State AG Opinions
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Do you need a funeral director's license in Texas to sell caskets?
The Attorney General concluded a casket is "funeral merchandise" under Chapter 651 of the Occupations Code, but that selling a casket by itself, even for an imminent burial, is not an act of funeral…
Does Texas's school 'disruptive activity' crime require intent to disrupt?
The Attorney General concluded that section 37.123 of the Education Code, the "disruptive activity" offense, requires proof that the actor intended to bring about one of the prohibited results, not…
Can a Texas county maintain a road the public uses but that was never officially made public?
The Attorney General concluded a county may spend public funds to build, improve, or maintain only a "public road," and may not maintain a private road, except for the narrow constitutional…
In a Minnesota home rule city where the mayor votes only to break a tie, how do you compute a two-thirds majority for a zoning amendment under Minn. Stat. § 462.357?
Three affirmative votes (out of the four non-mayor council members). The AG concluded the mayor is not counted in computing a two-thirds majority unless an actual tie vote arises. The Minnetonka…
Could one person serve on a South Carolina architectural review board, technical college board and county library board?
The 2002 AG said the architectural review board and technical college trusteeship were both public offices, so one person could not hold both under South Carolina's dual-office rule. County library…
Did the California AG decide whether a Helix Water District director met the landowner and residency rules?
No. The AG found substantial factual and legal questions about the director’s land ownership and residence. It granted leave to bring a quo warranto suit so a court could resolve them.
Could an oversubscribed California fundamental school admit students first come, first served?
No. The AG concluded that the school still had to select eligible applicants through a random, unbiased process when requests exceeded capacity. First come, first served did not meet that requirement.
What could Cheneyville do when too few aldermen attended repeated special meetings to form a quorum?
The AG identified recall and possible malfeasance proceedings, but did not declare the absences criminal or the seats vacant. Whether missing special meetings was malfeasance was a factual question…
Could Tangipahoa Parish appoint one of its council members to its communications district board?
Yes. The 2002 opinion found no prohibition on the appointment because the district became a state political subdivision when created, and the AG read the parish charter's board restriction as…
Could St. Bernard Parish regulate waterfront structures in territory assigned to its port district?
The AG said the parish’s permitting ordinance infringed the port district’s statutory authority over waterways and banks. It suggested a cooperative agreement with the district as a possible solution.
Could a coroner use and pay a forensic nurse for sexual assault examinations across three parishes?
The AG said a SANE nurse could be certified as an investigative expert, with compensation agreed by the coroner and responsible local government. It suggested a cooperative agreement for the…
Could Natchitoches Parish withhold ambulance tax proceeds from documented operating costs?
The AG said the police jury should authorize tax proceeds for sufficiently documented ambulance operation and maintenance costs, the voter-approved purpose. It excluded capital expenditures from…
Could Union Parish revoke a public road dedication once the road was no longer needed?
The AG said a parish could revoke dedication of an abandoned road no longer needed for public use, subject to its discretion not being arbitrary or capricious. It declined to decide the specific…
Did South Carolina law require deer to roam free instead of being held behind high fences?
The 2002 AG said wild deer generally belonged to the state, but the fencing answer came from a specific 2000 law. It barred new fences over six feet built expressly to corral wild game for hunting,…
Does a Minnesota hospital district created under Minn. Stat. § 447.31 have to follow the Uniform Municipal Contracting Law and put construction work out for sealed bids?
Yes, with limited exceptions for change-orders. The AG concluded that hospital districts under §§ 447.31 et seq. are municipal corporations and political subdivisions of the state under § 447.31,…
Can Texas require HMOs and PPOs to disclose their fee, bundling, and downcoding policies to doctors?
The Attorney General concluded that the prompt-payment provisions added to the Insurance Code in 1999 (article 3.70-3C, section 3A, and article 20A.18B) gave the Texas Commissioner of Insurance and…
Could a South Carolina legislative delegation advertise for public-service district board candidates beyond the district board's nominees?
Yes. The 2002 AG said the Anderson County legislative delegation could solicit additional candidates through its proposed newspaper and application process, but it still had to consider the…
Did a Calimesa council member lose his seat when his residence changed?
The AG did not decide whether the seat was vacant. It granted leave to sue in quo warranto because disputed facts and law about the member’s residence required judicial resolution.
Could a South Carolina court order restitution to a sheriff's pawn-shop reimbursement fund?
Yes. The 2002 AG said the sheriff's office appeared to be a third-party payee when its program reimbursed pawn shops after stolen property was seized, allowing the court to direct restitution to…
Can the Texas governor raise vehicle registration fees on his own to fund emergency services?
