State AG Opinions
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Can a Texas county commissioners court handle purchasing, or hire staff for it, when no county purchasing agent has been appointed?
The Attorney General reached several conclusions for Parker County. A commissioners court may employ people to conduct county business even without specific statutory authority, as long as those…
Can a Texas sheriff join a multi-county tactical response team and send deputies to help other counties without the commissioners court's approval?
The Attorney General concluded that, as described, the Midland County Sheriff had no authority to organize or join the STAR mutual-aid tactical team. The general power to make contracts binding a…
Could a South Carolina sheriff charge a school district for drug-sniffing dog services?
The 2000 AG said a sheriff with the resources to provide the service had to do so without a fee because no statute authorized charging for it. It treated the proposed contract-bidding question as…
Could a South Carolina town annex land across a county line?
The 2000 AG said earlier office opinions still viewed cross-county annexation as extremely doubtful because they found no authorizing statute and cited the state constitution. It did not rule on a…
Could Orleans's law enforcement district use voter-approved bonds to improve city-owned court buildings?
The 2000 opinion said yes if the city and sheriff agreed and voters approved the bonds under applicable law. City-owned court and district-attorney buildings could count as property of use or…
When the Minnesota Commissioner of Labor and Industry issues an order under § 176.181 finding that an employer failed to carry workers compensation insurance, are that order and the employer's written objection public data, or are they investigative data that has to be kept confidential?
Public data. The AG concluded that DOLI's Orders to Comply and Penalty Assessments under § 176.181, and the written objections employers file in response, are not investigative data under § 13.39…
Could Connecticut exclude a charity federation from its employee giving campaign for separate solicitations?
The AG concluded that the state employee charitable campaign committee could bar a federation whose member agencies separately solicited employees during the campaign, but only after adopting the…
Can a police officer also serve as a member of the town council that oversees the police department?
The Attorney General concluded that while an Ocean City police officer could legally run for and be elected to the City Council, the common-law doctrine of incompatible positions barred the officer…
Could a Louisiana legislator put an official-looking decal or vanity plate on a privately owned car?
The 2000 opinion found no state-law ban on an official's privately owned vehicle displaying a decal, unofficial plate, or similar insignia identifying the driver as a public officer. It said public…
Did a South Carolina pardon prevent social services from considering the conduct behind a crime?
The 2000 AG said its prior view remained that a pardon ended further punishment but did not erase the underlying acts. It read a recent DUI sentencing decision narrowly and did not treat it as…
Could a Charleston County planning commissioner also sit on South Carolina’s coastal appeals panel?
The 2000 AG said no. It treated both the county planning commission seat and the Coastal Zone Appellate Panel seat as public offices, making simultaneous service contrary to the state dual-office rule.
Could a company redeem out-of-state gambling prizes for cash inside South Carolina?
The 2000 AG said the described arrangement would be prosecutable: machines used across the border would produce cash payoffs in South Carolina. Separate companies handling play and payout did not…
How did Louisiana classify a university support foundation as private under R.S. 17:3390?
The AG said the statute's own criteria governed the private status of qualifying alumni associations and foundations. Public funding did not alone remove that status, though records directly…
When could a South Carolina sheriff remove a manufactured-home tenant, and what happened to the home?
The 2000 AG said the sheriff could remove the tenant after a valid ejectment writ and required notice, using the least destructive entry possible, but could not remove the tenant’s belongings from…
Could South Carolina’s governor remove Clearwater water district commissioners for neglecting duties?
The 2000 AG said the governor then lacked statutory authority to remove those district commissioners for failure to perform their duties. It reasoned that the general removal law covered state and…
Could police arrest a store employee without a warrant for theft observed weeks earlier by store staff?
The 2000 AG said the responding officer could not initiate a warrantless arrest for a theft neither seen by the officer nor freshly committed. A store agent’s delayed detention would likely be an…
Could Norway, South Carolina, provide police protection outside its town limits?
The 2000 AG said state law allowed municipal police to serve town-owned or controlled property wherever located and permitted contracts for protection beyond town limits with specified entities. For…
Could Louisiana's drinking water loan program lend to privately owned public water systems?
Yes, under the law reviewed in 2000. The AG said loans using federal grants and state matching money did not violate the state constitutional loan ban when they complied with the governing laws,…
Did Maryland's seat belt law require a taxicab driver to buckle up in 2000?
The Maryland AG concluded in 2000 that the state's seat belt use requirement did not apply to drivers of Class B taxicabs. Federal vehicle standards required seat belts to be installed, but the…
Could a Mount Pleasant police officer serve at the same time on Berkeley County Council?
