State AG Opinions
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Could Idaho state employees, board members, or elected officials be held personally liable when the state's self-insurance ran out of money to pay tort judgments?
Generally no. Under the Idaho Tort Claims Act, the governmental entity (not the Insurance Division) had the duty to defend and indemnify employees acting within the course and scope of their employmen…
Does the North Carolina Constitution require a three-fifths supermajority vote of both houses of the General Assembly before the State can grant a flood-control flowage easement on Umstead State Park land to Wake County?
No. Article XIV, § 5 of the NC Constitution requires legislative approval only when dedicated park property is used for purposes 'unrelated to' the preserve's purposes. Wake County's flood-control pro…
When a North Carolina county department of social services has legal custody of a handicapped child, can the DSS director sign consent forms for the child's special education services, or must a separate surrogate parent be appointed to represent the child's educational interests?
A surrogate parent must be appointed; the DSS director cannot consent. Federal IDEA law (20 U.S.C. § 1415) requires a surrogate parent for wards of the state, and prohibits any employee of a public ag…
When a defendant in North Carolina Small Claims Court (magistrate court) thinks the plaintiff might not be able to pay court costs if the defendant wins, can the defendant force the plaintiff to post a $200 prosecution bond under G.S. § 1-109?
No. G.S. § 1-109's plaintiff prosecution bond is a 'provisional or incidental remedy.' G.S. § 7A-231 lists which provisional and incidental remedies are available in small claims (claim and delivery, …
Does NCSU's TACIT program, which sells consulting services to North Carolina local governments to help them select computer systems, violate the Umstead Act's prohibition on state agencies competing with private business?
No. The Umstead Act forbids state agencies from rendering services 'to the public' that are ordinarily provided by private business. TACIT provides services to local governments, not to the general pu…
Did the Harris County clerk have to collect the appellate-system court-cost fee in probate proceedings?
Yes. JM-448 concluded that probate proceedings were included within the civil suits subject to the fee because the statute expressly listed probate courts and legislative history confirmed that purpos…
Could a Texas county pay an injured employee the gap between workers' compensation benefits and salary, plus accrued sick and vacation leave?
A county could not award the salary gap retroactively, but it could make that supplement part of a prospective compensation policy. JM-447 also concluded that already-earned sick and vacation leave co…
When Maryland got a $36 million share of Exxon's oil overcharge refund in 1986, what could the state legally spend that money on?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's roughly $36 million share of the Exxon oil overcharge refund could be spent only on one or more of five federally designated energy…
If Maryland's insurance guaranty fund ran out of money to pay claims against a failed insurance company, was the state on the hook to cover the shortfall?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the State of Maryland bore no financial liability for claims against the Maryland Insurance Guaranty Association, since the statute funded MIG…
Did Maryland's old MSSIC savings and loan insurer have legal authority to insure each separate account instead of each depositor, and can the legislature undo that after the 1980s Maryland savings and loan crisis?
In this 1986 opinion, issued during Maryland's savings and loan crisis, the Attorney General concluded that MSSIC exceeded its statutory authority in 1976 when it switched from insuring each depositor…
Were Texas Supreme Court long-distance telephone records held by a state service agency subject to the Open Records Act?
JM-446 said no because the service agency held the records as the court's agent and the judiciary was outside the act. The official Texas AG page states that this opinion was later overruled to the ex…
When does the DC Mayor have to follow notice-and-comment rulemaking, and when can the Mayor just issue an internal directive?
The Mayor must use the DC Administrative Procedure Act's rulemaking process when an order applies to the public, affects rights or benefits, or imposes sanctions. The Mayor can issue an internal Mayor…
Could the Texas Surplus Property Agency buy supplies and services from its trust fund without using state purchasing procedures?
No. JM-445 concluded that the agency was a state agency subject to the State Purchasing and General Services Act, and neither its enabling law nor the trust fund created an exemption from the purchasi…
Could Texas counties, cities, hospital districts, and school districts buy products or services from disabled-person programs without competitive bidding?
Yes. JM-444 concluded that the specific Human Resources Code exception for purchases from blind or severely disabled persons controlled over the general competitive-bidding statutes for those politica…
Could Texas impose a new $3 crime-victims court cost on traffic offenses committed before the fee took effect?
