State AG Opinions
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Can a Texas county development district levy property taxes or build subdivision infrastructure?
The Attorney General concluded that a county development district created under chapter 383 of the Local Government Code cannot levy ad valorem (property) taxes. Chapter 383 grants only a…
Can a Texas city or county hire a company on commission to find untaxed property?
The Attorney General concluded that a business may legally be organized to locate property omitted from the appraisal rolls, but no taxing unit, including a home-rule city, may contract with such a…
Could South Carolina county code enforcement officers issue uniform traffic tickets for littering?
The 2000 AG said no. County code enforcement officers lacked custodial arrest authority and therefore could not use the state uniform traffic ticket for littering or the other state-law offenses discussed.
Would consulting for a South Carolina public college reduce a retired sheriff's pension?
The 2000 AG said the earnings limit applied if the consulting work was covered employment, but not simply because the sheriff was paid as a consultant. Employee or independent-contractor status…
Could Kentwood rent its community center for private events without bidding out the rental?
The 2000 opinion said the town could rent the center casually for events if rent reimbursed its costs. An ongoing lease for a private business's gain had to be bid under the Lease of Public Lands Law.
Could a South Carolina mayor promise lower business license taxes to attract annexation without council approval?
The 2000 AG said no: the mayor alone could not bind the town on a tax set by council. It also considered a challenge to an annexation several years old unlikely to succeed based on the former…
Who appointed Colleton County's transportation committee, and how long could members serve?
The 2000 AG said the county's joint legislative delegation appointed all committee members. The statute set no fixed size or term, and the delegation could remove members, subject to limits such as…
Could a Louisiana industrial development board issue bonds to renovate a university dining area?
The 2000 opinion said no. The proposed loan of bond proceeds to a university-supporting nonprofit for food-service renovations did not fit the industrial development board's statutory…
Did Louisiana's utility cost-pass-through law let a fire district charge public utilities?
The 2000 opinion said no. The statute allowed certain utility payments to be passed through to customers, but it did not give the fire district new authority to levy or collect a tax or payment from…
When two Minnesota cities are voting whether to consolidate, and the vote is happening at the same time as a general election, does approval require a majority of everyone who showed up to vote that day, or just a majority of those who marked an answer on the consolidation question?
Approval requires only a majority of those who actually voted on the consolidation question, not a majority of every voter at the general election. The AG read Minn. Stat. § 414.041, subd. 6(d)…
Did an arrest-related tow make a car abandoned after seven days at a South Carolina tow yard?
The 2000 AG said no for the described tow: the company had consented to keep the vehicle on its property. For truly abandoned vehicles, it read the later statutory procedure as placing notice duties…
Did Louisiana's used-car dealer seminar requirement apply when an existing dealer renewed a license?
Yes. In 2000, the attorney general's office read the amended license provision to require the educational seminar for renewal applicants as well as first-time applicants.
Can a Texas judge order police to escort a domestic violence offender back home to get belongings?
The Attorney General concluded that the Family Code and Code of Criminal Procedure neither expressly allow nor forbid a judge to put such an escort in a protective order, so it falls within the…
Can a Texas county repair private gated-community roads if the city asks and the county is reimbursed?
The Attorney General concluded that a commissioners court could not enter an interlocal agreement with a city to repair roads that are private and closed to the public, even with full reimbursement.…
Which Texas county pays for mental health commitment hearings when another county's hospital holds them?
The Attorney General concluded that the county that initiates emergency detention, or, if none was initiated, the county that accepts the court-ordered mental health application or issues a…
Did a South Carolina water district's unpaid service-charge lien outrank an earlier recorded mortgage?
The 2000 AG said a lien under § 6-11-170 had no automatic priority over an earlier recorded lien. It noted a different sewer-district lien statute with stronger priority, but lacked the facts to…
If six Chapel Hill police officers should have been enrolled in their retirement system in mid-1984 but weren't enrolled until November 1984 by mistake, can they now buy that omitted service and retroactively qualify for the Bailey tax exemption on their retirement benefits?
No. AG Mike Easley's office concluded that the Bailey tax exemption depends on whether the employee was vested in the retirement system on August 12, 1989, when the General Assembly first taxed…
Could South Carolina police obtain customer addresses from a municipal water and power utility?
The 2000 AG said officers could request the addresses through South Carolina FOIA because the Seneca utility was a public body and its customer addresses were public records. It cautioned that…
Can a Texas heavy equipment dealer get back inventory taxes prepaid in a year they didn't owe?
The Attorney General concluded that the tax assessor-collector had no authority to take or escrow the dealer's payments, since a dealer not in business on January 1 owes no inventory tax and may not…
Could a Maryland cooperative housing corporation bring an eviction case against a member in District Court in 2000?
The AG concluded in 2000 that District Court had landlord tenant jurisdiction over a cooperative housing corporation's eviction action against a member. A member whose property interest exceeded the…
Who had to pay to operate St. Mary Parish's health units if the parish had no state maintenance contract?
