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Could a Kentucky newspaper use a Periodicals mailing permit where the legal-notice law required a Second Class permit?
Yes. The AG concluded that KRS 424.120's reference to a “Second Class” mailing permit should be read as a “Periodicals” permit after USPS renamed the category without changing its eligibility requirements.
Could a Kentucky school council close extracurricular practices to parents despite a school board open-practice policy?
No. The AG concluded that a local school board could require extracurricular practice sessions to be open to parents. The school council's authority over programs and supervision did not let it…
Could Spartanburg County legislators alone choose the next transportation commissioner for South Carolina’s fourth district?
An Assistant AG said no. The commissioner needed a majority vote of the congressional district’s delegation as a whole, even if the county-rotation rule required the next commissioner to live…
Could Connecticut withhold workers’ compensation payments for child support?
The AG distinguished two payments. Subsistence allowances from the Workers’ Rehabilitation Unit were not earnings subject to child support withholding. Other workers’ compensation benefits were…
Does a South Carolina governor’s executive order expire when that governor leaves office?
An Assistant Deputy AG said an authorized executive order continues after the issuing governor’s term until amended, set aside, or revoked. The letter expressly departed from earlier office opinions…
What remedy did the South Carolina AG identify if a school district paid employees’ criminal-defense costs with public funds?
An Assistant Deputy AG said a taxpayer action was the most feasible remedy for the spending he considered unauthorized. He described declaratory judgment, an injunction against future payments, and…
Could Spartanburg County’s legislative delegation or county council take over its transportation committee and spend county road funds?
An Assistant AG said the delegation could replace committee members, subject to constitutional limits, but neither it nor county council could act as the committee or spend the earmarked road funds.…
Could a Kentucky county use its 911 service fee to buy street signs with 911 address names?
No. The AG concluded that street signs were part of the road system, not the 911 emergency telephone service defined by the funding statute. Their usefulness to responders did not make them an…
Could a South Carolina transportation commissioner serve a second term immediately after the first?
An Assistant Deputy AG reaffirmed that a commissioner could not succeed himself or herself under the county-rotation provision. The same person could serve again later after representation had…
Are Oregon's laws requiring state approval before railroads close their agencies preempted by federal rail deregulation?
Yes. ORS 823.073 and 823.075 were preempted by the federal ICC Termination Act of 1995 (49 USC § 10501(b)). Oregon could not require ODOT approval before railroads closed their agencies.
Could a Florence city council member also sit on a nonprofit microloan advisory committee?
A Deputy AG said yes on the facts provided. The committee was formed by a charitable organization, its duties were not set by state law, and deciding loan eligibility did not appear to exercise…
Can Oregon's Legislature repeal the elected office of state schools superintendent and make the Governor fill that role instead?
Yes. The Legislature had the constitutional authority to repeal statutes providing for an elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction and assign those duties back to the Governor.
Who controls a county juvenile detention center, the juvenile court or a private company hired to run it?
Bell County had hired a private corporation to run its juvenile detention facility under a management agreement that left the juvenile court only a role of inspection. The county attorney asked how…
Did South Carolina law require the Comptroller General’s personal name on state payment checks?
An Assistant Deputy AG found no express requirement in Section 11-3-140 for the officeholder’s name on checks. He said using the title alone could satisfy the statute’s purpose, treated the check…
Was a Beaufort-only bill transferring appointment powers from legislators to county council constitutional?
An Assistant AG raised substantial constitutional concerns about the proposed bill because it applied only to Beaufort County. He found its validity doubtful under the ban on county-specific laws…
How is oil and gas production equipment taxed, and how long can a county collect back taxes on it?
A county attorney asked how counties should appraise and collect taxes on oilfield production equipment (casing, tubing, pump jacks, tanks, surface pipe) sitting on a mineral leasehold, after a…
Can a small New York village with no school-age residents 'opt out' of its school district and stop paying school taxes, replacing them with a private education fund?
No. The AG concluded there is no statutory authority for a village to remove itself from a school district. School-district boundaries are governed by the Education Law, school taxes attach to all…
If a volunteer fire chief or assistant chief is sued for sex discrimination at the State Division of Human Rights, does the village have to pay for their lawyer under Public Officers Law § 18?
No, not automatically. The AG concluded Public Officers Law § 18's defense and indemnification duties are limited to civil actions or proceedings in state or federal court, which does not include…
Why are North Carolina banks allowed to deduct the full amount of their federal bond interest income for state tax purposes, when other corporations have to subtract out the interest expenses associated with that income, and is that bank-specific treatment constitutional?
It is a long-standing administrative policy under NCGS 105-130.5 that the General Assembly has implicitly ratified by leaving in place despite multiple proposed reversals. The AG concluded that,…
Could Maryland retailers still charge bad-check fees after a 1996 law seemed to repeal the fee statute?
The Attorney General concluded that Maryland's bad-check-fee statute remained legally effective despite an apparent repeal in 1996 legislation, because the repeal resulted from a drafting mistake in…
Was Aiken County’s mobile-home registration program manager a public officer?
