State AG Opinions
Free state attorney general opinions with plain-English summaries, full citations, and the original source on every page.
No opinions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Can a hospital get a copy of the recording of a patient's involuntary commitment hearing in Maryland?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a tape recording of an involuntary mental health admission hearing could be disclosed only to the patient or the patient's authorized represen…
Could a Texas school district pay crossing guards at intersections that did not touch school property?
Yes. JM-490 concluded that school funds could pay crossing guards away from school property when the school board found them necessary for student welfare, and that deciding where guards were needed w…
When a North Carolina county board of health wants to fire its County Health Director, can it discharge the director at will, or does the State Personnel Act (Chapter 126) protect the director?
Chapter 126 protects the director. § 126-5(a) covers all employees of local health departments unless specifically exempted, and no statute exempts the health director. The 1983 rewrite of Chapter 130…
Could a Texas county avoid liability for damaging a telephone company's buried cable by adopting a resolution disclaiming responsibility?
No. JM-489 concluded that a county could not unilaterally change the general law of tort liability or restrict a telephone company's statutory right to place cable in a county right-of-way, although t…
Can a Maryland doctor report a patient's medical condition, like seizures or poor vision, to the Motor Vehicle Administration if it might affect their ability to drive safely?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland law generally authorizes, but does not require, physicians to report disorders involving lapses of consciousness or loss of visual ac…
Can a South Dakota city like Spearfish use its lodging-tax revenue to help fund a private nonprofit heritage museum? Does SDCL 10-52-8, which lets cities use that tax for 'civic center' and 'promotion of the city,' cover supporting a 501(c)(3) historical organization?
Yes. The AG concluded that SDCL 10-52-8 gave cities broad discretion to use lodging-tax money for civic center facilities and city promotion, and a heritage museum operated by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit wa…
Did Texas's letter-size paper purchasing rule for state agencies apply to courts, district clerks, and county clerks?
No. JM-488 concluded that the statute used state agency in the narrow sense of executive-branch agencies, so the judicial branch, district courts, district clerks, and county clerks were outside the p…
Which Texas county or hospital district had to pay medical bills for indigent prisoners jailed outside their home counties?
For the pre-September 1985 bills addressed in JM-487, the hospital districts where the prisoners resided were liable, not the county where they were jailed or the hospitals where treatment occurred.
In Maryland, how does a losing candidate or a voter actually get an election recount after a primary or general election?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General summarized Maryland's two recount pathways: a defeated primary candidate must seek a recount under the detailed Subtitle 13 procedure within days of the elec…
Was a Texas county's janitorial-services contract exempt from competitive bidding as a personal-services contract?
It depended on the contract. JM-486 said the exemption applied if a specific individual had to perform the janitorial work, but not if a person or company merely had to supply workers to do it.
Could the same person serve as both a Texas county constable and a county jailer?
Yes, as a matter of law under JM-485. A constable held a civil office, but a jailer working under the sheriff's control did not, and the two positions were not inherently incompatible, although partic…
How did Texas's nonresident-bidder reciprocity rule affect highway contracts, and could an out-of-state bidder lower its bid after opening?
JM-484 said the reciprocity statute created a limited exception to the highway law's lowest-bidder rule for state and locally funded projects. It did not permit post-opening negotiations or bid adjust…
Could a Texas city opt out of the state vehicle-storage licensing law, and could the state agency set storage fees?
JM-483 said no to both. It found the city opt-out provision unconstitutional because it let a city suspend a general state law, and it found no statutory authority for the agency to regulate vehicle-s…
When did a felony require a Texas licensing board to suspend a professional license, and could the license later be reinstated?
JM-482 concluded that former article 6252-13c required license suspension when a felony conviction resulted in incarceration or when felony probation, parole, or mandatory supervision was revoked. It …
Could a Texas school require teachers to spend their statutory duty-free lunch in the cafeteria or remain on campus?
