State AG Opinions
Free state attorney general opinions with plain-English summaries, full citations, and the original source on every page.
No opinions match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
Can a Maryland county cut a State's Attorney's budget so much that entire categories of crimes go unprosecuted?
The Attorney General concluded that a county could not fund a State's Attorney's office so far below need that entire categories of significant crimes, such as domestic violence or robbery, would go…
How long could a South Carolina jail hold someone arrested without a warrant or charge in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion described prompt presentation before a magistrate and a prompt judicial probable-cause determination after a warrantless arrest. The federal 48-hour benchmark was a general…
Could a South Carolina magistrate change or enforce bond conditions before indictment in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion said the magistrate who set bond could alter or enforce its conditions in a General Sessions case until indictment, absent an appeal. After indictment, the cited circuit…
Did a federal carjacking acquittal bar South Carolina kidnapping and murder charges in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion said a federal acquittal generally would not bar South Carolina prosecution arising from the same facts, because the federal and state governments were separate sovereigns.…
Can a NY county legislator also hold a paid civil-service job in the county's social services department?
No. The AG concluded the two positions are incompatible. Even though the legislator is in a collective bargaining unit (so his immediate salary is fixed) and the social services commissioner runs…
Can a NY village board reappoint one of its own members as the village's building and bingo inspector?
No. The AG concluded the building inspector's actions (proposing permits and condemnation recommendations) are reviewed by the village board, so the offices are inevitably and recurrently…
Can a NY county coroner also serve as a village trustee at the same time?
Yes. The AG concluded no statute bars the combination (County Law § 411 prohibits an elective county officer from holding another county or town elective office or a city supervisor seat, but…
How do you have to serve a Texas tenant when you sue for eviction and back rent together?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that the streamlined service rules for evictions (forcible detainer actions), Texas Rules of Civil Procedure 739, 742, and 742a, do not apply to a suit for…
Can a Texas county make the county attorney put the hot-check fund in the county budget?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that the county attorney's hot-check fee fund, the money collected under article 102.007 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for handling dishonored and forged…
Was a special election required when a Washington municipal judgeship became vacant midterm?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that a separate municipal court vacancy was filled by appointment for the rest of the term, without a midterm election. A vacancy on the district court bench…
Could one South Carolina landowner count multiple times on a municipal annexation petition in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion said no: a freeholder who owned several tracts in the proposed annexation area counted once in the freeholder-signature calculation. The owner’s multiple parcels could…
Did a county council budget meeting require public notice, and could a council member fill a citizen seat in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion said the described budget-information meetings appeared subject to Freedom of Information Act notice even without a vote. It also raised an unresolved self-appointment…
Could trained emergency personnel draw DUI blood in an ambulance under South Carolina law in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion said the statute’s licensed-medical-facility phrase described the training of certain medical personnel, not the location of every blood draw. It concluded a properly…
Could a South Carolina deputy coroner also sit on county council in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion said simultaneous service as deputy coroner and county council member would most probably violate the state constitutional dual-office rule. Taking the second office would…
Do NY state agencies and law enforcement employers have to follow the ban on asking job applicants about their workers' comp claim history?
Yes. The AG concluded that Workers' Compensation Law § 125 applies to state agencies and municipal law enforcement entities. The statute makes it unlawful for any employer to inquire into or…
Can a NY teacher who supervises a college student teacher accept a tuition waiver or cash stipend from the college?
Yes. The AG concluded that General Municipal Law § 805-a does not bar a school district employee from accepting a tuition waiver or cash stipend from a college in return for supervising the…
Can North Carolina counties hire private companies to run their county jails, force their sheriffs to accept jail privatization, or combine two existing county jails into a 'district confinement facility' run by a private contractor with non-certified guards?
No to all of it. The sheriff has a non-delegable statutory duty to be the keeper of the county jail under §§ 162-22 and 162-24. A county cannot privatize a jail unilaterally; cannot force the…
If Texas wins my unpaid-wage claim, can I collect on the state's lien myself?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that the Texas Employment Commission had no authority to hand off (assign or transfer) a lien or notice of assessment for unpaid wages to the worker who filed…
Can Texas appraise open-space farm and ranch land by the cash lease method?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that the cash lease method of valuing open-space farm and ranch land for property tax was constitutional. Article VIII, section 1-d-1 of the Texas Constitution…
Can people who live downstream in another state and would lose water because of a North Carolina interbasin transfer participate in the EMC permit hearing or challenge the certificate after it's issued?
