State AG Opinions
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Can a Louisiana state employee ask the Ethics Board to hide their home address on a public financial disclosure?
Yes. The attorney general said the Board of Ethics should redact a state employee's home address from a financial disclosure when the employee requests confidentiality. It relied on the employee's…
Can a Kansas city annex a small slice of a larger farm without the owner's consent?
No. The Attorney General concluded that K.S.A. 12-520(b)'s 21-acre threshold applies to the size of the entire unplatted agricultural tract the land comes from, not just to the portion a city wants…
Can a citizen remove a member of a Georgia state board, commission, or authority just by submitting a complaint to the Governor?
No. The AG concluded that simply submitting information to the Governor does not trigger the O.C.G.A. § 45-10-4 hearing. 'Formal charges' require more than an informal complaint and must provide…
Can a West Virginia county commission buy a building it currently leases for its 911 center, and then lease part of the building to a private for-profit business?
Yes to the purchase, no to the for-profit lease. County commissions have broad express and implied authority to buy real estate for public purposes, including running a 911 center. But West Virginia…
Can an Arkansas city order a homeowner to connect to the city sewer when their property is more than 300 feet from the line?
No. The 2024 AG opinion concluded a city cannot lawfully require a homeowner to connect to the city sewer when the property is more than 300 feet from a current sewer line. State law (A.C.A. §…
If ICE issues a detainer on someone in a Virginia sheriff's jail, can the sheriff tell ICE when the inmate will be released so ICE can come pick them up?
Yes. Virginia Code § 53.1-220.2 expressly allows a sheriff who receives an ICE detainer to transfer custody of the inmate to ICE within five days before scheduled release. The AG concludes that…
Must a county mayor or city mayor who sits on a Tennessee development district board resign from both the board and their elected office before applying for the development district's executive director job?
Yes. Tennessee's general conflict-of-interest statute (Tenn. Code Ann. § 12-4-101(a)(1)) prohibits a board member from being directly interested in a contract for which they vote, oversee, or…
Can a full-time Louisiana fire district employee also serve on a town council?
Yes, under the dual officeholding law considered. The Attorney General concluded that a full-time Schriever Fire Protection District employee may also serve on the Lockport Town Council because the…
Can a full-time Louisiana probation officer work part-time as a sheriff's deputy or municipal police officer?
Yes under the dual-officeholding statute examined. The attorney general said a full-time state probation officer could also serve in the four described part-time deputy or police roles. It treated…
Can a full-time Brusly police officer also serve as a Livingston Parish constable?
Yes, on the schedule described. The attorney general said employment with Brusly and an elected constable seat in a separate political subdivision were compatible under the dual-officeholding law,…
Can a Delaware town avoid producing a meeting recording by saying it was accidentally deleted?
Yes. The AG ruled the Town of Ellendale did not violate FOIA when it could not produce a June 5 town hall audio recording, because the Council President swore the recording was accidentally deleted…
Can a Mississippi city run an ALPR-based program to ticket uninsured drivers and split fees with a private vendor?
Mississippi law does not flatly prohibit a city from running an ALPR-based motor-vehicle insurance enforcement program with a private vendor, because Section 17-25-19's traffic-camera ban only…
Can a Mississippi regional solid waste authority sign a 30-year contract with a developer for a landfill gas project?
Yes. Section 17-17-317(h) of the Regional Solid Waste Management Authority Act expressly authorizes a 30-year contract term, which is the statutory exception that lets the authority bind its…
Can a Mississippi town sell a retired police vehicle to a county constable who is also the town's fire chief?
Yes, if the town first finds the vehicle is no longer used for a public purpose and follows Section 17-25-25's procedure: a unanimous private-sale vote if the vehicle is worth $1,000 or less, or…
Are rifles, shotguns, muzzleloaders, and other long guns protected under the Second Amendment and the Tennessee Constitution regardless of whether they are single-shot, pump, lever, bolt, or semi-automatic?
