State AG Opinions
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Can a New York fire district require volunteer firefighters to have a high school diploma?
Yes. The AG concluded a board of fire commissioners may set membership qualifications including a high school diploma or equivalency requirement under Town Law § 176(11). Alternative path: requiring…
Do New York charter school construction, renovation, and repair projects have to pay prevailing wages under Labor Law § 220?
Generally yes. Charter schools are public schools serving an essential public purpose, so projects to build, renovate, or repair their facilities are usually 'public works' subject to Labor Law §…
Can a New York town cut timber on town park land to maintain the park and improve it with the proceeds?
Yes, for limited, selective cutting that preserves the park and enhances public use, with proceeds spent on park improvements. The AG concluded this is consistent with State law. Full commercial…
Could South Carolina set different probate-judge qualifications based on county population?
The assistant attorney general thought a court would likely uphold the proposed population-based qualifications if their justifications resembled those accepted in prior cases. He also said the…
Can a New York city prohibit council members from disclosing matters discussed in an executive session?
Yes. The AG concluded a municipality has statutory authority to prohibit legislators from disclosing executive-session matters through its ethics code or a local law. Any restriction on speech…
If a NC crime victim's claim is under $7,500 but the victim was committing a misdemeanor or engaged in contributory misconduct, who decides whether to pay the claim: the Commission or its Director?
The full Commission. The AG resolved an apparent conflict between two crime-victim-compensation statutes. G.S. § 15B-10(a) gave the Director authority to decide claims of $7,500 or less. G.S. §…
Can a Texas junior college buy insurance through a single designated broker of record?
It depends on the dollar amount. The Attorney General concluded that a junior college district may not use a designated broker of record to buy insurance when the premiums total $10,000 or more in a…
Can a Texas state licensing board inspect a polygraph examiner's office without a search warrant?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the Polygraph Examiners Board had no power to inspect a polygraph examiner's work product at the examiner's place of business without a warrant. A routine…
Does the Open Meetings Act apply when a quorum of a Texas public board committee attends an outside speech?
It depends on what gets discussed. The Attorney General concluded that when a quorum of a public board's standing committee attends a speech or meeting run by someone else and a member takes part in…
Did Wyoming's constitution require the legislature to send a proposed constitutional amendment to the governor for signature before putting it on the ballot?
Yes. Article 3, § 41 of the Wyoming Constitution requires every joint resolution to be presented to the governor for approval or veto, and the AG concluded a 2000 legislative rule that bypassed the…
Could Maryland social services tell a school superintendent about abuse allegations involving a contractor's bus driver?
Under the statute analyzed in 2000, the AG said the child-abuse-record disclosure exception for school employees did not extend to a bus driver employed by a private contractor. The official PDF…
Could a parish school board's sales-tax auditor also serve on the parish council?
The AG said yes. The parish and school board were separate political subdivisions, and the board's tax collections for the parish were not funds received by the council member's office.
Could Louisiana risk rate St. Landry school employees' state health premiums when most chose the state plan?
No on the stated facts. The AG said R.S. 42:881 controlled over the older one-year school board rule, and St. Landry employees participating in the state plan should not be risk rated because a…
When a NC town leases private land for public parking and beach access, can the town claim the property is tax-exempt as 'municipal property'?
No. The AG concluded that Ocean Isle Beach's leasehold interest in privately-owned land did not qualify for the § 105-278.1(b) municipal property tax exemption. The words 'belonging to' in that…
Could a Connecticut regional council of governments apply for a federal brownfields grant as a political subdivision?
The AG concluded that the South Central Regional Council of Governments was a political subdivision of Connecticut for participation in the EPA Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot. Its…
Could a Louisiana mayor also practice law, serve as city attorney, or work part-time as an assistant district attorney?
The AG said the dual officeholding law did not bar a mayor's private law practice or a part-time assistant district attorney appointment. It did bar the mayor from also serving as city attorney…
Did St. Martin Parish's new charter force a councilman off boards he already served on?
The AG said the charter's new restriction did not apply retroactively to the councilman's existing fixed board terms. He also found his two part-time board seats compatible under the dual…
Could Idaho voters require cities to hold an election within a proposed annexation area before annexing it, with the city paying for the vote?
The proposed initiative would have repealed Idaho Code 50-222 and replaced it with new sections requiring cities to hold a hearing and an election in the unincorporated area before annexation, with…
If NC adopts the new Uniform Commercial Code Article 9 revisions, will the Department of the Secretary of State and its employees face new tort liability exposure?
Yes. The AG concluded that the General Statutes Commission's pending Article 9 revisions would substantially increase the liability exposure of the Secretary of State's filing office and its…
When a North Carolina farm or forestland loses its present-use property tax break, how many years of back taxes does the county collect?