Yes on both counts. The interbasin transfer statute lets anyone submit comments at the public hearing, with no residency requirement, and the NC Administrative Procedure Act lets any aggrieved…
Can a Texas court appoint a paid lawyer for a poor death-row inmate's habeas appeal?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that a Texas trial court did have the power to appoint a lawyer for an indigent capital murder defendant in a postconviction habeas corpus proceeding under…
Was there judicial review of a denied South Carolina concealed weapon permit after the 1994 repeal?
The 1995 informal opinion said repeal of the statutory appeal provision appeared to eliminate judicial review of a SLED permit denial, with no common-law certiorari route restored. The author…
Could a South Carolina municipal officer transport a mental-health patient outside town limits in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion said specific commitment statutes could authorize municipal officers to act beyond ordinary territorial limits, usually under a probate order or a proper mental-health…
What happened if a South Carolina magistrate failed certification in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion said failure to meet the applicable magistrate training or examination requirements declared the office vacant under the statute. It described notice to the magistrate and…
Who paid to take a body from a South Carolina death scene to an autopsy in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion concluded that the county bore the cost of transporting a body from the death scene to a medical facility for a coroner-ordered autopsy or examination. It left the county’s…
Can Maine constitutionally credit interest earned on Highway Fund investments to the General Fund?
No. The AG concluded the 1991 amendment to 5 M.R.S.A. § 135, which directed that interest earned on Highway Fund investments be credited to the General Fund, was unconstitutional under Me. Const.…
How wide is a NY town road that became a highway just by public use over time?
The width of a town highway established by use under Highway Law § 189 is determined by the actual extent of public use, not the statute's three-rod default. The Court of Appeals in People v…
Who could set the starting time of a Kentucky fiscal court's regular meetings?
The fiscal court as a body had the final say over the start time of its regular meetings, subject to the requirement that the time be convenient to the public. The county judge/executive could set…
Did a Kentucky school that exceeded its performance threshold have a right to a state regulation waiver?
No automatic waiver followed from exceeding the threshold. The AG said that threshold was the only statutory condition for petitioning under the post-1994 rule, but the state education board…
Can a North Carolina municipal hospital legally join a physician-hospital organization (PHO) and put public money into it, so the hospital can compete in the managed care market?
Yes. The AG concluded that a municipal hospital may join local physicians to form a local PHO that joins a statewide PHO; using hospital revenues for those PHOs serves a public purpose and is not…
When someone dedicates a street to a city, and that street ends at a navigable river, who gets the right to build a pier or dock at the water's edge: the original landowner who kept fee title to the soil under the street, or the city that accepted the dedicated easement?
The city. When a dedicated street terminates at a navigable waterway, the dedication carries with it, by necessary implication, the right of the city to extend the street into the water by…
Were Connecticut education payments for blind students mandatory or discretionary?
Under the 1995 statute, the AG read the state’s reimbursement for eligible blind or visually impaired students’ instruction as mandatory up to the stated annual limit. He read the separate spending…
Could a South Carolina savings and loan association convert directly into a state bank in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion said a court would likely uphold the banking board’s reading that state law did not authorize a direct conversion. Existing provisions expressly covered other conversions,…
Did Greenville Arena district bonds and procedures violate South Carolina law in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion rejected the claimed illegality based solely on district boundaries, found the supplied bond-hearing notice appeared compliant, and said pledging district taxing power was…
Should a South Carolina nonprofit director vote to hire their spouse as executive director in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion advised the nonprofit board member to recuse and abstain from the executive-director selection when her husband was a candidate. It relied on a South Carolina…
If only two of five school board members attend an informal staff meeting, does that violate Delaware's open meeting law?
Not on this record. The opinion found that two of the Woodbridge School District's five board members attending an informal 'administrative-staff meeting' did not violate the open meeting law, since…
If the NY Employment Relations Board chairman takes an unpaid leave from his law firm partnership during his term, does he satisfy the 'devote his entire time' rule?
Yes. The AG concluded that a person appointed Chairman of the Employment Relations Board could take an unpaid leave of absence from the law firm of which he was a partner, without dissolving the…
Could a Connecticut funeral home invest prepaid funeral escrow money in life insurance?
The AG said a prepaid funeral escrow could invest in a genuine life insurance contract only if its quality, safety and expense were comparable to the statute’s listed deposit and bond investments.…
Could Connecticut agencies treat an outpatient’s private trustee account as an institutional activity fund?
The AG said three Connecticut human services departments could not operate trustee accounts for individual outpatients as institutional activity funds. The cited statute concerned funds benefiting…
When two state agencies regulate the same waters and adopt directly conflicting fishing rules, which one wins?