Some long guns are protected, in some circumstances. The Second Amendment covers bearable arms 'in common use' for lawful purposes, which clearly reaches many rifles and shotguns and likely reaches…
Can the Arkansas AG certify a popular name and ballot title for an initiative petition without the sponsor submitting the full text?
No. AG Tim Griffin returned the AR Kids submission for the 'Arkansas Educational Rights Amendment of 2026' because the sponsor did not include the full text of the amendment as A.C.A. §…
Can a full-time Louisiana sheriff's deputy also work full-time as a village police officer?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Louisiana's dual officeholding and employment law bars a full-time Sabine Parish deputy sheriff from also serving as a full-time police officer for the…
If you ask a Delaware city for a list that combines two pieces of information they each have separately (parking-zone locations and the businesses at those addresses), can the city say no?
Yes. Rita Carnevale asked the City of Wilmington for a list of all businesses and addresses with city-installed 15-minute parking signs. Public Works' records track parking zones by location and…
Did the Arkansas AG approve a ballot measure to allow abortion in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly, or risk to the mother's life or physical health?
No. The Attorney General rejected the proposed ballot title for the Arkansas Abortion Amendment. The defect was technical but fatal: the definition of 'physical health' described it as the presence…
When does a developer have to give up control of a master-planned community's homeowners association board and let homeowners elect their own representatives?
Under New Mexico's Homeowners Association Act, the developer can run the board alone only until 25% of lots are sold to non-developer owners. After that, owners must elect at least 25% of the board,…
Can a New Mexico school board member vote against a check the superintendent has already paid?
An individual school board member has no unilateral authority over expenditures, but the board as a body does. The board may question, discuss, and vote on any check, including ones the…
Does an Arkansas school district have to declare land 'unused or underutilized' before donating or selling it?
Not necessarily. Land need not be classified as unused or underutilized for every transfer. For a sale or lease, the district may instead find it no longer needed for school purposes. Property that…
Do Arkansas private schools have to follow open-records and open-meetings laws if they accept LEARNS Act voucher money?
No. Receiving Education Freedom Account funds under the LEARNS Act is not by itself enough to make a private school subject to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. Two things must be true: the…
Do Scottsdale Unified school counselors and social workers need behavioral health licenses for their described student-support duties?
No, for Scottsdale Unified staff performing only the duties and working within the parameters described to the AG. The Board may examine particular conduct to determine whether it crosses into…
If I move before a primary runoff, can I still vote in it in South Carolina?
No, not in the race you moved out of. The Attorney General concluded that a voter who was eligible in a primary but changes his residence to a spot inside the same county yet outside the runoff's…
Does a Mississippi councilwoman have to pay for copies of city bank and credit card statements she needs to do her job?
Not for records reasonably needed to do the job. An elected official has reasonable, no-cost access to municipal records required for their official duties. Whether a particular request meets that…
After January 1, 2025, can a small Washington county still ask its elected prosecutor to also serve as the county coroner, or did the 2021 statute end that arrangement?
It ended the arrangement. AGO 2024 No. 3 says that once the 2021 amendments to RCW 36.16.030 took effect on January 1, 2025, small counties (under 40,000) lost the statutory authority that…
Does a city police department have jurisdiction at a county detention center in South Carolina?
Generally no, the county sheriff does. The Attorney General would not answer the exact question because jurisdiction depends on the facts, but it explained that a municipal officer's authority…
Who has to update voter records after a South Carolina town redraws its ward map?
The town's municipal election commission. The Attorney General concluded that when a South Carolina municipality with its own election commission adopts a new redistricting map, that commission is…
Can a Washington county run its own basic corrections officer training academy and certify its corrections officers, or does that have to go through the state Criminal Justice Training Commission?
Statute would let a county run the training, but right now, in practice, no. AGO 2024 No. 2 says RCW 43.101 authorizes the Criminal Justice Training Commission to approve county-run basic…
Can an Oklahoma legislator who sits on a committee with jurisdiction over a state board insist on attending the board's executive session, even when the board wants to keep it closed?