No. JM-443 concluded that court costs were part of criminal punishment, so applying the new fee to an earlier traffic offense would violate the prohibition on ex post facto laws.
Could a general-law city increase its elected mayor's salary during the mayor's current term?
No. JM-442 concluded that article 1010 absolutely barred changing the mayor's compensation during the term for which the mayor was elected.
Could a municipal or justice court charge traffic defendants or defensive-driving providers an administrative or referral fee under article 6701d, section 143A?
No. JM-441 concluded that section 143A authorized no administrative or referral fee against either defendants or defensive-driving course providers.
Could the Sutton County Commissioners Court set the county auditor's office hours?
No. JM-440 concluded that no applicable statute expressly or impliedly authorized the Sutton County Commissioners Court to set the county auditor's office hours.
Was a driver entitled to dismissal of a financial-responsibility charge if the borrowed car was uninsured but the driver's own policy covered the trip?
Yes. JM-439 concluded that dismissal was required when the driver produced a valid policy that provided the statutory coverage while operating the borrowed car, even if the owner had not insured the v…
Did the repeal of Texas's later prison good-time law revive an older statute granting sentence credit for overtime work?
No. JM-438 concluded that article 6166x-1 had been impliedly repealed in 1943 and was not revived when the later repealing statute was itself repealed in 1977.
Did a Texas polygraph examiner have to display the examiner's license at every temporary location where tests were performed?
No. JM-437 concluded that the license-display requirement applied to the examiner's normal or fixed place of business, not every location where an examination happened.
Could a Texas county-jail inmate receive both good-time credit and manual-labor credit against the same sentence?
No. JM-436 concluded that a county-jail inmate could receive good-time credit or manual-labor credit, but not both. It overruled MW-497 to the extent that opinion allowed both credits.
Who was responsible for notifying misdemeanor defendants of pretrial hearings and trial settings, and could a prosecutor contact a represented defendant with that notice?
JM-435 concluded that the court, not the prosecutor, was responsible for notice and should not order the prosecutor to serve it. A prosecutor was not ethically barred from giving scheduling notice.
When could a Texas clerk collect the $50 fee for handling civil-case trust funds, who initiated collection, and could the clerk charge more?
JM-434 concluded that collection followed the incurred expense and designation of the responsible party, the county clerk initiated collection, and the fixed $50 fee was the only authorized handling f…
Was Senate Bill 454 valid even though the Texas House Journal suggested the House may have passed a substitute that omitted three new probation-commission members?
Yes. JM-433 applied the enrolled-bill doctrine and treated the authenticated, signed, and enrolled version of Senate Bill 454 as conclusive despite the conflicting journal entry.
Could a Texas county lease crossings under county roads to a common-carrier pipeline company and collect annual payments?
No. JM-432 concluded that a county could reasonably regulate and permit pipeline crossings, but chapter 111 did not authorize leasing those crossings to a common carrier.
Could a county commissioner use county money, paid staff, or courthouse space to collect donations for foreign earthquake victims?
The commissioner could not use county funds or paid staff for the collection. JM-431 allowed incidental courthouse space and volunteer assistance by county personnel on their own time.
Could a county department head raise an employee's salary without a new commissioners-court vote, and could county employee pay change outside the annual budget hearing?
Only if the commissioners court had already approved staffing and budget terms authorizing the promotion and raise. The court could amend pay outside the regular budget hearing, but not retroactively.
Did a school district have to pay the state's retirement contribution on a teacher's pay for a separate extra job, such as driving a school bus?
No. JM-429 concluded that the district paid the state contribution only on pay above the statutory minimum for the minimum-salary job, not compensation for a wholly separate job.
Could counties reduce a district attorney's local budget by the amount of state Professional Prosecutors Act funds or control how those state funds were spent?
No. JM-428 concluded that counties had to maintain their required funding level, while the district attorney controlled the separate state expense funds and could use them for authorized contingencies…
If a North Carolina county denies, terminates, or reduces a public-assistance or social-services benefit, does the appeal follow the regular state Administrative Procedure Act, or does the special Chapter 108A appeal statute govern?