An Assistant AG said the manager was an employee rather than a public officer on the supplied job description, because the position did not exercise state sovereign power. He cautioned that a court…
Can a New York town board abolish the elected office of tax collector by resolution, and if so, when does it take effect?
Yes, but the timing rules are strict. A second-class town board can abolish the office under Town Law § 36 by a resolution adopted at least 150 days before a biennial town election, with abolition…
In New York, can a county legislator also serve on the town planning board of a town inside the county?
Yes, with one caveat. The AG concluded the two positions are compatible. But if the county legislator has authority over appointments to a county, metropolitan, or regional planning board that…
Can the assistant chief of a New York fire district's fire department also sit on the board of fire commissioners?
No. The AG concluded that Town Law § 174(4) expressly prohibits the same person from holding both the office of fire district commissioner and the office of chief or assistant chief. The statutory…
Can a New York county attorney represent a county official who wants to sue someone for defamation arising from their county work?
No. The AG concluded that County Law § 501 does not authorize the county attorney to represent a county official as a plaintiff in a defamation action. The statute covers official-act litigation by…
Can the same person serve as a New York town assessor while also being elected mayor of a village inside the town?
No. The AG concluded the positions are incompatible. The town assessor must value all town property impartially, but a mayor's loyalty to village taxpayers creates an inherent conflict and at…
How long do Oregon's revolving-door restrictions bar former insurance and banking regulators from going to work for the industries they used to regulate?
In 1997, the AG concluded that ORS 244.045(1) covered DCBS directors, though the 1993 financial-gain addition applied only to directors appointed after November 4, 1993. Insurance and finance…
Could a private buyer of a Kentucky delinquent tax bill recover attorney fees from the taxpayer?
No. The AG concluded that a court could not award attorney fees to a private party collecting a purchased certificate of delinquency. The collection statute did not expressly authorize the fees, and…
Could an Aiken County code enforcement officer carry an issued pistol while working?
An Assistant Deputy AG said a code enforcement officer could be treated as exempt from the pistol-carrying prohibition if the officer met the statutory law-enforcement category, subject to a court…
Could an apartment owner bar a tenant’s guest from common areas and seek a trespass charge after notice?
An Assistant Deputy AG said a tenant’s invitation did not automatically defeat a trespass charge after the owner warned the guest away. The result depended on the lease, the guest’s conduct and…
Why did a 1997 North Carolina bill propose clarifying when continuing air-quality penalties begin?
The AG said the amendment would clarify that continuing penalties may be assessed from the date an air-quality violation begins, rather than from the date the violator receives notice. The opinion…
Can a member of a local school board moonlight as a paid high school sports referee or umpire at games played by schools under that board's control without violating the self-dealing criminal statute?
Yes, under the facts presented. The AG concluded NCGS 14-234 does not reach the situation because the school board has no role in the selection of officials. The NC High School Athletic Association…
When North Carolina inmates are housed in private prisons rather than state-owned prisons, can community colleges still provide them with classes, waive tuition for them, and report their hours the same way?
Community colleges may offer the same educational services to DOC-approved inmates in private North Carolina prisons. The State Board may grant tuition waivers under its current regulation or adopt…
Could Isle of Palms city council authorize its administrator to declare a state of emergency?
An Assistant AG said no. He read state law as giving the governor authority to declare a state of emergency; the city could adopt a limited emergency ordinance but could not delegate a declaration…
When the Duplin Soil and Water Conservation District lacked enough money to fully fund swine lagoon retrofit cost-share grants needed for state water-quality compliance, could the district promise farmers a grant from a future budget cycle instead, and could it do so just for Duplin or did it have to extend the same option statewide?
Yes, with structural limits. Nothing in the cost-share statute or the state constitution prevents committing future grants. But no current board can bind a future board, and no contract can obligate…
Would South Carolina speeding and first-offense DUI charges from the same drive violate double jeopardy?
An Assistant Deputy AG said no. He applied the separate-elements approach: speeding required proof of exceeding the speed limit, while DUI required proof of impairment, so neither offense duplicated…
Did the South Carolina AG consider convenience-store scratch-and-win promotions an illegal lottery in 1997?
An Assistant Deputy AG said these games generally were lotteries in his view, including when an entry was called free but required a purchase or other consideration. He stressed that the facts of…
Can a Texas court make a sex offender put a warning sign in his yard as a probation condition?
A Tarrant County district court had ordered a convicted child-sex offender to post a sign on his home reading 'A PERSON ON PROBATION FOR A CHILD SEX OFFENSE LIVES HERE,' and the district attorney…
Can a Delaware county be forced under FOIA to produce a subcontractor's billing records that the county itself never received?
No, under the law as it stood in 1997. The AG found Sussex County did not violate FOIA by failing to produce billing records from a paving subcontractor, because the subcontractor's bills were…
Could North Carolina lawmakers pay intangibles-tax refunds to taxpayers who did not file a timely protest?
The AG said no. Because the State had no legal obligation to taxpayers who did not timely protest under N.C.G.S. §105-267, paying them would be an exclusive emolument prohibited by Article I,…
Could a Connecticut regional school district vary monthly town bills and move leftover money into a capital reserve?