Yes, if the legislator serves on a committee with jurisdiction over the state body's actions. The opinion excepts sessions on real-estate purchase or appraisal and the portion of a session…
Can a West Virginia county without a zoning ordinance use a 'land development ordinance' to block solar and wind farms from being built?
No on the blocking, yes on regulating how they get built. West Virginia law does not recognize a separate 'land development ordinance' apart from the unified 'subdivision and land development…
Can the Georgia State Election Board direct the Attorney General to bring in outside counsel and outside investigators to investigate election complaints?
No on both. The Attorney General is the sole legal counsel for the Executive Branch under Ga. Const. Art. V, § III, Para. IV and O.C.G.A. § 45-15-34, with exclusive authority to engage outside…
If an Oklahoma school district doesn't spend its full share of School Resource Officer Program money in one fiscal year, does that money roll over to the next year, or does it disappear?
It rolls over. The School Security Revolving Fund (70 O.S. § 5-148.2(A)) is, by its plain statutory language, 'a continuing fund, not subject to fiscal year limitations.' School districts can carry…
Can Virginia's pension trustees consider ESG factors when investing the retirement fund?
No. The Virginia Retirement System Board owes a fiduciary duty of loyalty under Va. Const. art. X, § 11 and Va. Code § 51.1-124.30 to invest 'solely in the interest of' VRS beneficiaries. Decisions…
Can a candidate for Kansas office accept nominations from two different political parties for the same race?
No. The Attorney General confirmed that K.S.A. 25-306(a) makes a person ineligible to accept more than one party's nomination for the same office in Kansas, a rule known as a ban on "fusion"…
Are records about Delaware's pension policy decisions for state legislators public?
No. The AG ruled the Delaware Office of Pensions properly denied a Spotlight Delaware reporter's request for emails on its 2024 legislative-pension policy change. The records relate to the…
When can a Mississippi sheriff set bail, and can the sheriff refuse cash bonds?
A Mississippi sheriff may set bail only in two narrow situations: misdemeanor arrests where no judicial officer has set bond, and felony arrests in 'emergency circumstances' under Section 19-25-67.…
Does Mississippi voter ID law apply to mail-in absentee voters, or only to in-person voting?
Mississippi voter ID applies only to in-person voting (at the polls or at the registrar's office), not to mail-in absentee voting. The legislature could expand the requirement to mail-in voting, but…
Can the Arkansas State Police release a state trooper's personnel and internal-affairs file in response to a FOIA request?
Mostly yes. Routine personnel records like hire dates, transfer forms, and pay records are releasable with privacy redactions. Disciplinary suspension letters, internal-affairs files, and the…
When are texts on a Delaware state employee's personal cell phone public records under FOIA, and how must the agency document its search?
The Department of Elections did not violate FOIA. The FOIA Coordinator's sworn affidavit described a department-wide email canvas; only one employee had a related text message thread on a personal…
Can a West Virginia county school board pay its professional-exempt employees extra for taking on extra duties (tutoring, mentoring, robotics tournaments, building administrator) outside their regular contracts?
Yes, with care. The constitutional extra-compensation clause does not bar additional pay when the duties are 'newly imposed' beyond the original contract. The salary clause only covers public…
Can a New Mexico town annex part of a designated 'traditional historic community' if a single landowner asks, or does the state require the wider community to vote?
The wider community has to vote. Under NMSA § 3-7-1.1, a municipality cannot annex any land within a traditional historic community (THC) unless a majority of the qualified electors of the THC…
Can the rules or bylaws of a state political party (Democratic, Republican, or other) override New Mexico state law or federal law?
No. Party bylaws and rules in New Mexico are subject to the laws that govern them: the Nonprofit Corporation Act, the Election Code, and the Campaign Reporting Act. Bylaws inconsistent with…
In New Mexico, can a county manager or county commission overrule the elected county treasurer on hiring a deputy or investing county money?
No on both counts. The treasurer (and other elected county officers) has exclusive statutory authority to hire and supervise their own deputies and staff. For investments, the treasurer makes the…
Can a Virginia locality limit or refuse the property tax exemption for solar power systems?