Chapter 108A's § 108A-79 controls the appeal. Article 3 of the APA fills in only the procedural details (hearing-officer powers, notice, conduct of the hearing) that are not already in § 108A-79 and t…
Did the General Appropriations Act's per-diem limits apply when Employees Retirement System trustees were paid from membership fees and investment earnings held in trust?
No. JM-427 concluded that those retirement-system assets were trust funds rather than appropriated funds, so the appropriation rider's per-diem limits did not apply to payments from them.
Could Maryland's medical licensing board require physician's assistants to register or be licensed through the board, or could it only regulate what duties doctors delegated to them?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's Board of Medical Examiners had authority under the delegation statute to regulate which duties a physician could delegate to a phys…
Can a North Carolina home school recognized by the Office of Non-Public Schools 'validate' another family's home school in a different location as a 'satellite,' allowing the satellite family to comply with the compulsory attendance law without separately registering?
No. Each home school must independently meet the Article 39 requirements, register with the Office of Non-Public Schools, and submit to inspection. The Supreme Court's Delconte v. North Carolina decis…
Do North Carolina businesses that install or service retail storefront anti-theft alarms (the kind that beep when tagged merchandise passes the sensor) need a license under the Alarm Systems Licensing Act?
Yes for businesses that install or service the alarms for retail customers. No for retailers who buy and install their devices themselves; no for in-house employees who respond to the alarm. The Act c…
Could members of the Texas veterinary licensing board receive reimbursement for meals and lodging incurred on official business?
Yes. JM-426 concluded that article 6813f and the General Appropriations Act superseded the board statute's conflicting meals-and-lodging restriction.
Could Montague County pay for a resident indigent child's liver transplant when the child lived outside any public-hospital or hospital-district service area?
Yes. JM-425 concluded that the commissioners court had authority to pay for the resident child's medical services even though no public hospital or hospital district served her area.
If two-thirds of the states petition for a constitutional convention to propose a balanced budget amendment, can that convention legally be limited to only that one amendment?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the validity of Maryland's petition limited to a single balanced budget amendment was questionable, and that even if valid, neither the conven…
Could an MHMR community-center board contract with a nonprofit that employed one of its trustees, and what conflict-of-interest rules applied?
Yes, if article 988b's disclosure and recusal rules were followed. JM-424 treated the nonprofit as a business entity, the trustee as a local public official, and the statute as replacing the older abs…
Could Maryland move money out of the Transportation Trust Fund to bail out savings and loan depositors without the legislature passing a new law first?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the Governor could transfer certain unanticipated Transportation Trust Fund money to the state's Deposit Insurance Fund Corporation using the …
When a South Dakota county or town buys heavy equipment using 'total cost' bidding (purchase price plus guaranteed maximum repairs minus guaranteed buyback), can it just add and subtract the face value of those dollars? Or does it have to discount the future numbers to present value? And does the contract need a real performance bond, or is a corporate guarantee enough?
Total cost bidding was legal, but only if it was done right. The AG concluded that adding present-day dollars to future repair costs and then subtracting a future repurchase price at face value violat…
When a North Carolina couple has been separated for a year and then the defendant spouse becomes incompetent from an injury that happened after the separation, can the plaintiff still get a no-fault divorce under § 50-6, or is the only path the longer three-year incurable-insanity statute under § 50-5.1?
The plaintiff should be able to proceed under § 50-6 (one-year separation). § 50-5.1 only applies when the separation was 'by reason of' the defendant's incurable insanity. Here the parties separated …
Can a North Carolina district health department charge fares for a public transit service it operates as part of its health care mission, without first creating a separate transportation authority under § 160-496?
Yes, for transportation operated in conjunction with the department's health care responsibilities. G.S. § 62-260(a)(1) exempts political subdivisions from Utilities Commission regulation, and a distr…
Does the Governor of North Carolina have authority to declare a moratorium on issuing permits for new hazardous waste facilities?
No. The General Assembly's elaborate hazardous waste scheme directs the Department of Human Resources, the Commission for Health Services, the Governor's Waste Management Board, and the Hazardous Wast…
Could Idaho legally bar unlicensed people from calling themselves 'accountant' or 'auditor' on advertising or business cards?