No. JM-481 concluded that the duty-free lunch statute barred both a cafeteria requirement and a rule requiring teachers to remain on school property during the 30-minute period, except for the statute…
Can a state legally impose a one-time tax on every licensed attorney to fund a mandatory legal malpractice insurance program?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General approved Senate Bill 753 for constitutionality, concluding that a one-time $150 tax on every Maryland attorney to fund the initial surplus of a new mandatory…
Could a Texas veterans county service officer also serve as a paid city council member?
Yes. JM-480 concluded that the veterans service officer was a county employee performing ministerial assistance, not a civil officer, so the constitutional dual-office ban did not prevent simultaneous…
Did fees and investment earnings collected by the Texas Surplus Property Agency have to be deposited in the state treasury and appropriated before use?
Yes. JM-479 concluded that the agency's charges, fees, interest, and investment returns were subject to the State Funds Reform Act because the agency was a state agency and none of the act's exclusion…
Did property received in an oil exchange count as gross receipts for the Texas franchise tax, like cash from matching oil sales?
Yes. JM-478 concluded that cash from matching buy-sell contracts and property received in barrel-for-barrel oil exchanges were receipts from sales for the franchise-tax calculation.
Can a Texas justice of the peace take a personal check to pay a fine or court costs?
Yes, but he does not have to. JM-522 concluded that under article 43.02 of the Code of Criminal Procedure a justice of the peace may accept a personal check as conditional payment of fines, costs, and…
When did the religious-institution exemption excuse a Texas nonprofit from opening its financial records to the public?
JM-477 read the exemption narrowly. It covered nonprofits whose primary function was to provide, guide, or further religious worship, not every organization affiliated with a church or one that merely…
Could Webb County adopt central filing that assigned civil cases without letting attorneys choose the district court?
Yes. JM-476 concluded that the comprehensive Court Administration Act impliedly repealed the older Webb County provision letting filing attorneys designate the court, allowing local judges to adopt ce…
Could Texas agencies give state employees compensatory time instead of cash overtime after April 15, 1986?
Yes. JM-475 concluded that agencies could allow or require one and one-half hours of compensatory time for each overtime hour, taken within the following 12 months.
Could regional presiding judges assign judges to Harris County courts while the regular judges were present?
Yes. JM-474 concluded that the Court Administration Act authorized unrestricted judicial assignments statewide and repealed the special Harris County limitation.
Could the Texas AG decide whether solid-waste permit application fees were improperly high?
No. JM-473 concluded that whether the fees reasonably related to permit-processing costs was a fact question that the Attorney General opinion process could not decide.
If a Maryland official holds a testimonial dinner in their honor, do the ticket proceeds count as regulated campaign contributions or as a personal gift?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that funds given to an official at a testimonial dinner are regulated political contributions under the Fair Election Practices Act, and therefore …
If the treasurer of a South Dakota irrigation district is also (a) the insurance agent who sells the district's insurance and (b) an officer of the bank holding the district's deposits, are either of those arrangements legal? And does SDCL 6-1-1's escape valve for small or competitively-bid contracts help save the deal?
The insurance contract was void. SDCL 46A-4-49 made any direct or indirect officer interest in an irrigation district contract a Class 5 felony, and under SDCL 53-9-1 and Norbeck & Nicholson v. State,…
Could refusing to pay a dishonored-check processing fee support a Texas theft or bad-check charge?
No. JM-472 concluded that the processing fee was a civil obligation, not part of the check amount or an element of theft or issuing a bad check.
Could a corporate bail-bond surety replace its licensed agent's name without filing a new license application?
No. JM-471 concluded that a county bail bond board could not substitute an unlicensed new agent onto another person's license because the statute required a separate license for each agent.
Could Austin require medical-assistance applicants to use other available benefits before city funds?
Yes. JM-470 concluded that Austin's last-resort rule did not violate a constitutional freedom of choice because applicants had no privacy right to choose the source of public assistance.
