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Could a South Carolina mayor or council member take leave from a volunteer fire department to avoid an office conflict?
The 1996 AG said no. Its earlier opinions had found simultaneous service prohibited for the town officials at issue, and a leave of absence did not sever the continuing fire-department relationship.
Where could a driver carry an opened liquor container in a South Carolina pickup truck or station wagon?
The 1996 AG read “cargo area” as the vehicle space intended for carrying goods, such as a pickup bed or the area behind a station wagon’s last seat. It said the glove compartment and small storage…
Can the ABC Commission settle an administrative case against a permittee by accepting an offer in compromise that includes restitution paid to a local ABC board, when the permittee has been charged with refilling mixed-beverages liquor containers without paying the mixed-beverages surcharge?
No. The AG concluded that the Commission has no statutory authority to accept restitution as part of a compromise. § 18B-104 lists the administrative penalties available to the Commission, permit…
When Holden Beach was incorporated in 1969 with its western boundary at the low-water mark of Shallotte Inlet, and twenty-five years of beach accretion later the shoreline has moved 1,000 feet westward, does the town's police jurisdiction follow the new shoreline or stay at the 1969 line?
The boundary follows the new shoreline. North Carolina common law treats accretion (slow, gradual buildup of sand) as moving a water-defined boundary with the water, while avulsion (sudden change)…
Can a Maine municipality use a TIF district to pay public money directly to a private developer, and does that violate the equal-apportionment-of-taxes clause?
Yes, a municipality may pay TIF proceeds to a private developer when the spending serves a public purpose. The opinion concluded that this arrangement generally does not violate Maine's…
Could a South Carolina violent-crime victim obtain a juvenile offender’s photograph from the juvenile justice department?
The 1996 AG concluded that a photograph counted as “basic descriptive information” that the Department of Juvenile Justice had to provide on request to the victim of a violent crime committed by the…
Can a citizen use Delaware's FOIA to get records from the state courts about a judicial vacancy?
No, under the law as it stood in 1996. The AG concluded that the Delaware Supreme Court and the Municipal Court of Wilmington are not "public bodies" under FOIA because they are created by the state…
Can a city council avoid Delaware's open-meetings law by splitting one discussion into several small groups, each below a quorum?
No, under the law as it stood in 1996. The AG found that when Newark's city council split into three separate sub-quorum groups to meet with the same university officials about the same…
Does Delaware's Freedom of Information Act give records-access rights to residents of other states?
No, under the law as it stood in 1996. The opinion found that Delaware's FOIA text, which repeatedly used the phrase 'citizen of the State,' was unambiguous and gave inspection and copying rights…
When did South Carolina corrections take custody of a prisoner sentenced to more than three months, and who paid for a transfer delay?
The 1996 AG said state custody began on sentencing for a term over three months. Corrections could schedule pickup with reasonable promptness after court notice but could not refuse a duly sentenced…
Can the Buffalo Commissioner of Neighborhoods, Housing and Inspections also serve on the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority's board of commissioners and on the board of a HUD Section 8 administering nonprofit?
Yes. The three positions are compatible. The State authorized one city officer to sit on the BMHA board (Public Housing Law § 30(4)). The housing authority and the city are legally independent…
Can a Texas county clerk charge a court-security fee or records fee to file a birth, death, or fetal death record?
The Commissioner of Health asked the Attorney General to reconsider an earlier opinion (DM-283) that had said county clerks must collect the $1 courthouse-security fee on birth and death…
Can a teenager confined to a North Carolina psychiatric hospital pick their own lawyer without their parents' approval?
No, not in 1995. The AG read G.S. § 122C-62(c)(2) together with § 122C-4 and concluded that for a minor client in a 24-hour mental health facility, the right to choose and consult counsel belongs to…
Could someone use Maryland's Public Information Act to see the licensing paperwork a private group home operator keeps on file, even though the state never actually collected copies of it?
No. The opinion concluded that licensing-related records a private child care facility applicant kept on its own premises, and that the Department of Human Resources reviewed on site rather than…
Do oil and gas royalties from land under a Texas highway have to go into the constitutional highway fund?