Yes. The AG concluded the legislature could restrict the title 'accountant' (and similar terms) to licensed CPAs and PAs without violating due process, equal protection, or commercial-speech rights. T…
Does a company that leases cars with a purchase option, or a broker who arranges vehicle leases, need a Maryland motor vehicle dealer or salesman license?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a vehicle lessor must obtain a Motor Vehicle Administration dealer's license only if the lessor's leases are legally "intended as security" (t…
What happened to a dental-board member's votes and expense payments after the Texas Senate rejected her recess appointment?
After rejection, she was neither a holdover nor a de facto officer. Her later actions were void and potentially affected cases where her vote mattered, and she was not entitled to later travel reimbur…
Can one person in Texas be both a constable and a city police chief, or both a justice of the peace and a city judge?
No. The Texas AG concluded both office pairs are legally incompatible, so taking the second office automatically vacates the first. A constable who becomes police chief loses the constable office, but…
Can a Texas public agency provide physical therapy without hiring a licensed physical therapist, if a doctor supervises?
Yes, within limits. A licensed physician can perform physical-therapy acts under a medical license, and can delegate those acts to unlicensed staff working under the physician's supervision, as long a…
Is it illegal in Maryland to use glue traps to kill rats and mice under the state's animal cruelty law?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that using commercially sold glueboards to kill rats and mice does not necessarily violate Maryland's Cruelty to Animals Law, because the statute o…
Did Idaho's Open Meeting Law require the Commission of Pardons and Parole to hold its parole and pardon hearings in public, and did it allow voting in private?
Yes to public hearings; no to private voting. The AG concluded the Commission was a 'public agency' under Idaho Code § 67-2341 and had to open all meetings except those properly conducted in executive…
Were Idaho cities, counties, school districts, and other political subdivisions required to carry mandatory automobile liability insurance under Idaho Code § 49-233?
No. The AG concluded that political subdivisions were exempt from the mandatory auto liability insurance laws because § 49-1533 expressly exempts state and local government vehicles from the financial…
Did Idaho's Department of Labor and Industrial Services need legislative appropriations each year before spending money in its dedicated electrical, plumbing, and building code fund accounts?
Yes. Even though the statutes creating the dedicated accounts contained 'perpetually appropriated' language, the AG concluded that chapter 35 of title 67 required annual budgeting and appropriation. T…
Could Idaho enforce its Relative Responsibility law (requiring adult children, spouses, and parents to repay Medicaid nursing home costs) consistent with the federal Social Security Act?
Only with a federal waiver, and even then with significant collection limits. The AG concluded a § 1115 waiver could authorize a demonstration project but that Idaho still could not reach non-resident…
Can Texas dental hygienists smooth roughened root surfaces (root planing) if a dentist delegates the task?
Yes. After a 1985 amendment, the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners may adopt a rule letting dentists delegate root planing (smoothing roughened root surfaces) to hygienists working under the denti…
Could a Texas physician be liable for giving a patient a medical exemption from the seat-belt requirement, and would a release prevent liability?
The statute did not give physicians express immunity. Any claim still depended on proving negligence, and whether a signed release was valid depended on the circumstances of that release.
After the Supreme Court's 1983 abortion trilogy, which of Maryland's abortion laws on parental notice, hospitalization, and recordkeeping were still constitutional?
In this 1985 opinion, applying the Supreme Court's 1983 abortion decisions in Akron, Ashcroft, and Simopoulos, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Maryland's parental notification statute and…
Should Maryland's driver's license penalty points be dated to when a traffic violation happened, or to when the driver was actually convicted?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the Motor Vehicle Administration's long-standing practice of dating a driver's license points to the date of the underlying violation was inco…
If a Maryland legislator switches political parties and then resigns, which party's central committee picks their replacement?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that under Article III, §13(a) of the Maryland Constitution, the central committee entitled to submit a successor's name to the Governor when a mem…
Does a Texas hospital district lose its property tax exemption if it rents out a building it owns?
No. The Texas AG concluded that collecting rent does not, by itself, strip a hospital district of tax-exempt status on property it owns, as long as the property is used for public purposes. Whether it…
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