State AG Opinions
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Can a small-town mayor in South Dakota write traffic tickets and patrol the streets if the city no longer has a police officer? Does the statute giving the mayor 'all powers conferred by law upon sheriffs to suppress disorder and keep the peace' make the mayor a law enforcement officer?
No. The AG concluded that SDCL 9-29-16 gave the mayor only the sheriff's specific power to call others to aid in keeping the peace, not the full status of a law enforcement officer. To issue a traffic…
How was Tyler County required to fund a criminal district attorney's office created after the Professional Prosecutors Act's 1979 funding date?
JM-628 concluded that Tyler County had no funding floor based on a 1979 office budget because the criminal district attorney's office did not yet exist. The county instead had to provide the funds nec…
Would Corpus Christi's annexation of the remaining unincorporated part of Nueces County Water Control District No. 4 automatically abolish the district?
No. JM-622 concluded that automatic abolition did not apply because the district had never provided all three listed services, including drainage. Abolition instead required mutual agreement under sec…
Does Maryland's legislature have to hold a joint session to elect the State Treasurer?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's Constitution required the House and Senate to combine their votes into one tally to appoint the State Treasurer, that a simple majo…
Could a Texas health insurer cover some speech and hearing impairments but exclude others because they arose from a birth defect or developmental problem?
No. JM-621 concluded that an insurer could negotiate benefit levels but could not cover only selected speech and hearing problems or exclude impairments based on their cause.
Could the Texas Employment Commission disregard a corporate reorganization as a sham and keep charging the predecessor's unemployment tax rate?
No. JM-620 concluded that the Texas Employment Commission could not label a reorganized or employee-service corporation a subterfuge and impose the predecessor's experience rate; a transfer required t…
Could a Texas home-rule city prohibit drivers from consuming any alcoholic beverage inside a motor vehicle?
No. JM-619 concluded that Alcoholic Beverage Code section 1.06 exclusively governed possession and transportation of alcoholic beverages, preempting a city ordinance that prohibited drivers from consu…
Can someone serve in Maryland's House of Delegates while also working as a state university police officer?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a University of Maryland police officer holds an 'office of profit' under Article 35 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights, so a newly elected…
Could a Texas agency select one long-distance carrier for all its offices with a single letter, and did it owe carriers assigned by default?
Yes, one letter was enough if it listed billed telephone numbers or otherwise clearly defined the covered lines. The department was not directly liable to carriers assigned as defaults, though the opi…
Can a Texas district clerk charge a convicted felony defendant the old conviction fees that article 1025 of the Code of Criminal Procedure once allowed?
No. JM-617 concluded article 1025 had already been impliedly repealed back in 1935, so the 1985 formal repeal changed nothing and a county clerk has no authority to collect that fee from defendants.
Is Texas's reciprocal-preference law that penalizes out-of-state bidders on public contracts constitutional?
Yes. JM-616 concluded article 601g is constitutional. Because the state acts as a market participant when it spends public funds, the reciprocal bidding preference does not violate the Commerce Clause…
Can a North Carolina notary public commission be granted to someone who cannot read or write?
No. N.C.G.S. § 10-1.1(a) requires a notary applicant to complete an application form and a course of study on notary responsibilities, both of which presuppose literacy. Beyond the application step, a…
Could the Texas parole board require a county jail to hold a parolee on a board warrant, and could it contract to reimburse the county?
The board could direct the sheriff to hold the prisoner, and the county could not refuse even without payment. The board lacked statutory authority to contract with the county to reimburse the incarce…
Can a Texas county probation department bar supervisors from joining the same union as the employees they supervise?
No. JM-614 concluded article 5154c, section 4 guarantees every public employee the right to union membership with no exception for supervisors, so a county adult probation department cannot forbid sup…
Does a Texas peace officer commit a crime by carrying a handgun while off duty or outside the area where his department has jurisdiction?