The Texas Department of Transportation asked whether oil and gas royalties from highway right-of-way land must be credited to the highway fund that the Texas Constitution creates in article VIII,…
Can a Texas hospital include facilities at separate locations under one license, or must each site be licensed separately?
The Commissioner of the Texas Department of Health asked whether the department could license a hospital for additional facilities operated apart from its main location, given that the licensing…
If a Texas county adopted the optional county road law decades ago, is that still in effect, and can the county hire a road administrator instead of a licensed engineer?
The Waller County district attorney asked whether the county's old adoption of the Optional County Road Law of 1947 was wiped out when the Legislature repealed and recodified that law in 1983, and…
After the 1995 General Assembly passed House Bill 7 making the State Superintendent's duties 'subject to the direction, control, and approval' of the State Board of Education, can the State Board override the Superintendent on staff direction, contract signing, meeting attendance, and policy implementation? Or does the Superintendent's status as a constitutionally elected officer protect those duties from State Board override?
The State Board wins. The North Carolina Constitution itself says the Superintendent's duties 'shall be prescribed by law,' and the 1995 legislation prescribed that all of those duties are subject…
Can CUNY do more than hand out voter registration forms, such as helping students fill them out and transmitting them to the Board of Elections?
Yes. The AG concluded that while CUNY had not been designated as a participating voter-registration agency and was not required to do more than the form-distribution mandate of Election Law § 5-211,…
Can the dean and faculty of a state medical school participate in a nonprofit physician contracting organization (and a for-profit administrative company owned by faculty) without running afoul of NC's conflict-of-interest, public-purpose, and Umstead Act limits?
Yes, the AG concluded. Participation by ECU School of Medicine faculty in ECHO (a nonprofit physician-contracting organization) and EMO (a for-profit network administrator partly owned by faculty)…
Could a South Carolina savings association convert directly into a state-chartered bank?
The 1995 AG said the banking board might approve a direct conversion if it found the public interest and the association met ordinary bank-charter requirements, despite the board’s historically…
Could the Department of Social Services contract with the Center for Employment Testing (CET) for job-skills training, even though CET accepted enrollees without high school diplomas and charged tuition above the state-supported institution rate?
Yes. The AG concluded that the administrative rule barring such arrangements applied only to 'post-secondary education' (bachelor's, college-transfer, and graduate programs), not to 'Job Skills…
When North Carolina's prisons were overcrowded and the legislature directed the Department of Correction to study 'hot bunking' (assigning two inmates to one bed on alternating shifts) at Lincoln Correctional Center, is this practice constitutional and lawful, and can the Department then roll it out to other prisons?
Hot bunking is not per se unconstitutional. Federal courts have held that double-celling and similar dense-bunking arrangements do not automatically violate the Eighth Amendment if conditions as a…
Must NY agencies index every decision where due process requires a hearing, or only decisions where a statute specifically grants the opportunity to be heard?
Only when a statute provides the opportunity. The AG concluded that, as amended by L 1995 ch 645, SAPA § 307(3)(a)'s expanded indexing requirements are triggered only when an explicit statutory…
Could a South Carolina council-manager town choose someone other than the mayor to chair meetings, and could its mayor serve as a volunteer firefighter?
The 1995 AG said the council could choose its presiding officer under its meeting rules. It also said the town’s volunteer firefighters were municipal employees for the cited conflict statutes, so…
Could a South Carolina council-manager town’s mayor or council member also serve as a volunteer firefighter?
The 1995 AG said the town’s volunteer firefighters were municipal employees, and the cited statutes prohibited a mayor or council member from holding that employment during an elected term. The…
Could South Carolina deputies change the hospital named for an emergency mental-health transport?
The 1995 AG said the certifying physician chose the receiving facility after the required consultation. Once that facility appeared on a valid certificate, law enforcement had to transport the…
Could South Carolina apply a two-year parole review interval to violent offenders convicted before the 1986 change?