The 2000 AG said no. Both positions were public offices under South Carolina's dual-office rule; taking the county council seat automatically vacated the earlier police office, though the officer…
How could Aiken enforce unpaid parking tickets under South Carolina law in 2000?
The 2000 AG said Aiken could use an ordinance summons if it had adopted that procedure. Failure to appear without posting bond could then support misdemeanor penalties and arrest; the city could…
Could a Louisiana town council member vote on police matters while that police department investigated the member?
The 2000 opinion said yes. It found no law requiring abstention in the stated situation, where the vote did not involve the member's personal economic gain, while noting the council member's duty to…
Could a Washington first-class city elect newly created officers at an even-year state election?
The Attorney General concluded in 2000 that a first-class city could hold a one-time special election for initial shortened terms of newly created charter offices alongside an even-year state…
Can an area break away from a Texas community college district to form its own district, and how?
The Attorney General concluded that disannexing part of a junior (community) college district is possible only when a statute specifically authorizes it and only by the method the Legislature set.…
Does Texas's salary cap on rehired state retirees apply if they did the same work for only part of their last year before retiring?
The Attorney General concluded the section 659.0115 salary cap does apply to a retiree rehired to do work substantially similar to what he did during any part of his last twelve months of state…
Can a Texas county exempt certain land divisions from the subdivision plat requirement, and who must be notified before a plat is revised?
The Attorney General reached three conclusions for Parker County. First, Local Government Code section 232.0015(a) does let a county 'define and classify' land divisions so as to except a specific…
Can a Texas court clerk prepare a criminal judgment, and does the 1999 law require an attorney to supervise?
The Attorney General concluded that the 1999 amendment to article 42.01, section 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure did not stop a court clerk from preparing a criminal judgment, but a clerk could…
Could Connecticut publish names and addresses of people whose tax rebate checks were undelivered?
The AG concluded that the revenue department could not publish names or addresses of undelivered tax-rebate recipients obtained from protected tax and Social Security records. It could use general…
Could Connecticut join a multistate lottery that put ticket winners on a televised game show?
The AG concluded that the proposed multistate instant-ticket game with a televised chance-based show fit Connecticut’s lottery authority. The Division of Special Revenue still had to approve the…
Who appointed a public housing resident to a municipal housing authority board in South Carolina in 2000?
The 2000 AG said the mayor alone appointed the directly assisted resident commissioner unless the authority's rules called for an election by assisted residents. A mayoral appointee served at the…
Did Connecticut still have to pay a bond issued by the state in 1784?
The Attorney General advised the Connecticut Treasurer to deny payment. The opinion said the debt had become a federal responsibility in the early 1790s and Connecticut acts from 1798 and 1799…
When North Carolina's State Highway Patrol or other state law enforcement agencies collect statistics on traffic stops, is the identity of the officer who made each stop a public record, or can the state keep officer names confidential?
Under the 2000 amendment to G.S. § 114-10(2a), an officer’s identity in the traffic-stop records is not a public record, but the stop location is. Agencies may use anonymous officer identification…
Could Dorchester school board candidates file after a new deadline was precleared a day late in 2000?
The 2000 AG did not resolve which filing deadline governed. The letter favored allowing candidacy where qualifications were doubtful but recognized authority for retroactive preclearance of the new…
Could a sheriff hire a civil lawyer whose law partner represented indigent criminal defendants?
The AG found no direct conflict or material limit on indigent defense if the sheriff's lawyer handled only the civil work described. It warned that law-enforcement policy work might create a…
Could a Louisiana village resume its mayor's court after decades without holding a session?
The 2000 opinion said Pioneer could reactivate its mayor's court. The office did not say the village needed new legislation merely because the court had rarely met.
Could Maryland's Stadium Authority build facilities for other agencies under an uncodified budget law, and who could approve the contracts?
The AG concluded in 2000 that a 1998 capital budget provision gave the Stadium Authority continuing authority to do construction and related work for other government units. Legislative budget…
Could South Carolina indigent defense pay older appellate conflict bills from a later appropriation?
The 2000 AG said Proviso 35.3 did not authorize payment for appeals heard before its passage. The proviso lacked express retroactive language or sufficiently clear legislative intent; the letter…
Can Texas police pull over a motorcyclist who isn't wearing a helmet and has no exemption sticker?
The Attorney General concluded that a peace officer may stop a motorcyclist (or a rider carrying a passenger) who is not wearing a helmet when the motorcycle does not display the Department of…
Can a Texas police officer or firefighter appeal a written reprimand to the civil service commission?
For a municipality not subject to chapter 143 subchapters G, H, I, or J, the Attorney General concluded that a civil-service commission cannot hear an appeal of a written reprimand standing alone.…
Does a Texas county clerk have to file a UCC lien that lists the same person as both debtor and secured party?