Three years, plus the current fiscal year. The AG concluded that G.S. § 105-277.4(c) operated in two sequential steps. First, the current fiscal year's taxes were computed as if the property had…
Can a Texas navigation district accept easements from the Army Corps just to hand them back to landowners?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the Port of Bay City Authority of Matagorda County, a special purpose district with only the powers the Legislature gave it or that are clearly implied, had…
Can a Texas agency require an HIV test to get a professional boxing license?
No, not by rule. The Attorney General concluded that the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation could not require professional boxing applicants to take an HIV test as a condition of…
Does Texas's religious freedom law let a faith-based school grant degrees without state approval?
No. The Attorney General concluded that chapter 110 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Texas's religious freedom statute, does not exempt a religious degree-granting university from state…
Can a volunteer firefighter also serve on the city council in Texas?
Not in Gilmer's case. The Attorney General concluded that a member of the Gilmer Volunteer Fire Department could not also serve on the city council, because the city charter put the fire department…
Can New York police arrest someone without a warrant for being in the country illegally?
Only if the person is suspected of criminally violating the Immigration and Nationality Act, not just being civilly out of status. The AG concluded New York officers can make warrantless arrests for…
Can the Texas Ethics Commission release campaign donors' street addresses on a computer diskette?
No. The Attorney General read section 254.0401(e) of the Election Code to bar the Texas Ethics Commission from releasing a campaign contributor's street or P.O. box address by any electronic means,…
Can a Texas water district set up a retirement system for its elected directors?
No, for a retirement system. The Attorney General concluded that section 49.069(b) of the Water Code does not let a water district establish a public retirement system for district directors who…
Can a Texas county quit the county court judge salary supplement program in the middle of the year?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a county participating in the salary supplementation program for statutory county court judges, funded by the extra court costs and fees collected under…
What happens to a defendant's cash bail money in Texas when the DA never files charges?
When no criminal case is filed, the sheriff does not send the defendant's cash bail bond to the court clerk, because the statutes that require that step assume a pending case. The Attorney General…
Can the Vermont State House restrict the display of a publication with sexually explicit cartoons in its public cafeteria?
The State House cafeteria was a designated public forum, so any restriction on speech had to be narrowly drawn. Vermont could limit minors' access to material depicting intimate sexual activity, but…
Could a Louisiana registrar request citizenship proof after receiving a foreign-born applicant's DMV voter form?
The AG said the registrar had to mail the statutory notice seeking information required by R.S. 18:105 when a DMV application showed foreign birth but lacked citizenship proof. The 2000 opinion…
Which Entergy electricity sales counted toward Richwood's franchise fee?
The AG read Richwood's agreement to exclude electricity sold to government agencies while including sales to nonprofit organizations and commercial customers within town limits.
When NC created a Board of Massage and Bodywork Therapy in 1998, did the new board take over school licensing from the State Board of Community Colleges?
No. The Massage Board gained authority to approve, but not license, massage and bodywork schools. Its approval authority triggered an exemption from Article 8 proprietary-school licensing, so the…
Could a Westwego councilman also direct Jefferson Parish's home incarceration program?
The AG said yes on the stated facts: the parish director job was a part-time appointive office in another political subdivision. He added that even if it were employment, it would be outside the…
Did St. Mary Parish have to pay utility bills for a sheriff's substation in Morgan City?
Yes. The AG concluded that the parish council had to provide utilities for the sheriff's substation because the sheriff could open the office and R.S. 33:4713 required the parish to provide needed…
Can a Texas county move police training funds into its general fund?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the money allocated to local law enforcement agencies under section 1701.157 of the Occupations Code, which funds continuing education for local peace…
Could Connecticut's wildlife commissioner kill protected animals under a general wildlife-management power?
The Attorney General concluded that a court would likely read the commissioner's broad wildlife powers as limited by specific laws protecting certain species or forbidding particular methods of…
Were Maryland human-services contracts treated as procurement contracts for lobbying rules?
Generally yes under the 2000 law. The AG said most state purchases of human services were procurement contracts for the ethics law, but the definition excluded certain reimbursement arrangements…
Can a Texas university board let regents join a regular meeting by phone?
Not by telephone. The Attorney General concluded that a governing board of a higher-education institution cannot hold a regular meeting with absent members participating from remote locations by…
Can a Texas police chief approve a job transfer for his own son or nephew?
Not if the approval involves any discretion. The Attorney General concluded that section 573.062(b) of the Government Code bars a public official from participating in any employment action…
Who is disqualified from serving on a Texas county appraisal review board?
The Attorney General concluded the El Paso board member was ineligible to serve. The decisive point was that, when he was appointed, he was acting as paid legal counsel to the appraisal district,…
Can a Texas county fix an invalid appointment by waiting until the appointee becomes eligible?