The 2000 opinion placed the funding and maintenance duty on St. Mary Parish, absent an annual contract with the Department of Health and Hospitals under La. R.S. 40:26.
Could a Louisiana mayor stop paying an appointed street commissioner by leaving the salary out of the budget?
The 2000 opinion said no. While the street commissioner remained in the position, omitting the salary from the mayor's budget would amount to trying to remove the appointee without the board of…
Could LaSalle Parish prohibit swine from roaming in an area state law excepted?
The 2000 opinion said no. State law expressly excepted the specified Little River area from its general ban on swine running at large, so the parish ordinance could not make that activity unlawful…
Could a Louisiana parish license an ambulance company that had sued a hospital under parish control?
The 2000 opinion said Concordia Parish could issue the ambulance company an occupational license if it met the parish ordinance's requirements. Its lawsuit against a hospital under police-jury…
Did a faxed signature satisfy an original-signature requirement on a Louisiana education grant application?
The 2000 opinion said no. When the grant application's instructions required an original signature, a faxed copy did not satisfy that requirement; the office discussed authentication procedures as a…
Did a Louisiana parish have to place its health unit in the parish seat, or could it open a satellite elsewhere?
The 2000 opinion said the parish health unit's legal domicile had to be in the parish seat, but satellite health units could be located elsewhere in the parish.
Did Connecticut’s contract sending inmates to a Virginia prison expire when a discrimination-clause exemption was not renewed?
The AG said refusal to renew the discrimination-clause exemption did not automatically end the Virginia prison contract because the existing exemption covered the contract as a whole. The…
Under Maryland's firearms law, does a common law assault or battery conviction count as a 'crime of violence' that bars someone from possessing a regulated firearm, and does that same 'crime of violence' definition sweep in every crime punishable by more than a year in prison?
Common law assault or battery does count, but the broader category is narrower than it might sound. The opinion concluded a conviction for common law assault or battery falls within the firearms…
Did Clemson's police chief command state troopers and SLED agents working university football games?
The 2000 AG found no law giving one agency final operational authority over the others at the events. Clemson police, SLED and Highway Patrol each had jurisdiction, and the agencies could agree on…
Could Florence County pay a magistrate with South Carolina local accommodations tax revenue?
The 2000 AG said no under the local accommodations tax statute. Its permission to fund directly attendant 'police' operations did not extend to a magistrate's position; the AG left a final ruling to…
Should South Carolina police take a runaway report and return a 17-year-old to their parents?
The 2000 AG found the law unclear, but advised police to take the parents' report, enter it in NCIC and return the 17-year-old home if found. It framed that as a cautious response to an unresolved…
Could an insurer count a Louisiana venture-capital premium tax credit toward its income tax offset?
The 2000 opinion said yes. It treated a premium tax credit earned from a qualified investment in a certified Louisiana capital company as part of the insurer's income tax offset under R.S. 47:227,…
Could Connecticut recover lost interest from USPS when certified tax payments arrived late?
No. The Attorney General concluded that federal sovereign immunity barred the state's claim for interest lost when certified mail carrying tax payments arrived late. The postal rules also gave a…
When did a South Carolina agency have to repay another agency for a newly hired officer's training?
The 2000 AG limited reimbursement to salary and other costs incurred while the officer attended mandatory training, excluding recruiting and hiring. A later agency owed payment for a detention…
Could South Carolina's Museum Commission dismiss its director?
The 2000 AG said the commission had authority to remove its director, whom it elected to the role. It conditioned at-will dismissal on the absence of a rule, agreement or other state-law guarantee…
How could South Carolina campus police obtain an internet subscriber's records before an arrest?
The 2000 AG said federal law offered several routes, but many were unavailable or impractical before a case began. A warrant supported by probable cause could obtain subscriber information; a…
After the trucking case forced the state to refund a use fee on Commerce Clause grounds, were Idaho's tiered premium-tax statutes for insurance companies constitutionally vulnerable too?
The Commerce Clause was not a worry because the McCarran-Ferguson Act lets states tax insurance freely. The base rate (Idaho Code 41-402) and the retaliatory tax (41-340) were each likely…
Did a 'consent to search' sign let South Carolina police search everyone entering private property?
The 2000 AG said a property owner could post such a sign, but the sign alone did not establish a visitor's consent to a police search. Whether it satisfied the Fourth Amendment depended on the facts…
Could a South Carolina magistrate hear a charge of illegally passing a stopped school bus?
The 2000 AG advised that a magistrate had jurisdiction over the offense. It resolved an ambiguity between the offense’s minimum fine and the magistrate’s maximum fine in favor of the defendant.
Can Watauga County use its zoning ordinance to regulate the height and fall zone of a UNC-TV transmission tower located in the county, or is a state-owned television tower outside the county's authority?
