State AG Opinions
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Did South Carolina’s 2001 seat-belt law prohibit teenagers from riding in a pickup bed?
The AG said a pickup was covered by South Carolina’s seat-belt law, so an unrestrained passenger in its bed appeared to violate that law if a seat with an available belt remained in the cab. The…
Who had to arrange and pay for follow-up medical treatment for a South Carolina pretrial detainee?
The AG said the government holding a pretrial detainee had to ensure needed medical care, whether emergency or follow-up. That duty did not automatically make the government pay; it had to pay if…
Could a South Carolina city disclose the business-license fee paid by each builder under FOIA?
The AG advised Anderson to withhold each contractor’s actual business-license payment where it was calculated from the contractor’s gross receipts. FOIA permitted an exemption for that information,…
Can a North Carolina district bar use mandatory dues from every attorney in the district to pay for a counseling program that also helps attorneys' family members?
Only in a limited form. The NC AG concluded in 2001 that a district bar can lawfully fund BarCARES with mandatory dues only if the program is restricted to attorney members and is directly related…
Could a South Carolina county ban all hunting from public roads and carrying loaded guns in vehicles there?
The AG said a court would probably find the proposed Chesterfield County ordinance unconstitutional to the extent it barred conduct state hunting law allowed or changed the state penalty. The…
How much per diem could Fairfield County school trustees receive in 2001, and did extra payments force repayment or resignation?
The AG said Fairfield County school trustees served without salary and were limited to the then-current $35 daily per diem allowed for boards and commissions, plus authorized mileage. The office did…
Does a Texas plea taken by video teleconference have to be recorded on video?
The Attorney General concluded that the 'recording of the communication' that article 27.18 of the Code of Criminal Procedure requires when a court accepts a plea or waiver by closed circuit video…
Can a licensed North Carolina attorney notarize a document for a client and then represent that client in a legal matter about the same document?
Yes. The NC AG concluded in 2001 that no statute prevents this practice. An older 1988 AG opinion (58 N.C.A.G. 35) had advised against it, but that opinion rested on N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47-8, which…
If a city committee adds a known issue to its meeting agenda at the last minute, does a later public vote by the city council fix the problem?
No, according to this opinion. The Delaware AG found a city safety committee violated FOIA by adding a matter it already knew about to its agenda without proper notice, and ruled that the city…
When North Carolina's Department of Health and Human Services and its mental health Division work alongside locally-run area mental health programs, who is the HIPAA covered entity and who is responsible for compliance with the federal medical privacy rules?
The 2001 NC AG opinion concluded that DHHS as a whole is a HIPAA 'hybrid entity' because some of its components (notably Medicaid and the state psychiatric hospitals) perform 'covered functions'…
Could a South Carolina rescue squad photograph a deceased accident victim and display the pictures?
The AG said death-scene photographs could serve legitimate training or criminal-evidence purposes, depending on why they were taken. Gratuitous display or misuse could implicate relatives’ privacy;…
Could Idaho's Department of Agriculture director rely on personal experience alone when deciding there were no agricultural alternatives to crop burning, or did the decision need a written record?
The director's determination that no other agricultural alternatives to crop burning existed would be reviewed under the deferential 'arbitrary and capricious' standard of the Idaho APA. To…
Could a Maryland jail hold someone longer because they had not paid a criminal fine?
The AG said a court could impose additional confinement in lieu of an unpaid criminal fine only after examining the person's ability to pay and within statutory and constitutional limits. The…
Could a nonprofit operating a South Carolina county hospital use the state tax-refund debt setoff program?
The AG said the proposed public-benefit nonprofit that would take over Williamsburg County’s hospital district could qualify as a claimant agency under the Setoff Debt Collection Act. The opinion…
Does a Texas city commissioner automatically resign by running for school board?
The Attorney General concluded that the office of trustee of a consolidated school district board is an 'office of profit or trust' under article XI, section 11 of the Texas Constitution. So a…
Did the 1999 amendments fix Texas's unconstitutional water quality protection zone law?
The Attorney General concluded that the 1999 amendments to section 26.179 of the Water Code did not save the statute. In FM Properties Operating Co. v. City of Austin (2000), the Texas Supreme Court…
Could South Carolina police seize a Cadillac Jack redemption machine that awarded coupons or merchandise?
The AG said the described Cadillac Jack or racing machine appeared to be a prohibited game of chance despite its redemption label and purported skill points. The office found clear probable cause…
Can a Texas homeowner opt out of HOA deed restrictions changed under chapter 204?
The Attorney General concluded that a property owner cannot use the chapter 201 'exclusion statement' procedure to keep his property out of deed restrictions that a property owners' association…
Can a Texas economic development corporation spend sales-tax money on a park voters didn't list?
The Attorney General concluded that the Industrial Development Corporation of the City of Sonora was not barred, as a matter of law, from using its section 4B sales and use tax proceeds for a…
Can a Texas county hand its school-land duties to the local school district?
