State AG Opinions
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Does the Texas Hazard Communication Act cover college students as 'employees' for chemical-safety training?
The Attorney General concluded that students are not 'employees' under the Texas Hazard Communication Act, so the act's chemical education, training, and information requirements do not apply to…
If a care facility voluntarily runs a background check on a licensed nurse and finds a disqualifying conviction, does it have to fire them?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Under section 106.008(a) of the Human Resources Code, a facility that voluntarily obtains a criminal-conviction check of an employee who is 'licensed under other…
Do CPAs who work for the federal government still have to pay the Texas $200 accountant licensing fee increase?
The Attorney General concluded that the $200 fee increase mandated by the Public Accountancy Act of 1991 is not facially unconstitutional as applied to certified public accountants employed by the…
Can Idaho county commissioners hire an outside private lawyer for the county's civil work on a long-term contract, instead of using the elected county prosecutor?
No, not as a routine matter. Idaho's Constitution (art. 18, § 6) and statutes assign civil legal work to the elected county prosecutor. Commissioners can hire outside counsel only when 'necessity'…
Could a North Carolina nonprofit run a raffle as a fundraiser, and could they sell or serve alcohol in the same building?
Yes, with strict rules. Under N.C.G.S. § 14-309.15 as amended in 1993, a qualifying nonprofit could run no more than two raffles per year, with a maximum cash prize of $5,000 (up from $1,000) or…
Can the General Assembly pass a law that lets state employee insurance committees void existing payroll-deduction insurance contracts whenever they want, or would that violate the U.S. Constitution's contract clause?
Probably not in its current draft form. House DHR1162 proposed amending N.C.G.S. § 58-31-60 by adding: 'Any current agreement shall be null and void at the discretion of the Department Committee.'…
In NC, can rank-and-file volunteer firefighters install modulating (flashing) headlights on their personal cars to use when responding to a fire call?
No. The AG reaffirmed that G.S. 20-125(a) only authorizes the chief and assistant chiefs of a fire department to install and use special equipment, including modulating headlamps, on their…
Can a Texas city ban private employers from running random drug tests on their workers?
The Attorney General concluded that a home-rule city is not precluded as a matter of law from adopting an ordinance prohibiting random drug testing by private employers within the city. No state…
If a newly merged North Carolina county school board has a vacancy and the merger plan says the remaining board members 'shall appoint' a replacement, can the board legally just leave the seat empty until the next election?
No. The Cabarrus County/Concord City school merger plan, ratified under G.S. § 115C-68.3 and treated as if enacted by the General Assembly, mandates that 'in the event of a vacancy on the merged…
Does the student member of the South Dakota Board of Regents have to satisfy the rule that no two regents may reside in the same county, where student regents typically register to vote in the college town like other students?
No. The student regent's qualifications are set by SDCL 13-49-6.1, not by the general regents statute SDCL 13-49-2. The specific student-regent statute controls, and it does not impose a…
Could a Kentucky school council assign individual teachers to classes, or did the principal make those assignments?
The 1993 opinion said a school council could set the policy for using instructional and noninstructional staff time, but the principal implemented it and assigned specific staff members. The council…
Could Maryland CPAs share a client's tax return information with another accounting firm doing a confidential quality peer review of their work?
The opinion concluded that Maryland law did not prohibit a CPA firm from disclosing client information, including tax return information, to another CPA firm conducting a confidential quality review…
Could the General Assembly require a landfill developer to get the approval of the local county or city before the state issued a landfill permit, or was that an unconstitutional delegation?
Probably constitutional, the AG concluded after short-time review. G.S. § 130A-294(a)(4), proposed for amendment by S.B. 1003, required local government approval for sanitary landfills within their…
If the NC Court of Appeals' ruling in Fulton v. Justus that the intangibles tax provision in G.S. § 105-203 is unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause stands on appeal, what is the State's refund exposure, and would the proposed Senate Bill 1245 substitute exclusion fraction fix the constitutional defect?
The AG saw no meaningful difference between the proposed exclusion fraction and the existing taxable-percentage provision. She believed a Commerce Clause challenge to the substitute would succeed…
If I set up a property-tax installment plan before July 1, can the county still hit me with the 15% collection penalty?
The Attorney General concluded no. A delinquent-tax penalty a county adopts under Tax Code section 33.07 (up to 15% to cover the cost of collection) does not apply to delinquent taxes that are…
When two 1991 Texas laws on minority-business contracting goals conflicted, which one controlled cities?
The Attorney General concluded that two 1991 amendments to the same statute conflicted, and that House Bill 338 prevailed, because a special instruction in Senate Bill 992 overrode the usual rule…
Can the Texas prison system run its own work-program facility for inmate labor, or can only cities and counties own one?
The Attorney General concluded that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice could not own or operate a 'work program facility,' because chapter 497, subchapter C of the Government Code reserves…
Can a Texas city give a public park to a hospital district without holding an election?
The Attorney General concluded the city did not have to hold the usual park-sale election, because the hospital district held the power of eminent domain. But the city still could not give the park…
When the NC General Assembly opened bear season in Camden and Pasquotank counties two days earlier than the statewide season (creating a Saturday and Sunday opening before the Monday statewide opener), could hunters use firearms on that Sunday?
