolina company that investigates insurance claims, personal injury, and workers' comp matters for insurance companies need a private investigator license?
Yes. Chapter 74C of the General Statutes requires a private investigator license for anyone who investigates the cause or responsibility for losses, accidents, damages, or injuries, who gathers eviden…
Could a person who moved without interruption from the Veterans Affairs Commission to the Texas Surplus Property Agency Board keep earning Employees Retirement System service credit?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that the Employees Retirement System had to let the board member continue establishing service credit. Although Surplus Property Agency employees were actually …
Did Texas school districts have to give the School for the Blind the names and addresses of visually impaired students' parents?
No statute directly required districts or state agencies to provide those lists. The School for the Blind could request them under the Open Records Act, and the record holder then had to release them …
Did a city have to fund indigent care at a hospital-authority facility created mainly to issue tax-free bonds?
Yes. The hospital was a public hospital under the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act, and the city that created the authority had to provide sufficient funding despite its earlier statement that i…
Could a school trustee resign briefly, let the board renew her daughter's teaching contract, and then win reelection without violating nepotism law?
Not through a short absence. The board could renew the teacher only after the trustee had resigned and a successor qualified, but the daughter would not gain the one-year exemption if her mother retur…
Could a county attorney who handled only misdemeanors collect statutory fees for felony-grade bad checks and forgeries?
Yes. Article 53.08 authorized county attorneys to collect and process qualifying checks, and that authority was not conditioned on accepting felony complaints or participating in felony prosecutions.
When a South Dakota school district, county, or city wants to invest extra cash, can it just buy shares of a mutual fund that holds U.S. Treasury bonds? Or does it have to actually own the Treasury bonds itself?
It had to own the bonds itself. The AG concluded that SDCL 4-5-6 authorized political subdivisions to invest in U.S. government securities and securities guaranteed by the federal government, but only…
Could one person serve at the same time as a school-board trustee and a city council member inside the same school district?
No, on the overlapping Socorro facts. The common-law incompatibility doctrine barred simultaneous service because the city council had supervisory powers affecting school property and trustee duties.
Did the Harris County Attorney have to advise the sheriff's civil-service commission, and could that office also represent the sheriff before it?
In 1987, the Attorney General concluded that the Harris County Attorney had to give requested written advice to members of the Sheriff's Department Civil Service Commission about official duties and p…
Did interest earned on a Texas prosecutor's hot-check fund stay in that fund or go to county general revenue?
JM-632 concluded that the interest went to the county's general revenue fund rather than remaining in the prosecutor's hot-check fund. JC-0062 later agreed with severing the interest but modified JM-6…
Does Maryland's 15-day limit on domestic violence protective orders apply to custody or counseling relief too?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded Maryland's durational limit on domestic violence protective orders, 15 days for an order to vacate the family home, 25 days if the alleged abuser w…
Could the Texas Employees Retirement System let an HMO disregard State Board of Insurance rules or end a dependent's coverage for living outside the HMO service area?
No. JM-631 concluded that ERS could not authorize an HMO to violate insurance-board rules and that a state employee enrolled in an HMO remained entitled to dependent coverage even when the dependent l…
Can an unlicensed employee of a Maryland funeral home sell pre-need funeral contracts?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded Maryland's Morticians Act barred anyone who was not a licensed mortician, funeral director, or surviving-spouse licensee from soliciting, offering,…
Does a child's parent charged in juvenile court with violating Maryland's compulsory school attendance law have a right to a jury trial?
No, according to this 1987 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that a defendant charged in juvenile court with inducing or harboring a truant child under ED §7-301(e)(1) has no constitutional righ…
Does Maryland's cap on state land purchases in Garrett County also block the state from buying a conservation easement there?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's statutory ceiling on the Department of Natural Resources acquiring "land" in Garrett County applied only to purchases of ownership …
When a North Carolina local health department sanitation inspector inspects migrant labor housing, is the inspector acting for the state or just for the county?
For the state. Under N.C.G.S. § 130A Part 5, the Commission for Health Services adopts the rules and the Department of Human Resources (now DHHS) issues migrant housing permits and runs the inspection…
Could out-of-state bank holding companies buy Texas banks without violating the Texas Constitution's ban on foreign corporations exercising banking privileges?
Yes. JM-630 concluded that out-of-state holding companies could own Texas banks because ownership was not the same as operating a bank, but the subsidiary banks had to remain separate and independentl…
Can a state withhold part of an employee's paycheck to collect a debt the employee owes the state?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland could withhold part of a State employee's wages to offset a debt the employee owed the State, but only after giving the employee noti…
Did Texas cities have to fund hospitals created through city hospital authorities for indigent care, and was that requirement constitutional?
Yes. JM-626 concluded that hospitals owned or operated by city-created hospital authorities were public hospitals, that the cities had to provide sufficient indigent-care funding, and that the challen…
Could the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners use appropriated funds to buy liability insurance required to rent a site for a nursing examination?
No. JM-625 concluded that the current appropriations act barred the Board of Nurse Examiners from using appropriated funds to buy liability insurance for the facility rental.
What happens if an Idaho sheriff lets a deputy keep working as a peace officer without P.O.S.T. certification past the one-year deadline?
The AG concluded that under Idaho Code § 19-5109(b), a peace officer must complete P.O.S.T. certification within one year of employment. Failure exposed the deputy, the sheriff, the county commissione…
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