The Attorney General concluded that only the legislature may set, appropriate, allocate, and direct the use of state motor vehicle registration fees, so the governor may not raise or appropriate…
Is the Texas racial profiling law unconstitutional because of its bill title?
The Attorney General concluded that Senate Bill 1074, the 2001 law barring peace officers from racial profiling, is not unconstitutional for failing the "title" or "caption" requirement in article…
Can a Texas private club scan a driver's license magnetic strip to build its membership list?
The Attorney General concluded that state law does not let a private club licensed by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission use the magnetic strip on a member's driver's license to capture the…
Must a South Carolina school board member resign before running for county council?
No. The 2002 AG found no general or identified Colleton County rule requiring a school trustee to resign merely to run for county council. Holding both offices was a separate matter: if elected,…
Could one person serve on both a local tourism advisory committee and South Carolina's tourism spending review committee?
Yes under the dual-office rule examined in 2002: the local advisory seat was not an office, while the state review seat was. The AG declined to decide whether serving on both created an ethics…
Could South Carolina's Geodetic Survey provide survey-control services also offered by private firms?
The 2002 AG found no South Carolina constitutional or statutory bar to a state agency offering survey-control services also provided by private firms. He said whether the Geodetic Survey should do…
Could a workforce board keep contracting with a vendor after he joined a member city council?
Yes, under the facts reviewed. The council neither made nor supervised the board’s contracts, and the city manager signed them only ministerially for the independent board.
Who presented charges when Kentucky education investigators referred a school-council complaint for hearing?
The Attorney General concluded that the Commissioner of Education had to appoint or hire an attorney to present charges referred by the Office of Education Accountability for a Board of Education…
Who controlled Allen Parish’s capital improvements fund and what could it pay for?
The AG said the fund received designated state sales tax proceeds without parish action. Subject to legislative appropriation, it had to fund courthouse improvements first and then other…
Does a late appointment restart a Louisiana parish library board member's five-year term?
No. The AG said a board member's term follows its fixed statutory schedule. When an incumbent stays until a successor takes office, that holdover does not extend the term and can shorten the…
Who owns a former Texas governor's records and are they still public when sent to a presidential library?
The Attorney General concluded that when a former governor sends his official records to an alternative archive (here, then-Governor George W. Bush designated the George Bush Presidential Library, a…
After a Maryland county board of education's already-adopted budget turns out to have a much bigger surplus than expected from the prior year, can the county commissioners approve a budget amendment to add that extra local surplus money to school spending mid-year?
No, at least not in Frederick County. The opinion agreed with the County Attorney that a public local law generally bars the Frederick County Commissioners from increasing an already-adopted county…
Was South Carolina's new probate-judge qualification enforceable without federal voting-rights preclearance?
The 2002 AG said the 1989 amendment to probate-judge qualifications required federal preclearance, which the requester said had not been obtained. He said the U.S. Supreme Court's rule that an…
Could a South Carolina nonprofit pay lawyers to represent domestic and sexual assault survivors without unlawfully practicing law?
Yes on the arrangement described, if the lawyers retained autonomy and proper attorney-client relationships. The 2002 AG said the victim-services nonprofit would not violate the corporate-practice…
When did ordinary laws from Kentucky’s 2002 legislative session take effect?
The Attorney General calculated July 15, 2002 as the effective date for ordinary laws passed in Kentucky’s 2002 regular session. The calculation excluded general appropriation bills and acts with…
Could Hammond's city court clerk also serve on a parish hospital service district board?
Yes, under the circumstances the AG considered in 2002. The hospital district was a state political subdivision, and its commissioner position was part-time, so the two dual-officeholding…
Could Connecticut deny a state worker military-service pension credit because the worker also earned a military pension?
The AG concluded that federal law displaced state plan terms that denied purchase of prior active-duty retirement credit solely because the employee also qualified for a military pension. He did not…
Could Louisiana state retirement systems debit DROP accounts when investment returns were negative?
The AG said no. It treated the participants’ subaccounts as accrued retirement benefits that the systems could not diminish through a negative interest credit or maintenance-fee debit.
Who had ultimate control of South Carolina's Area Health Education Consortium programs and state funds in 2002?
The 2002 AG said the Medical University of South Carolina's trustees had ultimate authority over AHEC programs and responsibility for ensuring state appropriations were spent for their designated…
Do Texas peace officers have to take radar and traffic-law training before they can enforce traffic laws?
The Attorney General concluded that, as the law stood in 2002, a peace officer was not required by section 644.101(d) of the Transportation Code to attend continuing education on enforcing traffic…
How is the justice of the peace picked for a Texas county bail bond board, and can members be removed for missing meetings?