No to firearms, yes to other lawful methods. N.C.G.S. § 103-2 made Sunday hunting with firearms (shotgun, rifle, or pistol) a misdemeanor statewide, with no exception for the early local season in…
Does a public school system have to keep paying for an employee's health insurance during unpaid family or medical leave under FMLA?
Yes. The AG concluded that local education agencies must maintain and pay for eligible employees' group health benefits during FMLA leave. Although a cross-reference to the Internal Revenue Code…
Does a contractor need a North Carolina general contractor's license to build a project paid for with federal money, or on federal property?
The AG said the answer depends on the property and federal program. State licensing normally cannot be enforced on a federal project located on federal property, or on a private project on an…
Did Connecticut’s collateral law alone protect state bank deposits if the bank failed?
No. The AG said Connecticut’s collateral statute could perfect a public depositor’s security interest under state law, but did not require the formal steps that federal law demanded against the FDIC…
Could Connecticut withhold lists of unpaid state vendor checks from asset finders?
No. The AG concluded that outstanding state vendor-check lists held by the comptroller and treasurer had to be disclosed on request. The law-enforcement, attorney-client and student-name exemptions…
Could Kentucky counties share liability for self-insurance premiums and pay valid past-year obligations from later funds?
In 1993, the AG said Kentucky's Constitution did not categorically prohibit counties from sharing liability for self-insurance premiums. The particular agreement appeared to limit payment to…
Could a Kentucky county limit political and commercial posters to the month before an advertised date to control litter?
In 1993, the AG concluded that Shelby County's proposed timing rule for political and commercial posters was unlikely to survive a legal challenge. It singled out those messages, likely burdened…
Could a Kentucky school council elect a chair other than its principal under an approved alternative model?
Yes, under the 1993 statute as the AG read it. A school could seek approval of an alternative decision-making model that let its council elect any member as chair; the principal or head teacher…
Can North Carolina coastal counties and towns pass their own ordinances regulating commercial and recreational fishing in their waters, or did the General Assembly take that power away?
The General Assembly took that power away in 1965 and has not given it back. N.C.G.S. § 113-133 declares that the enjoyment of the state's marine and estuarine resources belongs to the people of the…
Did a Kentucky deputy sheriff become probationary when the county created a merit board?
No. Under the 1993 statutes, creating a county deputy sheriff merit board did not put a deputy already serving into a new probationary year. That deputy still had one year from the ordinance's…
Could a Kentucky school council member vote to hire her son as principal?
The 1993 opinion found no statutory nepotism rule barring the council member's vote. A financial support relationship between the member and her son would disqualify her under the conflict rule the…
Could a Kentucky teacher vote in both teacher and parent school council elections?
Yes, under the 1993 law as the AG read it. A teacher who was also a parent could vote for teacher and parent representatives, whether the child attended another school or the same school. The…
Can a North Carolina community college refuse to admit a 16-year-old who has a history of behavioral problems, when the rule lets the college admit minors with 'special needs'?
Sometimes. The AG concluded that community colleges are not required to admit 16-to-18-year-olds at all; the 'special needs' rule (23 NCAC 2C .0305(b)) is permissive. If the college does choose to…
Could a nonprofit amateur boxing group avoid Connecticut’s boxing exhibition tax?
No. The AG said the five-percent tax on boxing-exhibition gross receipts had no nonprofit exemption for United States Amateur Boxing. He also assigned collection and payment to the state treasury to…
Which law allocated Stamford hotel tax collected before the July 1993 tourism change?
The AG said hotel tax generated by sales before July 1, 1993 followed the old distribution law even if paid over later; sales on or after that date followed the new law. Money for commissions…
If the NC General Assembly bans purse seine menhaden fishing in the coastal waters next to Dare County, does that count as a 'general law' the legislature can freely enact, or as a 'local law' that bumps into the NC Constitution's limits on local legislation?
The AG could not conclusively classify SB 991. It could be defended as a general law if the bill or its legislative history showed statewide interest and uniform, coordinated action for the State's…
Could a Kentucky circuit court clerk operate a solo law practice?
The 1993 opinion said Kentucky's Constitution and statutes did not bar a circuit court clerk from solo law practice, though KRS 61.098 barred a partnership or association with another lawyer and a…
Could an unpaid town board member also serve on Connecticut’s state properties review board?
No. The AG said a municipal board seat was another municipal governmental position under the state properties review board statute, even without pay. The disqualification covered state and local…
When the federal government forfeits a North Carolina house held in tenancy by the entirety because one spouse used it for crime, can the federal court use the North Carolina RICO Act's automatic conversion provision to forfeit only that spouse's half?
The AG expressly declined to decide whether a federal court had the duty or authority to apply North Carolina's conversion rule in a federal forfeiture. Under the State RICO Act, it said a final…
Can a Texas licensing board decide a discipline case on its own after watching the hearing, or must it wait for the administrative law judge's ruling?