The AG said a regional school board could choose when and how much to bill member towns, provided each town’s total stayed within its annual share of net expenses. It could not move unspent money…
Could New Ellenton’s mayor also serve as an Aiken County tax code enforcement officer?
An Assistant AG said the combination would violate South Carolina’s dual-office prohibition. He treated both the mayorship and the county code enforcement role as public offices because the latter…
Could Kentucky require voters to join a party 19 months before its primary?
The AG concluded in 1997 that Kentucky's party-registration statute had become unconstitutional when a missing general election stretched the wait for some primaries from about seven to 19 months.…
Could Connecticut’s ethics commission refund part of a lobbyist registration fee for a year without lobbying?
The AG found no statute authorizing the ethics commission to refund a portion of a lobbyist’s registration fee for a year in which the person did not lobby. He separately explained that his office’s…
Did the 1997 South Carolina AG consider the charter-school racial quota constitutional, and could the rest of the act survive?
AG Condon considered the ten-percent racial-composition quota unconstitutional and severable from the rest of the Charter Schools Act. He said only a court could decide those questions finally, and…
Could Easley utility commissioners replace free utility service with salaries, and when could salaries begin?
An Assistant AG said state law did not prohibit salaries for these commissioners, assuming the utility was organized under the cited public-works laws. Any salary had to apply prospectively, and he…
After the 1996 federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act amendments, what categories of information can the North Carolina Division of Social Services and county DSS agencies release publicly when a child involved in a CPS investigation has died?
The opinion said the State Division could continue releasing five limited categories of child-fatality information while case-specific protective-services information remained confidential. A county…
Could Connecticut’s comptroller send withheld vendor payments directly to the student loan foundation?
Yes. The AG concluded that the comptroller could remit sums withheld from state vendor payments to the Connecticut Student Loan Foundation. The statute directed an offset for certain defaulted loans…
Could a South Carolina municipal court order a dangerous animal destroyed after hearing the criminal case?
An Assistant Deputy AG said the municipal court could order destruction under the dangerous-animal statute when it had jurisdiction over the related criminal case and found a continuing serious…
Could Marlboro County hold a special election to fill an elected county auditor’s unfinished term?
An Assistant AG said no. Under the vacancy statutes as he applied them, the governor would appoint an interim auditor and voters would choose a successor at the next general election for the…
Can a New York town board expand a three-member police commission to five members, or does Town Law § 150 cap the board at three?
Yes. The AG concluded that a town board may by local law amend or supersede Town Law § 150(2) to establish a five-member board of police commissioners, because the structure of a town police…
May a North Carolina public board close a meeting to consult retained counsel about anesthesia contracts, and may its members discuss the advice with one another during that session?
The opinion said the board could close a session on proper motion if the proposed consultation fell within an existing attorney-client privilege. It found the required elements appeared present on…
When the North Carolina Division of Travel and Tourism gives requesting parties copies of its promotional photographs and slides, can the Division attach use restrictions, or is it required to release the images and let recipients use them however they want?
The images must be released and the Division cannot control downstream use. Photographs and slides made by the Division in the conduct of public business are public records under § 132-1(a). The…
Could Connecticut’s lottery sell tickets for a televised bingo-style drawing?
No. The AG concluded that the lottery corporation’s proposed televised, number-calling game was bingo under the governing statute. Its general power to introduce lottery products did not override…
Could a sheriff sell confiscated guns and reserve the proceeds for sheriff’s equipment by agreement with county officials?
An Assistant Deputy AG said the sheriff could trade eligible pistols for equipment or transfer weapons to the clerk for statutory sale. Sale proceeds went to the county general fund, and an…
Did South Carolina privileges for legislators, voters, and court attendees prevent criminal arrest?
An Assistant Deputy AG said the listed privileges against arrest, with exceptions for treason, felony, or breach of peace, protected against civil arrest rather than criminal charges generally. He…
What did the South Carolina AG conclude in 1997 about racial and gender set asides in state road and procurement contracts?
AG Condon considered the South Carolina set-aside programs unconstitutional and predicted courts would strike them under equal protection. He contrasted those preferences with race- and…
Can a person who is an officer and director of a corporation that holds a contract with a North Carolina public hospital be appointed to that hospital's Board of Trustees if the person owns less than 10% of the corporation's stock?
No, not while the person remains an officer and director. N.C.G.S. § 14-234(a) makes it a misdemeanor for an appointed director to be 'in any manner concerned or interested' in a contract with the…
Does a Delaware public records request require a school district to answer questions or compile lists that don't already exist as a document?
No, under the law as it stood in 1997. The AG found that most of a resident's eleven information requests to the Colonial School District, phrased as questions rather than requests to inspect…
Can North Carolina's state revolving loan fund make loans to privately owned drinking water utilities, or does the state constitution's public-purpose limit on tax money block it?
The existing revolving-loan statute allowed only local-government recipients, so private water systems needed new legislative authority. The opinion said the state constitution did not bar loans to…
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