The Attorney General answered three questions about the El Paso County Bail Bond Board. First, the statute that lists a 'justice of the peace' as a board member does not say how that member is…
Can a Texas administrative law judge make a state agency pay the other side's attorney's fees?
The Attorney General concluded that the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) cannot order the Texas Department of Human Services to pay a licensee's attorney's fees after dismissing an…
Was Mount Pleasant's senior planner a public officer under South Carolina's dual-office rule?
Under the job duties supplied in 2002, the AG considered Mount Pleasant's senior planner an employee, not a public officer. He cautioned that the position could become an office if the planner…
Can South Carolina legislative auditors attend a state agency board’s executive session?
The AG could not conclude with certainty that the 2002 audit-access statute required an agency to admit Legislative Audit Council staff to an executive session. He strongly encouraged agencies to…
Could the Lake Charles port fund a private cooperative's factory feasibility study?
No. The AG concluded that the port could not fund the requested study for a private sugar-cane cooperative because the port lacked a legal obligation or authority for that financial assistance,…
Could the Red River Waterway Commission pay for media messages about the waterway's opportunities?
Yes, if the presentations gave factual information about the waterway's economic, commercial, and recreational opportunities and were designed to inform rather than manipulate public opinion.
Can Delaware's 60-day deadline to sue over a records denial stop the Attorney General from investigating an older complaint?
No, under the law as it stood in 2002. The AG concluded that FOIA's 60-day deadline only limits when citizens can sue in court, not when the Attorney General can investigate, and separately found…
Could a California general law city hire private security employees to issue parking tickets?
No. The AG concluded that the city could not authorize a private security company’s employees to issue Vehicle Code parking citations under the contracting powers it reviewed.
Could a Louisiana public board member join by telephone to vote or make a quorum?
The AG said no under the open meetings provision it reviewed. It interpreted the law as requiring physical presence for participation, including votes and quorum counts.
Could Acadia Parish School Board levy a fixed household fee and count it as property tax revenue?
The AG said the proposed fixed fee was a specific property tax, which the school board lacked authority to levy. For the Minimum Foundation Program resolution at issue, “property tax” meant the ad…
Can a Texas city spend its 4B economic development sales tax on a park or youth sports field?
The Attorney General concluded that the Gun Barrel City Economic Development Corporation could not use its section 4B sales and use tax to build a youth league football field at the city park,…
When does a portable concrete crusher or batch plant need public notice to relocate under the Texas Clean Air Act?
The Attorney General answered several questions about 2001 amendments to the Texas Clean Air Act. The notice exemption in Health and Safety Code section 382.056(r)(1) lets a portable facility…
Did a temporary Long Island Sound cable moratorium unconstitutionally take a permit holder’s property?
The AG reaffirmed his view that a proposed temporary moratorium on development of state-owned Long Island Sound land was constitutional. A new U.S. Supreme Court decision rejected treating every…
Was the Chess Challenge video game machine illegal gambling in South Carolina?
The inspected Chess Challenge prototype appeared not to violate South Carolina’s prohibited-machine statute and so would not be subject to seizure on the facts supplied. The AG warned that minor…
Can a Texas school district join with cities and counties in a political subdivision corporation to buy electricity in bulk?
Not for a contract worth $25,000 or more over a twelve-month period. The Attorney General concluded that Education Code section 44.031 gives a school district an exclusive list of nine purchasing…
Did a pardon end sex offender registration and remove the person from South Carolina’s registry?
The AG predicted that a South Carolina court would most likely relieve a pardoned offender from continued sex-offender registration. He separately concluded that a pardon would not require removal…
May a California county board of education discuss the county superintendent's employees or their pay in a closed meeting?
The AG concluded that the board could not use the Brown Act's personnel or labor-negotiations exceptions for the superintendent's ordinary certificated and classified employees. A limited group…
What California firearm, arrest, and traffic rules applied to Defense Department police at Los Angeles Air Force Base?
The AG found an off-duty state firearm exemption for the described full-time federal officers, conditional state-law arrest powers during federal duties, and Vehicle Code coverage for base roads.
Could Dubach use regular municipal employees without plumber licenses to finish plumbing at its RV park?
The AG found no prohibition on using regular municipal maintenance employees for the described low-cost village plumbing project. It cited a licensing exclusion for municipal employees and found the…
Could a California city begin paying health benefits for current council members after they left office?
No, under the facts reviewed. Because the city had not provided former-member benefits before 1994, the AG said it could continue coverage after office only on a self-pay basis.
Could Connecticut’s governor delay required power-line decisions through an executive order?
The AG read an executive order on gas and electric transmission projects as valid only because it deferred decisions “insofar as permitted by law.” Agencies still had to meet statutory deadlines and…
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