Localities have no discretion to refuse the solar property-tax exemptions in §§ 58.1-3660 and 58.1-3661(A) or to limit how long those exemptions last. For solar PV projects of 5 MW or less, §…
Can the Tennessee General Assembly delegate emergency powers to the governor or another department, or does the state constitution's separation-of-powers clause forbid that?
The legislature cannot delegate raw lawmaking power, but it can grant the governor or an agency the authority to carry out emergency statutes through rules and orders, as long as the statute itself…
Is South Carolina's Robert Smalls Monument Commission a state agency, and is the monument a public purpose?
Yes on both. The Attorney General confirmed that the Robert Smalls Monument Commission, created by Act 183 of 2024, is an agency of the State of South Carolina, and that its job, designing a…
Is a Delaware public body's records denial still valid after the parties announce a tentative settlement?
Yes. The AG ruled the City of Wilmington did not violate FOIA when it denied access to eight years of parking ticket, appeal, towing, and booting data. The Shaheed lawsuit was still pending despite…
When a Mississippi regional mental health commission is decertified and dissolves, who handles the disposition of patient medical records?
The State Board of Mental Health, not the State Department of Health, governs disposition of regional mental health commission records. Sections 41-9-61 et seq. (the hospital records statutes) do…
Can the City of Alexandria ban gas-powered leaf blowers under its noise-control authority?
Yes. Although no Virginia statute expressly authorizes localities to regulate leaf blowers, the City of Alexandria's Charter grants the City the power 'to compel . . . the elimination of unnecessary…
In a county that uses an on-call grand jury (impaneled only when needed), can the district attorney's office issue subpoenas in advance, before the grand jurors are sworn in?
Yes. Penal Code § 939.2 contains no temporal limit; a district attorney may sign and issue grand jury subpoenas before the grand jury is impaneled, provided the grand jury will be impaneled in time…
Can a public employee block release of her middle name from a personnel record under Arkansas FOIA?
No. Under Arkansas FOIA, the subject of a personnel record cannot block release of her middle name simply because she does not want it shared. The privacy test is objective. The employee's…
Can a rejected job applicant FOIA the school district's emails and selection records about the positions he applied for, including communications about his own application?
No. Delaware FOIA's common-law privacy doctrine protects discussions of applicant qualifications and competencies. Even though Hamburg was the applicant for the eight positions, FOIA's…
Can a Delaware school board take votes on iPads or laptops at a public meeting without announcing the result, or do votes have to be open?
The Christina School District Board of Education violated FOIA. FOIA requires that votes be taken at a public meeting and that the results be made public. The Board took votes via computer at its…
How does a Texas appraisal district calculate 'average land value' for a city's parkland dedication fee on new apartment and hotel development?
By area, not by parcel. The AG concluded that a court would likely read Local Government Code subsection 212.209(c) to require an appraisal district to add up the market value of all the land in…
Does a Texas district clerk have to prepare an abstract of judgment for a court of appeals ruling when the trial court's own judgment was vacated?
Probably not, in this situation. The AG concluded that because the Second Court of Appeals vacated the Parker County trial court's judgment and dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction, the trial…
Can a Texas county chief appraiser keep his job if his sister is elected tax assessor-collector and joins the appraisal district board?
Tax Code section 6.05(f) does not itself bar the chief appraiser's continued employment, the AG concluded. But a court would likely find Government Code section 573.041 bars it after his sibling…
Does the Pima County Attorney have to provide legal advice to the new Court Administrator and Liaison positions at the Pima County Consolidated Justice Court, or are those state officials whose legal advice comes from the Arizona Attorney General?
They are state officials, not county officers. Both positions are appointed by and subordinate to the Pima County Superior Court's Presiding Judge. Their legal advice should come from the Arizona…
Does a South Carolina town have to accept a subdivision's roads, and who maintains them?
A town does not have to accept them, but if it does, it has to maintain them. The Attorney General concluded that accepting a proposed dedication of subdivision roads is discretionary; a…
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