Were airport crash and fire rescue workers covered as firefighters under Texas public-employee relations law?
Yes. JM-469 concluded that airport crash and fire rescue personnel employed by a city, town, or other political subdivision were firefighters under article 5154c-1.
Could a Texas city located in two counties hold a local-option election on mixed alcoholic beverages?
No. JM-468 concluded that the Alcoholic Beverage Code gave county commissioners courts no authority to order a citywide local-option election across county lines.
Must a Texas city put a polling place inside every city council district and appoint district residents as election judges?
Not exactly. JM-467 said a municipal polling place had to be within the election precinct, which was not necessarily the same as a council district, and an election judge generally had to be a qualifi…
Could a Texas home-rule city hold a charter-amendment election less than two years after its last charter-amendment election?
No. JM-466 concluded that a home-rule city had to wait two full calendar years, measured as 365 days or 366 days in a leap year, before holding another charter-amendment election.
Are 911 emergency call recordings public records that anyone can request in Maryland?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that tape recordings of calls to Maryland's 911 emergency system were public records generally subject to disclosure under the Public Information A…
Can a Maryland town legally install speed bumps on its own streets, and could it get sued if someone is hurt by one?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a Maryland municipality has no authority to install speed bumps on State highways within its borders, but may install speed bumps on its own m…
If a Maryland board member attends every board meeting but skips the required public hearings, does that count against them under a 60 percent attendance removal rule?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the regional public hearings the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission had to hold before adopting program criteria were not "meetings of th…
Could the Texas labor commissioner set a mandatory pay scale for boxing referees, judges, and other ring officials?
No. JM-465 concluded that the commissioner's power to license and regulate boxing officials did not include authority to set their pay without a specific legislative grant.
Was city-owned airport property in Texas exempt from property tax when parts were leased to private businesses, farmers, and ranchers?
JM-464 drew a line between the airport operation and unrelated leased land. The airport and its leased fuel facility served a public airport purpose and remained exempt, but surrounding city land leas…
Did San Antonio violate Texas right-to-work law by requiring public-works apprentices to join federally registered training programs?
No. JM-463 concluded that the ordinance did not require union membership because federal registration was available to nonunion programs, and the apprentice standards were consistent with Texas prevai…
Could regular Texas city police officers serve arrest warrants after their normal shifts and keep a fee for each warrant?
They could serve warrants outside their regular hours, but they could not keep the municipal warrant fee. JM-462 said the fee belonged in the city treasury and any officer compensation had to come fro…
Who held cash bail paid to a Texas municipal court before the bond was forfeited or returned?
The municipal court's designated custodian of funds held the cash. JM-461 said the city could name the city treasurer as custodian, but the money did not belong to the city and had to be returned when…
After a Texas school district defeased and refunded Permanent School Fund-guaranteed bonds, did the old bonds still count against the guarantee limit?
No. JM-460 concluded that, once bonds were defeased through the statutory refunding and escrow process, they no longer counted as outstanding guaranteed bonds for the Permanent School Fund cap, assumi…
Could Texas pay state employees cash awards for money-saving suggestions, and could donated agency funds cover the awards without an appropriation?
The awards were constitutional compensation for work outside an employee's assigned duties, but no funds had been appropriated for the 1986-87 awards. Another state agency could not use its donated fu…
Could Texas require first-grade bilingual students with limited English proficiency to take an English-only basic-skills test?
No, not for the students described in JM-458. The opinion concluded that an English-only test was not an appropriate measure of their reading, writing, and math skills and that they were impliedly exe…
Could Maryland pharmacists legally fill a prescription written by a nurse practitioner instead of a doctor?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that pharmacists were not prohibited from filling prescriptions properly issued by nurse practitioners, even though the Pharmacy Act's definition o…
Does North Carolina's real estate excise stamp tax apply to a deed transferring the lessee's ownership interest in improvements built on leased land, where the underlying ground lease keeps those improvements in the lessee's ownership during the lease term?