The Attorney General concluded that the Llano County Commissioners Court could not delegate to the Llano Independent School District its authority to sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of the…
If a Maine plant changes hands and then closes, does severance pay cover years the employee worked under previous owners?
The Maine AG concluded that under 26 M.R.S.A. § 625-B(2), severance pay is calculated by the employee's total years of work in the establishment, regardless of any change in ownership during that…
Can a Dutchess County E-911 senior fire alarm dispatcher also serve on the county fire and safety advisory board and as a volunteer firefighter?
Yes. The AG concluded that the senior fire alarm dispatcher position and membership on the county fire and safety advisory board are compatible: neither is subordinate to the other, the board's…
How could South Carolina police dispose of seized or recovered guns when the person claiming them was a convicted felon?
The AG said there was no single disposal rule. Some pistols seized under specified handgun provisions might be forfeited without a conviction, though the letter recommended judicial guidance; a…
Could Colleton County charge the same fire-protection millage countywide but give different fire districts different budgets?
The AG said Colleton County’s fire commission did not receive final budget authority because county council reviewed and could change its proposals. Different district allocations under a common…
Did a South Carolina massage therapist also need a cosmetology or esthetician license?
The AG said a massage or bodywork license generally sufficed for massage services; state law did not require a cosmetology or esthetician license merely to obtain it. A second license might be…
Could Blackville police patrol or enforce traffic law on a highway segment entirely outside town limits?
The AG said Blackville officers lacked general police jurisdiction on the illustrated Highway 61 segment, which lay wholly beyond municipal limits. A statute extended jurisdiction to certain road…
Are the licensing fees collected by the North Carolina Board of Nursing considered 'State funds,' and if so, does that mean Board members must be paid the standard $15-per-day per diem that applies to state board members generally?
Yes and no. The 2001 NC AG opinion concluded that fees the Board of Nursing collects are 'State funds' under the Executive Budget Act, N.C.G.S. § 143-1, because that statute defines State funds to…
Did South Carolina’s local hospitality tax cover grocery-store bread and pies in 2001?
The AG read the then-current hospitality-tax definition of “prepared meals” as excluding grocery-store bread and pies, which normally were components of a meal rather than meals themselves. The…
Could a South Carolina legislator take the newly created lottery executive-director job in 2001?
The AG said the Lottery executive director was an employee serving under the board, not the holder of a civil office. Because the 2001 restriction on legislators applied to a newly created civil…
Could a South Carolina legislator’s consulting firm help a state agency seek federal grants and then manage the funded program?
The AG found no absolute bar to the proposed consulting arrangement if the legislator complied with the State Ethics Act. The letter barred use of office or confidential information for financial…
Could a part-time South Carolina magistrate receive county-paid health and life insurance benefits?
The AG said magistrates were generally county employees and could join state insurance plans if the county participated. A part-time magistrate was entitled to the same perquisites as comparable…
Could a South Carolina public-safety attorney who prosecuted cases also serve on a town council?
The AG said the attorney’s ordinary legal-instruction duties looked like employment, but his occasional prosecution of criminal cases exercised state sovereign power. With those prosecution duties,…
Could a person be arrested for a fraudulent check drawn on a corporation’s bank account?
The AG said the individual who knowingly issued a fraudulent check could be charged even when the account belonged to a corporation; the warrant need not name the company. A sheriff could not refuse…
Which organization counted as the body responsible for a historic monument under South Carolina’s 2000 preservation act?
The AG said the phrase “public body responsible for the monument or memorial” could include bona fide nonprofit heritage groups that cared for Confederate memorials on public property, rather than…
Could an independent-college president sit on both South Carolina higher-education commissions without violating the dual-office rule?
The AG said membership on the Tuition Grant Commission was a public office because it exercised state power over tuition grants. The independent-college representative’s ex officio seat on the…
Did a part-time South Carolina magistrate count as one quarter of a full-time position regardless of weekly hours?
The AG reaffirmed that each magistrate regularly working fewer than 40 hours counted as one quarter of a full-time magistrate for the statutory position formula, whether the schedule was 10, 20 or…
Could a Louisiana sheriff keep a database of tenants evicted because of criminal activity?
The AG said the proposed database was permissible under the sheriff's general law-enforcement authority and consistent with the Legislature's criminal-information policy. He flagged Title 15…
Could a South Carolina town use its own careless-driving or speed ordinance instead of state traffic charges?
The AG said towns could adopt traffic ordinances only if they did not conflict with uniform state traffic law. Ordinances used to avoid state point-system penalties appeared problematic, but the…
Could a Louisiana mayor's court put an ordinance defendant on probation?
The AG said a 2001 amendment allowed mayor's courts to suspend a municipal-ordinance sentence and impose unsupervised probation. The probation period could not exceed the maximum jail term for the…
Could police use audio and video from a hostage-rescue phone as evidence under federal interception law?