No, not automatically. The Attorney General concluded that if a county attorney's appointment was invalid when made because the appointee had not lived in the county for the required six months, the…
Could the UNC Health Care System legally spend $163 million in public funds to acquire control of Rex Healthcare, a private nonprofit hospital, without specific authorization from the General Assembly? Would Rex employees become state employees? Would Rex get state immunities?
The AG concluded yes the System had authority, no Rex employees would not become state employees, and no Rex would not get state immunities. The acquisition was structured as a corporate-control…
Can a physician assistant attend a birth in a North Carolina hospital instead of a doctor or a certified nurse midwife?
No. The AG read 10 NCAC 3C .4302(a) at face value: the rule said each birth had to be attended 'by a physician or certified nurse midwife' with documented current competence and appropriate…
Could a Connecticut special deputy sheriff serve a civil capias under the former sheriff system?
The AG concluded that a special deputy sheriff could not serve a civil capias in the ordinary course of business. A capias was civil process, outside that officer’s statutory authority; criminal…
Could Connecticut set air-pollution limits stricter than federal law without paying compliance costs?
The AG concluded that Connecticut could set air-emission standards more stringent than federal Clean Air Act requirements. The federal act did not require the state to cover the cost of complying…
Could Maryland's Injured Workers' Insurance Fund share claim medical records with the self-insured employer it represented?
The AG concluded that IWIF could give claim medical records to the self-insured employer whose claims it administered without triggering the redisclosure rule, if the claimant's original…
Does Maryland's law requiring people to self-identify their own race on state forms apply to police arrest and booking forms?
The Attorney General concluded that Maryland's 1998 law requiring self-identification of race and allowing multiple racial categories applies generally to state forms, including those used by the…
Is it constitutional for North Carolina to make you pay the use tax on out-of-state purchases on your state income tax return?
Yes. The AG concluded that bundling use-tax collection with the individual income tax return did not run afoul of the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act or the dormant Commerce Clause restrictions in…
Could a Washington county refuse to contract with a city to handle city-referred misdemeanor cases?
The Attorney General concluded in 2000 that RCW 39.34.180 did not force a county to enter a city misdemeanor-services contract. Once the county agreed to contract and compensation was disputed,…
Could Louisiana's agriculture department keep voluntarily supplied trade secrets and business data confidential?
The AG said the specified trade secrets and commercial information were exempt under the cited Louisiana provisions when obtained through a voluntary agreement that designated them confidential and…
Could Louisiana's state employee benefits board risk rate school board premiums under its one-year rule?
The AG said the later statute, La. R. S. 42:881, controlled risk-rated premiums for school boards, despite the board's older one-year rule and its failure to adopt a new rule. The statutory…
Did Connecticut owe injured state retirees the insurance given to current active employees?
The AG corrected a 1984 opinion: state retirees receiving workers’ compensation did not necessarily keep the insurance level offered to current active workers. The statutory minimum was equivalent…
Could Ferriday housing tenants appoint their own commissioner to the local housing authority?
No. The AG said Ferriday tenants and the housing authority director could not appoint a commissioner or issue an appointment certificate; the municipal chief elected official held the appointment…
Was Louisiana's reenacted polling-place campaign-free-zone law enforceable after a state court struck down its earlier version?
The AG said the 1995 reenacted version of R.S. 18:1462(A) was presumed valid and enforceable until a court with jurisdiction declared it unconstitutional, despite the earlier Louisiana Supreme Court…
Can a Texas state agency create an advisory committee without express statutory authority?
Yes, if the agency's own governing statutes authorize it, expressly or by implication. The Attorney General concluded that chapter 2110 of the Government Code, which is about the cost and…
Can a Texas state agency make you use comp time before getting workers' comp benefits?
No, on both counts. The Attorney General concluded that a state agency has no authority to require an injured employee to exhaust accumulated compensatory leave before weekly income benefits begin…
Could Shreveport guarantee part of a private developer's construction loan for a riverfront project?
No. The AG said Shreveport's proposed guarantee of a private developer's bank loan would donate the city's credit in violation of Article VII, Section 14 of the Louisiana Constitution.
When a New York environmental conservation officer makes an arrest for a Fish and Wildlife Law offense, does the Penal Law's general firearm seizure rule apply, or only the narrower ECL rule limited to illegal deer-taking?
The ECL rule controls. The AG concluded ECL § 71-0907(4)(f)(3) authorizes firearm seizure only for misdemeanors involving the illegal taking or attempted taking of wild deer; the broader Penal Law §…
How does a Texas special-law city like Socorro convert to home-rule status?
The Attorney General concluded that the City of Socorro, a special-law city created by the legislature in 1871, could not amend its charter to become a hybrid special-law/home-rule city by following…
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