The Attorney General concluded that a county clerk does not have to accept a purported UCC financing statement that names the same person as both the debtor and the secured party, because such a…
Can a Texas county quietly raise elected officials' salaries by more than the amount in the public notice?
The Attorney General concluded that section 152.013(b) of the Local Government Code requires a commissioners court to publish notice of the maximum proposed salary increases for elected county and…
Can a Texas county put probation department employees under its civil service system?
The Attorney General concluded that a county cannot include community-supervision-and-corrections department employees (probation officers and staff) in a county civil-service system, even one…
How does a Texas county split national forest money among its school districts?
The Attorney General concluded that under section 130.906 of the Local Government Code, a county that receives federal national forest revenue must divide the school share among all its school…
Could a Vermont sheriff charge a service-of-process fee for finding the right address or otherwise locating someone, even if no service was actually made?
No. The fees in 32 V.S.A. § 1591(1) were payable only on presentation of a return of service. The activity that triggered the flat fee was the actual service of process, not the preparatory work of…
Did a seat on the Orangeburg-Calhoun law enforcement commission count as a public office?
The 2000 AG said yes for South Carolina's dual-office rule. The commission board's continuing powers over detention facilities, property, regulations, spending, and staff exercised part of the…
Could a 2000 South Carolina primary candidate challenge the party pledge before running as an independent?
The 2000 AG said the South Carolina Supreme Court had upheld the notice and pledge requirements of Section 7-11-210 against constitutional challenges, and the office could not declare the statute…
When an Oregon court seals someone's criminal record, do public-safety agencies like DPSST have to seal their certification records too, or can they still consider the past conviction?
The AG concluded that an order under ORS 137.225 sealing a set-aside conviction reached DPSST records of that conviction once DPSST had a certified copy or actual knowledge, but did not require…
Could a pastor who was not a licensed counselor charge a Louisiana police department for officer counseling?
The AG said the pastor described could not provide mental-health counseling outside the employment of his church or religious institution without the applicable professional license. The clergy…
Did a Louisiana school board have to repeat a teacher's one-time extra pay the next school year?
The AG said no on the stated facts. Pay for two extra weeks of one-time work was neither fixed nor regular, so the teacher-salary protections discussed in the opinion did not require the board to…
Could a Louisiana school assign custodial or food-service work instead of in-school suspension?
The AG said such work could be used if the school board's policy allowed it, the measure complied with the student-discipline statute, students and parents received the policy, and meetings informed…
Did a Louisiana sheriff have to pay back wages after charges against a fired correctional officer were dropped?
The AG found no state constitutional or statutory duty to reimburse this non civil service, at will former officer for wages after the charges were dismissed. It distinguished a separate statute on…
Can a city park board let a public hotel sell gym memberships to local residents?
The Attorney General concluded that a municipal park board may adopt rules letting a hotel it manages under section 306.032 of the Local Government Code sell health and fitness center memberships to…
Does Texas's disabled parking placard law require two accessible spaces in a small lot?
The Attorney General concluded that section 681.009(e) of the Transportation Code does not require two disabled parking spaces where the federal ADA and Texas accessibility guidelines require only…
Can a Texas county move car registration fee money into its general fund?
The Attorney General concluded that motor vehicle registration fees allocated to a county must be credited to the county road and bridge fund and used for road and bridge construction, maintenance,…
Does a Texas judge auto-resign just by seeking a party's nomination for another office?
The Attorney General concluded that a county court at law judge who merely seeks a political party's executive committee nomination to be the party's general-election candidate for a new office does…
Does a Texas agency post its own meeting notice when its board attends a Sunset hearing?
The Attorney General concluded that when a quorum of a state agency's governing board attends a Sunset Advisory Commission public hearing and one or more of them testifies, answers questions, or…
Can a Maryland legislative district be contiguous when a river separates its land areas and no bridge or ferry connects them?
The Maryland AG concluded in 2000 that a legislative district could cross navigable water without a bridge, tunnel, or ferry and still meet the state constitution's contiguity requirement. A…
In New York, can the same person serve as town assessor and as a member of the school board?
Yes. The AG concluded the two offices are compatible. No statute barred the combination (Town Law § 20(4) covers only elective town offices and the assessor here was appointive; Education Law § 2103…
Can a New York district attorney also sit on a BOCES board or a local school board?
No. The AG concluded that the elected part-time district attorney's broad, nondelegable prosecutorial discretion was incompatible with holding policymaking positions on the BOCES and school board…
Can a New York city ask the state to install a 15 mph school speed limit on a state highway running past a college?
No. The AG concluded that colleges and universities are not 'schools' under Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1620, because the DOT regulation governing school speed limit signs requires the institution to…
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