The AG said the described hostage-rescue phone would not violate federal Title III interception law in the hostage or standoff settings presented, so that law would not require exclusion of the…
Could a 2002 Idaho initiative legalize tribal video gaming machines without running afoul of the Idaho Constitution's casino-gambling ban?
The proposed initiative tried to authorize video gaming machines on tribal lands, but the AG concluded the machines, as defined, would almost certainly be treated as 'slot machines' or simulations…
How did removing a landowner voting rule affect Washington conservation district elections?
The Attorney General concluded in 2001 that the 1999 removal of the property qualification brought conservation district supervisor elections under general election laws then in RCW Title 29,…
Do excused medical absences count toward the 90% attendance a Texas student needs to get class credit?
The Attorney General concluded that the 90 percent attendance requirement for class credit in section 25.092 of the Education Code applies to every student, even one who is exempt from compulsory…
Can a Texas county pay the employer payroll tax on a county judge's state salary supplement out of the state supplement itself?
The Attorney General concluded that a county could not use a county judge's $10,000 state salary supplement under section 26.006 of the Government Code to pay the employer's share of Social Security…
Could Maryland Comptroller field agents use police powers to enforce sales or income tax laws?
The AG said the Comptroller could assign Field Enforcement Division employees to help administer sales and income tax laws. Those employees could not use peace-officer powers for those laws because…
Could a Texas felon who received a full pardon legally possess a firearm?
The Attorney General concluded that a felon who received a full, unconditional pardon was not subject to section 46.04 of the Penal Code, the statute that bars a convicted felon from possessing a…
Can a Texas district attorney sign a multiyear equipment lease that binds county funds?
The Attorney General concluded that a district attorney had no authority to sign a contract committing county funds, so a 51-month postal-meter lease that the prior DA had signed was void as a…
Could a Texas county hospital district give free or discounted health care to residents regardless of immigration status?
The Attorney General concluded that the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), specifically 8 U.S.C. 1621, barred the Harris County Hospital…
If you can't pay the fines on several Texas Class C tickets, does the jail time run together or stack up?
The Attorney General answered three questions about people convicted of multiple Class C misdemeanors who could not pay their fines and court costs. First, if a person is already confined for…
What can the Georgia State Board of Education and its chairperson do without first consulting the State School Superintendent or getting her approval, given the post-1996 division of authority?
The Board sets policy and the chairperson sets the agenda. The chairperson can require Department of Education employees to perform tasks for the Board after a reasonable attempt at consultation…
After Idaho's 1982 amendment to art. 9, sec. 8, did the Land Board's sale-and-exchange constraints reach every parcel the state owns, or just the federal-grant endowment lands?
Article 9, section 8 of the Idaho Constitution applied to lands granted to Idaho on statehood (endowment lands) and to lands the state acquired from the federal government after 1982. It did not…
Does HIPAA's 'health plan' definition cover North Carolina state agencies like the Divisions of Aging, Vocational Rehabilitation, and Services for the Blind?
No, not most of them. The NC AG concluded in 2001 that after the federal HIPAA Privacy Regulations took effect on April 14, 2001, the definition of 'health plan' specifically excluded…
Could a Louisiana water district settle an employee's retirement-credit claim without making an unconstitutional donation?
The AG said a payment under a settlement agreement could comply with the public-funds restriction if the district, with counsel's advice, evaluated its potential liability, the claim, and costs,…
Could South Carolina charge a visiting driver whose home-state license was suspended, or who forgot a valid license?
The AG said South Carolina’s driving-under-suspension offense covered a visitor whose license was suspended by the home state. A visitor validly licensed at home but driving without that license in…
Does the Good Funds Settlement Act let a North Carolina closing attorney disburse loan proceeds right away when the funds come in on a check from Carolina Farm Credit or another federally chartered agricultural credit association?
The AG did not decide definitively whether agricultural credit association checks qualified for immediate disbursement. It found the phrase “political subdivision of the United States” ambiguous as…
Did Connecticut state marshals have to take an oath, and could they exercise police powers?
The AG concluded that state marshals should take the public-officer oath before service. Their peace-officer and warrantless-arrest authority existed only while exercising statutory marshal duties,…
Could Idaho require every candidate for public office to take the local high school exit exam and have the score published in the press?
The proposed initiative would have required candidates to take their school district's 'high school exiting standards test' and publish the score, but most Idaho districts had no such test, the…
Could Florence County expand a fire district into an area served voluntarily by Pamplico without a referendum?
The AG said the county could establish or expand a fire-protection service area and levy the related tax without a referendum if it followed the statutory hearing and ordinance procedures. An area…
Could Connecticut’s IT chief verbally delegate purchasing power for an agency technology contract?
The AG agreed that a verbal delegation of information-technology purchasing authority to the social services department was improper. The chief information officer could delegate purchasing power,…
Could a South Carolina police department trade seized weapons or abandoned property for equipment?
The AG said some weapons confiscated under specified laws could be traded to a South Carolina licensed pistol dealer for agency-approved equipment. Other pistols and recovered abandoned property had…
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