The 1995 AG said later federal decisions supplied a credible argument for applying the two-year interval to older convictions, but the courts had not resolved South Carolina’s particular statute. It…
Could a nonlawyer charge garages to obtain car titles or enforce repair liens on their behalf in South Carolina?
The 1995 AG found no statute categorically barring an agent from assisting a garage owner, but said some proposed services might be unauthorized practice of law. Only the South Carolina Supreme…
Can a New York town board appoint two court clerks, one to serve each of the town's two elected justices?
Yes. The 1990 Town Law amendments giving town justices a say in court clerk appointments did not limit the number of clerks; the town board can appoint one clerk per justice.
Can a New York village move authority over police discipline from the village board to the village manager?
Yes, but only by enacting a local law that supersedes Village Law § 8-804, and the change is subject to a mandatory referendum because it transfers a power of an elective officer.
Can a NY county formally dedicate land in front of a county office building as a Korean War Veterans Memorial Park?
Yes. The AG concluded that a county may dedicate land as a Korean War Veterans Memorial Park under its home-rule authority over county property. Once dedicated, the land is held in public trust and…
Can NY towns use the civil fine-collection process under CPL § 420.10 for unpaid junkyard fines and building-code violations?
Yes. The AG concluded that the Criminal Procedure Law, including § 420.10's civil collection process, applies to fines imposed for violations of General Municipal Law § 136 (automobile junk yards)…
Can a Minnesota state agency assert federal copyright in original data it produces and require members of the public who want to sell or distribute copies to enter a license agreement, while still complying with the Government Data Practices Act?
A state agency may use a license to govern later copying or distribution of its original, copyrightable work. It must still let the public inspect and copy public data; a license cannot restrict…
Can the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission require best management practices from non-point pollution sources in watersheds with water-quality problems?
Yes. The 1995 NC AG opinion concluded the EMC had authority under both the water classification statute (G.S. 143-214.1, including a supplemental Use Restoration Waters classification) and the…
Are members of a Community Penalties Board personally liable when something goes wrong, or do they have immunity like other public officials?
They have qualified immunity. The AG concluded that members of a Community Penalties Board are public officers because they exercise a portion of the sovereign power of the state (even when the…
Can a Texas city let charities solicit donations from drivers in the roadway while banning other roadside solicitation?
A state representative asked the Attorney General whether the Texas law that lets local authorities permit people to stand in a roadway to solicit charitable donations, while banning solicitation…
Could South Carolina use a later restitution collection procedure for an earlier criminal restitution order?
The assistant deputy attorney general thought it could. Applying the later collection provisions to an existing restitution order would change the method of enforcement without increasing the…
Could a Kentucky factory run on Sundays, and did it owe workers a weekly day off or extra pay?
Under the 1995 laws the AG examined, a factory could operate on Sunday if its work qualified as necessary or it used a qualifying continuous schedule. A continuous schedule required one full rest…
Could a South Carolina hospital waive a patient copayment while billing the insurer?
The 1995 opinion said a waiver could be lawful if fully disclosed to the insurer and the bill accurately reflected the provider’s charge. Concealing the waiver while billing the insurer as though…
Could South Carolina take every resident of an unlicensed care facility into protective custody?
No. The 1995 opinion said a missing or revoked facility license did not automatically authorize protective custody. Authorities had to consider each resident’s vulnerability and evidence of abuse,…
Could someone serve on both the Charleston County Library Board and South Carolina State Board of Education?
The 1995 opinion said no. A Charleston County Library Board seat was a public office for dual office holding purposes, and holding it while serving on the State Board of Education would violate the…
Could a Washington city or county pay employees bonuses for meeting performance goals?
Yes, the AG concluded, if the local government set an incentive program and definite performance goals before the covered work. After-the-fact bonuses for past services were barred by constitutional…
Could South Carolina require a sonogram at ten weeks and allow complaints about abortion clinics to be reported to DHEC?
In 1995, an assistant deputy attorney general said there were plausible constitutional arguments for both proposed rules under the court decisions then controlling. He expressly could not predict…
Can Dare County use its CAMA land use plan to block the Dare County Airport Authority from expanding the Dare County Regional Airport when the Authority opposes the restriction?