No. JM-613 concluded a Texas peace officer is a peace officer twenty-four hours a day statewide, so section 46.03 of the Penal Code exempts him from prosecution under section 46.02 for carrying a hand…
Can someone who lives in a housing cooperative, owning corporate stock instead of the home itself, claim the Texas residence homestead tax exemption or homestead protection from forced sale?
No. JM-612 concluded that a cooperative resident owns corporate stock, not the home, so neither the residence homestead property-tax exemption nor the constitutional protection from forced sale applie…
Does registering to vote in Texas make a seasonal winter resident a Texas domiciliary for vehicles, probate, taxes, and marital law?
No. JM-611 said voter registration created a strong presumption of Texas residence but did not by itself establish domicile for every legal purpose; intent, physical presence, and the particular statu…
Can an employee of one Texas county housing authority also work as a bookkeeper or consultant for another housing authority, or own a home in another authority's housing project?
No on both counts. JM-610 read section 6a of article 1269k as an unusually broad conflict-of-interest bar with no out-of-jurisdiction exception, so a housing authority employee cannot do bookkeeping o…
Could Texas health officials regulate a self-employed massage instructor as a massage school and require registration details in every advertisement?
No to both blanket rules. JM-609 said the statute allowed instruction by independent instructors and did not authorize the proposed all-advertising disclosure, although the department could reasonably…
How long does a Texas district attorney have to answer a state prisoner's article 11.07 habeas corpus petition, and when does the clock start?
JM-608 concluded the district attorney gets a full 15 days to answer, and that 15-day clock starts when the district attorney actually receives notice of the writ, not when the petition was filed with…
Who qualified to serve on the Texas nursing-home-administrator licensing board, and did trade-association ties disqualify an appointee?
An educator's university program did not have to lead to a degree, but the AG could not decide the appointee's actual connection as a fact matter. Administrator members had to be currently serving, an…
Can a Texas county issue marriage licenses from a branch office or sub-courthouse instead of the main county courthouse?
Yes. JM-606 concluded that in counties where statutes authorize branch offices or auxiliary courthouses, the county clerk or a duly authorized deputy clerk may issue marriage licenses from those locat…
When a Texas city annexes land inside a rural fire prevention district, does the district keep taxing and serving that area, or is the area automatically removed?
JM-605 concluded the annexed area stays part of the rural fire prevention district until the city formally removes it under section 14b of article 2351a-6. Once the city removes it, the district stops…
Can a Texas city choose a credit union as the depository for its public funds?
No. JM-604 concluded that although a credit union may accept public deposits, the city depository statutes let a city select only a 'banking corporation, association or individual banker,' which does …
Did a county hospital authority's hospital stop being a public hospital when a private corporation leased and operated it?
No. JM-603 concluded that the hospital remained a public hospital because the hospital authority still owned and leased it. Title 3 indigent-care rules applied, including the conditional Hill-Burton e…
Could a nonlawyer office manager represent doctors or their unincorporated association in Texas small claims court?
A doctor could represent himself. A nonlawyer employee could represent the unincorporated association if not employed solely as a collection agent, but could not represent an individual doctor.
Did a Texas sheriff have to create fingerprints or photographs that no agency had made after a DWI conviction?
No. JM-601 concluded that the sheriff had to compile and send identification information already made by a law-enforcement agency, but did not have to generate missing records. Lack of staff or fundin…
Can the Texas Forest Service force pest-control tree cutting on federal or private land, and can it charge the landowner?
Only in limited circumstances. JM-600 concluded that Texas needed federal permission to enforce its forest-pest law on federal land, while a private owner could be required to cut trees or pay control…
Could a Texas county pay new or replacement employees $1,000 less during their first six months?
Yes, under the law addressed in JM-599. The commissioners court could reduce the pay of new or replacement employees during the year, provided the salary did not fall below its January 1, 1972 level; …
Could a Texas city street superintendent also write bail bonds in the same county?
Yes, as a matter of law under the circumstances addressed in JM-598. The AG found no statute barring the street superintendent from writing bail bonds for private individuals, but did not decide wheth…
Could a Texas community college give course credit for optional student work on a political campaign?