Outside the county's authority. AG Mike Easley's office concluded that statutes are not presumed to bind the State unless the State is expressly mentioned, that G.S. § 153A-121's general police…
Could a sheriff excuse an older conviction from South Carolina sex offender registration under the 1999 exception?
The 2000 AG said the exception depended on a specific finding made by the convicting court at the criminal proceeding. If the court had made that finding, the offender received its benefit…
Which South Carolina service districts had to receive notice before a municipal annexation hearing?
The 2000 AG read the notice requirement to reach service and special purpose districts potentially affected by annexation. It could not identify every district in the abstract and advised notifying…
Were inactive voters included when Terrebonne Parish calculated petition signatures as 15% of registered voters?
The 2000 opinion said no. Terrebonne Parish's charter required signatures from 15% of registered voters, but the Election Code excluded inactive voters from the count used to set the required number…
Were 1978 Louisiana subdivision restrictions still enforceable in 2000?
The attorney general's office said the Lake Village restrictions appeared to remain within their twenty-five-year recorded term in 2000. It could not determine whether they had since been amended or…
Could a Louisiana registrar cancel a voter registration that used a restaurant address?
The 2000 opinion said a registrar could challenge registrations using an address identified as a business. If the voters could not establish that the address was also where they lived, slept, ate,…
Who could hire or dismiss a deputy marshal under the Town of Jackson's charter?
The 2000 opinion said Jackson's mayor and Board of Trustees had the final approval or termination authority, but the marshal had to propose the deputy's appointment or dismissal first. The board…
Can a Texas board continue a closed executive session to the next day under the Open Meetings Act?
The Attorney General concluded that a governmental body may continue a closed executive session only until the following day, not to a later date. To resume it, the body must first reconvene in open…
Who collects old unpaid Texas 911 emergency service fees, the Comptroller or the 911 Commission?
The Attorney General concluded that, under House Bill 1983's savings clause, the Comptroller (not the Commission on State Emergency Communications) has authority to collect a telecommunications…
Can Oregon pay a state employee's legal bills when the employee is criminally charged for something they did on the job and beats the charges?
The AG concluded that DAS had authority to create a program under its risk-management statute or as additional compensation through the Personnel Division, and could agree to such a program through…
Were South Carolina parents automatically liable for a 17-year-old child’s car accident or contract?
The 2000 AG said parental liability depended on the facts, including emancipation and who provided a car for family use. Parents were not automatically liable for a minor’s contract, and a…
Could an off-duty South Carolina town officer ticket a driver for speeding observed outside town?
The 2000 AG said no on the described facts: the officer observed the cited speeding outside Williston, beyond his municipal jurisdiction. A citation would have been possible if he had observed…
Can an Oregon public charter school hire a private for-profit company to run the school, and must it already have 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status when it applies?
The AG concluded that ORS 338.115(8) allows a public charter school to contract with a for-profit entity to operate the school, provided the charter school retains a right of control and procedural…
Must a South Carolina magistrate issue an arrest warrant when a victim files a sworn crime affidavit?
No. The 2000 AG said the magistrate had to make an independent probable-cause decision from information given under oath. A victim’s affidavit, police report and investigation did not automatically…
When could a Louisiana university employee receive payment for unused sick leave?
The 2000 opinion said the unclassified university employee could receive payment for up to twenty-five days of unused sick leave upon actual retirement. Ending employment alone did not trigger the…
Did a Louisiana charter school's troubled first operator bar approval of a different nonprofit's charter?
The 2000 opinion found no legal conflict on the facts presented. The education board was moving to revoke one corporation's provisional charter and had conditionally approved a new charter for a…
Could a South Carolina foster parent also volunteer as a guardian ad litem in an unrelated case?
The 2000 AG found no express legal ban on serving in both roles for unrelated children. It deferred to the Governor’s guardian program to set eligibility policy, including its restrictions on foster…
Could the Charleston County School Board open its meetings with prayer under the Constitution?
The South Carolina AG concluded in 2000 that an opening prayer at that school board’s meeting was constitutional. It treated the board as an adult deliberative body, while acknowledging a contrary…
Could a Kentucky deputy sheriff carry a concealed weapon off duty in another county without a permit?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a deputy sheriff on personal, off-duty business outside the sworn county did not qualify for the statute's permit-free concealed-carry exceptions. The…
When a child reports being abused while held in a county-operated juvenile detention facility, does the local Department of Social Services have the authority to investigate the abuse claim, or is the case outside DSS's jurisdiction because secure detention facilities are licensed by the Office of Juvenile Justice rather than DSS?
Yes. The AG concluded that a county-operated secure juvenile detention facility falls within the 'residential child care facility' language used in the Juvenile Code's caretaker definition. Its…
Could a Louisiana firefighter or police officer receive paid sick leave again after an old off-duty injury recurred?
The 2000 opinion said off-duty injuries could qualify for sick leave for both groups. It distinguished firefighters' sick leave, which it said was not confined to one calendar year, from police sick…
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