Only inside the CAMA permit process. The AG concluded that outside of a CAMA permit application, Dare County's only lever over the Authority's airport expansion was the County's separately granted…
Could a Connecticut town vote to delay property revaluation before doing the appraisal work?
The AG said a municipality could adopt a statutory stay of revaluation implementation without first completing the revaluation. It still had to conduct the revaluation in time to implement it when…
Could a nonresident trustee vote at a Connecticut school district meeting based on trust property taxes?
The AG declined to decide whether a nonresident trustee could vote at a school district meeting based on property now held in trust. He said the answer required local legal analysis of whether the…
Can a NY hospital resident's or intern's prescription be filled at a regular pharmacy outside the hospital where they work?
Yes. The AG concluded that prescriptions written by hospital residents and interns, while practicing in the hospital where employed under the supervision of a licensed physician, may be filled at…
Can a NY town that bought parkland with 1960 bond-act money sell timber, lease to the Chamber of Commerce, grant easements, or build a town hall on it?
No to all four proposals. The AG concluded that Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Law § 15.09 bars municipal use of land bought with 1960 Park and Recreation Bond Program funds for…
Can a recorded abstract of judgment cloud the title to a Texas homestead, and is refusing to release it slander of title?
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which holds student-loan judgments, asked whether recording an abstract of one of those judgments clouds a debtor's homestead and whether refusing to…
Could South Carolina officers enter a home to execute a probate detention order for a dangerous person with mental illness?
The 1995 AG letter concluded that officers generally could use necessary, reasonable force to enter when executing a facially regular probate detention order for a person likely to cause serious…
Would Kentucky have to pay the Employers' Mutual Insurance Authority's debts if it became insolvent?
The Kentucky AG concluded that listing the Employers' Mutual Insurance Authority under the Labor Cabinet did not make the Commonwealth responsible for the authority's liabilities if it became…
Is there an overall dollar cap on how much debt a Maryland county without home rule, like Somerset County, can take on, or does each borrowing project need its own separate state law?
There is no single overall debt cap. The opinion concluded that because Somerset County lacks home rule, it can only create debt when the General Assembly expressly authorizes a specific project by…
Would the Hunley shipwreck coordinates become public if the Navy gave them to South Carolina’s Hunley Commission?
The 1995 AG letter said no. It concluded that the coordinates were exempt while part of the Navy–state contract negotiations and also reasoned that the state’s protection of historic shipwreck…
Did Excel Telecommunications’ 1995 recruiting plan violate South Carolina’s ban on pyramid schemes?
The AG could not decide from the newspaper account supplied. The letter said a pyramid analysis required facts about participants’ right to sell the service and whether recruiting rewards were…
When did a South Carolina sheriff candidate have to meet the qualifications and file the required affidavit?
The 1995 AG letter read the statute to require qualification by the last day for filing candidacy and allowed the affidavit as early as 60 days before that deadline. It separately noted that…
Did Maine's state laws give the Department of Environmental Protection enough authority to run a Title V Part 70 air-quality permitting program?
Yes. The AG certified to EPA that Maine's combination of 5 M.R.S.A. §§ 8001-11008, 38 M.R.S.A. (the air pollution laws), and DEP Regulations Chapters 100 through 140 satisfied each of the 21 federal…
During the state fisheries license moratorium, was the Marine Fisheries Commission allowed to adopt a new rule expanding the area in Dare County where commercial menhaden purse seine fishing is restricted?
Yes. The license-moratorium statute let the Commission keep regulating commercial harvest in three narrow cases, one of which was 'user conflicts' between commercial and recreational fishermen. The…
Can a Texas gas station question a driver's disability before giving full service at self-serve prices?
The Commissioner of Agriculture asked how gas stations should handle the Texas law that requires them to refuel disabled drivers. The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that under article 8613, a…
Could a South Carolina registered nurse pronounce a hospital patient dead instead of a doctor or coroner?
The 1995 AG letter treated pronouncement as certification of death and concluded that only a physician, coroner, or medical examiner could certify it. It found no statute changing the earlier…
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