Neither. Both rules are 'effective' because the NC Marine Fisheries Commission and the NC Wildlife Resources Commission have overlapping concurrent jurisdiction in 'joint fishing waters.' The MFC's…
Does the federal Brady Act force a state mental health agency to give gun-buyer records to police?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that the federal Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act did not require or authorize the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation to disclose…
Can a Texas school take and keep a student's pager if it's only leased, not owned?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that Education Code section 21.309, which barred students from carrying pagers at school and required confiscation and forfeiture to the district, applied to…
Could a South Carolina sheriff dispose of confiscated guns without a conviction in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion said amended pistol-forfeiture provisions might no longer require a conviction, but only a court could settle that interpretation. With ownership and seizure facts unclear,…
Could someone living outside Clarendon County sit on its hospital district board in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion said no: the local act required hospital district trustees to be county residents. Eligibility turned on residence sufficient to qualify as a Clarendon County elector, with…
How could a South Carolina volunteer rescue squad dissolve and distribute assets in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion outlined nonprofit-corporation dissolution statutes but said the exact procedure and asset distribution depended on the squad’s members, governing documents, public-benefit…
Could a South Carolina town council member serve as unpaid police chief in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion said no. Simultaneous service on Springfield Town Council and as its police chief violated both the state dual-office prohibition and the statute barring council members…
Could a South Carolina House committee meet with less than 24 hours notice during the 1995 session?
The 1995 informal opinion said the committee could satisfy the Freedom of Information Act and House rule by posting notice as it customarily did during a regular-session week. The House rule called…
Can the NC General Assembly give tax refunds or credits to former federal employees even though courts say the state owes them nothing?
Yes. The exclusive emoluments clause in Article I, § 32 of the NC Constitution prohibits exclusive privileges to a class without a corresponding public service rationale. But case law treats prior…
Did a South Carolina clerk of court have to use county purchasing rules for child-support funds in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion said Lexington County’s purchasing procedures should govern the clerk’s contracted child-support funds, but those procedures could not deny the clerk’s exclusive use of…
Could a Kentucky charity run a raffle whose winner depended on a football game or horse race?
No. Under the 1995 charitable gaming rules the AG examined, a raffle winner had to be chosen by random drawing with each ticket having an equal chance, not by predicting a live game or a horse race.…
Is North Carolina's attorney discipline statute (Chapter 84) an unconstitutional delegation of judicial power, and can an NC attorney be disciplined here based on discipline in another state?
The AG answered no to both constitutional objections: Chapter 84 was not an improper delegation of legislative power, and it did not take away courts' authority to discipline attorneys appearing…
Could a Connecticut town with fewer than 2,500 residents have its first package store?
The AG said Connecticut could issue a first package store permit in Bozrah despite its population below 2,500, because the town had not voted to ban package stores. The population ratio governed…
If Texas changes just two senate districts, does the whole senate have to run for re-election?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that any legislation redrawing Texas senate districts, even a bill touching only two of the thirty-one, is an 'apportionment' under article III, section 3 of…
How specific does a Delaware public records request have to be for the city to have to respond to it?
Under the law as it stood in 1995, a request must describe the documents sought specifically enough for the public body to actually locate them. A resident's request for information on the status of…
Does a Texas county or school district satisfy bidding rules by buying through the state catalogue?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that a local government (a county, city, school district, junior college district, or other political subdivision) that takes part in the state's cooperative…
Could South Carolina’s higher-education commission share student enrollment and research data in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion said the commission appeared able to tell a receiving institution about a student’s prior enrollment under the federal school-transfer exception, subject to its conditions.…
How much election notice did a South Carolina municipality have to give in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion said a municipal election required one public notice at least sixty days before the vote under the municipal statute. A 1992 amendment had excluded municipal elections from…
Did South Carolina medical schools need cremation permits for donated bodies in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion said whole bodies held by medical schools still needed a coroner or medical examiner permit and the statutory cremation documents, even if death occurred years earlier. It…
Can you get a pardon in Texas after completing deferred adjudication?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that a person who successfully completes deferred adjudication community supervision and has the charges dismissed and is discharged under article 42.12,…
Could South Carolina school districts use public resources to campaign against a state education bill in 1995?
The 1995 informal letter said the answer depended on whether the activities educated the public or advocated an outcome; public spending required a public purpose. It found no general state…
How these opinions are useful
- Understand state law: AG opinions are authoritative interpretations of how state law applies.
- Persuasive authority: Not binding like court decisions, but they carry significant weight.
- Government guidance: Often clarify how state agencies and officials should interpret statutes.
- Legal research: Cite AG opinions in letters, motions, and legal arguments.
Browse opinions by state
Two states are not listed and are not pending: New Hampshire publishes its opinions on a page that automated retrieval cannot read, and Rhode Island publishes no complete full-text archive at all. We will add them if that changes.