No. The excise tax applies to deeds conveying 'lands, tenements or other realty.' Leasehold improvements owned by the lessee under a ground lease are 'chattels real,' an interest in real estate that i…
Could the Texas engineering board require public agencies to choose an engineer before discussing the proposed fee?
No. JM-457 concluded that the board lacked authority to impose a federal-style two-step selection process and that the proposed rule conflicted with Texas law requiring competence, qualifications, and…
Could a Texas jury infer that the person named on a utility bill knowingly tampered with the meter just because the meter had been bypassed?
Only as a permissive inference supported by the evidence. JM-456 concluded that meter tampering alone was not enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the billed customer was the person who know…
Could Ocean City, Maryland charge new construction an impact fee to pay for beach restoration, and would it be unconstitutional to charge only new development rather than existing property owners?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Ocean City had statutory authority under Article 23A, §2(b)(33)(ii) to impose impact fees on new development to help fund its share of a state…
Did Texas violate equal protection by barring the Orange County Attorney from private law practice when some other prosecutors could practice privately?
No. JM-455 concluded that a public prosecutor had no fundamental right to maintain a private practice and that the restriction was reasonably related to efficient and effective administration of justi…
Could Texas optometrists use diagnostic eye drugs under a physician's standing order, and what could the Medical Board regulate?
Yes. JM-454 concluded that the delegation statute was constitutional and let an optometrist use nontherapeutic topical ocular drugs under a valid physician order. The Medical Board could prescribe the…
Could a Maryland charter county hire a private company to run its jail and hold custody of inmates, instead of using its own sheriff or county employees?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Talbot County, a charter county, had authority under the Express Powers Act to pass an ordinance vesting jail custody in a warden and contract…
Could a Texas city withdraw from an existing rural fire prevention district without an election, and when would district taxes stop?
Yes. JM-453 concluded that the withdrawal statute applied to existing districts and required no city election; withdrawal after January 1 took tax effect the following January 1. Existing bond obligat…
Did Idaho's sick pay plans qualify state employee sick payments for exclusion from Social Security wages between 1978 and 1981?
Yes. The AG concluded that Idaho's mandatory statutory sick leave plans for both classified and nonclassified employees met the requirements of 42 U.S.C. § 409(b), so payments on account of sickness d…
Could a Maryland public agency avoid paying prevailing union wages on a big construction project just by hiring a construction manager to split it into many contracts, each under $500,000?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's Prevailing Wage Law's exclusion for 'contracts of less than $500,000' does not apply to a contract that is one stage of a single pu…
Could the Texas Pharmacy Board license a foreign pharmacy graduate whose school lacked U.S. accreditation but who earned equivalency certification?
The board had discretion to do so. JM-452 said the Pharmacy Act neither required nor prohibited licensing such graduates and allowed the board to decide whether foreign-graduate certification showed t…
Could a nonlawyer agent represent a landlord or tenant in a Texas justice-court eviction case?
Yes, in the cases covered by Property Code section 24.009. JM-451 said the agent had to be a natural person, not a business entity, and the agent's authority was presumed unless challenged in justice …
Could a Texas deputy sheriff own an auto garage that repaired county patrol vehicles during his off-duty hours?
Article 988b did not prohibit it because the deputy had no authority to vote on or make the county repair contract. JM-450 cautioned that county purchasing and competitive-bidding requirements could s…
Could a Texas county lease courthouse space and equipment to a private cafeteria, and could it use sealed bids?
The county could lease the space by public auction if the cafeteria did not interfere with courthouse use and served courthouse users. JM-449 said a sealed-bid-only process would defeat the open compe…
How these opinions are useful
- Understand state law: AG opinions are authoritative interpretations of how state law applies.
- Persuasive authority: Not binding like court decisions, but they carry significant weight.
- Government guidance: Often clarify how state agencies and officials should interpret statutes.
- Legal research: Cite AG opinions in letters, motions, and legal arguments.