Yes. JM-597 concluded that optional campaign work could be offered for course credit if it served the course's educational purposes and any campaign effect was incidental and minimal; a teacher could …
Did Texas nonprofit water supply corporations have to open their meetings and records to the public?
Only corporations receiving state financial assistance under the cited Water Code provisions had to follow both the Open Records and Open Meetings Acts. All article 1434a water supply corporations sti…
Could DART discuss staff evaluations of consultants and competitive bidders in a closed meeting?
No. JM-595 concluded that the Open Records Act's exception for internal memoranda did not create an Open Meetings Act exception, so DART had to discuss consultant and bidder evaluations in open sessio…
Did the 1986 elimination of mandatory retirement ages under federal age discrimination law mean Maryland judges no longer had to retire at 70?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the newly amended federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which eliminated the upper age limit for most employees, freed Maryland's Dist…
Could a Texas county judge also serve as a paid director of a river authority?
No. JM-594 concluded that both positions were civil offices of emolument, so article XVI, section 40 barred one person from holding them at the same time; qualifying as county judge vacated the river-…
Could Texas use revenue from a sales tax on gasoline for purposes other than roads and the uses listed in the constitution?
No. JM-593 concluded that a gasoline sales tax was a tax on motor fuel within article VIII, section 7-a, so its proceeds could be used only for the purposes named in that constitutional dedication.
When did the first appointed members' terms on the Texas World Trade Council expire after the governor appointed them late?
Their initial terms expired February 1, 1987. JM-592 concluded that the statute fixed the term's end date and that late appointments shortened the members' tenure without extending the legal term.
Can a Texas home-rule city annex land in a rural fire prevention district after consenting to that district's creation?
Yes. JM-591 concluded that a home-rule city's earlier consent to a rural fire prevention district did not surrender its annexation power. The city could also withdraw an area from the district under s…
Could a Texas city inspect confidential taxpayer records behind a sales-tax refund that reduced the city's tax allocation?
No. JM-590 concluded in 1986 that the supporting taxpayer information was confidential and that an affected city had no greater access than any other requester. ORD-624 later narrowed language that co…
Can a justice of the peace elected to finish a constable's unexpired term wait until January 1 to take the new office?
No. JM-589 concluded that the winner had to file the required bond, take the oath, and assume the constable's unexpired term as soon as possible after receiving the election certificate.
When filing a UCC financing statement on Idaho farm products, do you need a full legal description of the land, or is the county name enough?
The AG concluded that for an Idaho UCC-1 farm products financing statement, naming the county where the products are produced or located was a legally sufficient description of real estate. A full leg…
Can an architectural professional corporation set up an ESOP that holds shares in trust for non-licensed employees, when state law limits non-licensee ownership and bans voting trusts?
Yes. The AG concluded an ESOP at an architectural professional corporation is legal under G.S. 55B-6 if the trustee is a licensed shareholder-employee who votes the trust shares, and the total non-lic…
Can a Texas DPS officer serve on a school board, city council, or other local governing body?
JM-588 concluded that a commissioned DPS officer could not hold a second paid civil office and could not campaign for or hold a partisan local office. Article XVI, section 40 did not by itself bar an …
When did large Texas counties have to begin operating a separate veterans county service office?
September 1, 1985. JM-587 concluded that counties with at least 200,000 residents became subject to the mandatory veterans service office requirements on the amendment's effective date.
Could a former Texas district judge who lost reelection still serve as a visiting judge?
Yes. JM-586 concluded that defeat for reelection no longer made an otherwise eligible former district judge ineligible for assignment under the Court Administration Act.
Does Maryland's Public Information Act require a county ethics commission to release officials' complete financial disclosure statements, including home addresses and gift information?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that all of the information Calvert County officials and employees were required to submit on the county's ethics financial disclosure form, includ…
When does an Idaho felony conviction count as a 'conviction' under the federal Gun Control Act, especially after probation, parole, or a withheld judgment?
The AG concluded a person with a federal Gun Control Act-disqualifying Idaho felony stays disqualified after release from prison, probation, or parole, even after restoration of civil rights. Pardons …
If a company sells South Dakota consumers a contract that, in exchange for an upfront premium, promises to pay or reimburse their legal fees if they later need an attorney, is that company in the insurance business? Does it have to comply with South Dakota's insurance regulations, even though it isn't a traditional insurer?
Yes. The AG concluded that a company selling contracts that promised to pay or indemnify against legal expenses was 'doing an insurance business' under SDCL Title 58. SDCL 58-1-2(1) defined insurance …
Can Idaho's governor, attorney general, or other elected executive officers cash out unused vacation leave when their term ends?
No. The AG concluded elected officials of Idaho's executive branch (governor, secretary of state, state auditor, treasurer, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction) could not receive ca…
A nonprofit hospital in Viborg, South Dakota, built a clinic attached to the hospital and then leased it to a for-profit medical clinic that operated as a private business. The hospital also built an apartment complex for semi-independent living and rented those units out. The hospital argued all of this was part of providing health care and should be property-tax exempt. Was it?
No. The AG concluded that property owned by a tax-exempt nonprofit hospital but leased out for private profit was not exempt under SDCL 10-4-12. The for-profit clinic and the rental apartment complex …
Who handles county employees' retirement payroll deductions, the county treasurer or the county auditor?
The county treasurer. JM-585 concluded that in counties of 10,000 or more people, the treasurer, not the auditor, is the payroll disbursing officer who deducts and transmits county employees' public r…
Could Maryland's elevator safety regulator write rules that were looser than the national ANSI elevator safety code, to ease the cost burden on building owners?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's Commissioner of Labor and Industry could adopt regulations supplementing the ANSI elevator safety code and could grant individualiz…
Was Idaho's lower wine excise tax on Idaho-produced wine constitutional, and could distributors of out-of-state wine get a refund?
The AG concluded Idaho's lower 20-cent-per-gallon excise tax on in-state wine (versus 45 cents on out-of-state wine) was an unconstitutional Commerce Clause violation under the U.S. Supreme Court's 19…
Can a Texas government board legally hold its meetings by conference call?
Not under the law as it stood in 1986. JM-584 concluded that a governmental body meeting by telephone conference call would not comply with the Texas Open Meetings Act unless the legislature specifica…
Can a community college board member who works at the district's bank vote on money decisions affecting that bank?
Yes. JM-583 concluded that the School Depository Act allowed a community college trustee tied to the district's depository bank to vote on routine expenditures that reduced the bank's deposits. JM-108…
Which firefighters are eligible to take a promotion exam under Texas civil service law?
All firefighters in the next-lower rank with enough service. JM-582 concluded that under the Firemen's and Policemen's Civil Service Act, any firefighter with at least two years of continuous service …
Can a county government hire someone related to the county judge, and is the Texas nepotism law too vague to enforce?
No, and no. JM-581 concluded that Texas's nepotism statute (article 5996a) is not unconstitutionally vague, and that it barred a county library from employing a first cousin of the county judge's moth…
Can an Idaho school district create or run a nonprofit corporation to accept donations and tax-credit gifts for the schools?
No. The AG concluded a school district could not create or be on the board of a nonprofit corporation to manage school gifts. Private individuals could set up an independent foundation, and gifts to t…
Does the state prison system have to pay hospital bills for a baby born to an inmate?
No. JM-580 concluded that the Texas Department of Corrections had no legal authority to pay the extra hospital costs of a premature infant born to an inmate. Those costs fall on the child's parents, a…
Can a Maryland state agency agree to unconditionally indemnify another state for liability arising from a product's manufacture, like a vaccine, without legislative approval?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the Department of Agriculture lacked authority to agree to a proposed contract clause requiring it to unconditionally indemnify another state …
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