The Attorney General concluded that a licensing board required to use the State Office of Administrative Hearings could not make its own findings of fact and conclusions of law, even when a quorum…
Does HB 818, which says NC city and county employees can engage in political activities off duty, secretly change NC's right-to-work laws or end NC's prohibition on collective bargaining by public employees?
No. The AG concluded that HB 818 amends only G.S. §§ 153A-99 and 160A-169, which deal with off-duty political activities by city and county employees (affiliating with civic organizations, attending…
Could an oversized or transferred funeral account be excluded from Connecticut benefit assets?
The AG said an irrevocable funeral contract over Connecticut’s statutory limit was void and its funds could count as available resources for public assistance. An out-of-state account transferred…
Can a Texas justice of the peace dismiss a traffic ticket if the driver doesn't finish the required driving safety course?
The Attorney General concluded no. Article 45.54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, as amended in 1991, made a justice's order to complete a driving safety course mandatory. A justice could dismiss…
How long could Connecticut use temporary income-tax rules before approving permanent regulations?
The AG said temporary income-tax rules could remain in force until formal regulations were adopted and approved, with no fixed replacement date in the act. The commissioner still had to replace…
Did Washington's executive conflict-of-interest law cover legislators serving on the State Investment Board?
Yes, when they acted as board members. The AG said elected officials were outside that act in their ordinary elected roles but within it when serving on the State Investment Board, because the…
Can a bank director who is not also a bank officer or employee serve on the North Carolina State Banking Commission, either as a 'practical banker' member or as a representative of the borrowing public?
No, and no. The qualifications for the Commission in N.C.G.S. § 53-92 require the Governor to appoint five practical bankers and seven representatives of the borrowing public. The borrowing-public…
Was 1993 N.C. House Bill 1109 (authorizing counties and cities to extend water/sewer to private industry, pay for site preparation for private industrial facilities, and statewide extend land-acquisition-and-conveyance powers for industrial recruitment) constitutional under the NC public-purpose and adequate-consideration clauses, and would a local-bill version of the same content raise an equal-protection problem?
The AG concluded the water/sewer extension provision raised no serious constitutional problem (utility service to industry has long been authorized). The site-preparation and statewide…
Can a NC city or town appropriate municipal funds to help a local school board buy property that will mostly be used as a school parking lot, but that the town will also use a few days a year?
Not for the school portion. The AG concluded that a NC town has no authority to appropriate municipal funds to acquire property that will be used for school or school-related purposes. The town may…
Did Connecticut’s living-will law limit protection of infants and children from medical neglect?
No. The AG concluded that the 1993 Living Will Act did not prevent Connecticut’s child-protection agency from investigating and intervening in medical neglect of infants or older children. He said…
Can a Texas city make businesses that serve alcohol sell condoms when other businesses don't have to?
The Attorney General concluded no. Houston proposed an ordinance requiring premises that sell alcohol for on-premises consumption to stock condoms for sale and to post HIV/STD information in…
Can a South Dakota legislator (or anyone from the public) see how many jobs a REDI Fund loan recipient created, what hourly wages those jobs pay, and what benefits are included?
The number of jobs created is public. Company-specific wage and benefit data is confidential under SDCL 1-16G-11 because it qualifies as financial information about a business operation. The Board…
Can a county commissioner put an item on the agenda or revisit something the court already voted on?
The Attorney General concluded that a commissioners court may reconsider an issue at a later meeting even after taking final action, as long as the topic is properly noticed under the Open Meetings…
Can a board member listen to the recording of a closed meeting they took part in?
The Attorney General concluded yes. The Open Meetings Act requires a governmental body to keep a certified agenda or tape recording of a closed meeting, and it forbids releasing that record except…
Could a Washington official use leftover campaign money to pay for unreimbursed office expenses?
No. The AG said Initiative 134 removed that use of campaign funds, including surplus funds. An official could seek separate contributions specifically for office expenses, which the opinion said…
Did Connecticut have to defend and indemnify foster parents sued over foster care?
No. The AG concluded that foster parents were independent contractors, not state officers or employees under the cited statutes, so they had no statutory entitlement to state immunity,…
Would Connecticut’s 1993 municipal bond assistance bill violate local home rule?
No. The AG concluded that proposed House Bill 7114 applied generally to eligible municipalities seeking bond-market assistance and did not infringe home rule. Its limits on municipal Chapter 9…
When a client escapes from a NC state psychiatric hospital like Broughton, how widely do staff have to notify law enforcement, and does it matter whether the client has a history of violence?
The AG concluded that G.S. § 122C-205 requires the facility to notify law enforcement wherever staff have 'reasonable grounds to believe' the escaped client may be found, including out-of-state…
Can a Texas county set goals for awarding contracts to minority and women-owned businesses?
The Attorney General concluded that Local Government Code section 381.004, which lets counties set up programs to reasonably increase minority and women-owned business participation by establishing…
Could a Kentucky mayor refuse to put a properly made council motion to a vote?
No, under the limited 1993 facts the AG considered. A mayor presiding over a city council could not refuse a properly made and seconded motion simply because the mayor preferred a different vehicle…
If the State Ports Authority installs meters and bills its tenants for the electricity they actually use, does that make the Authority a public utility subject to North Carolina Utilities Commission regulation?
No. The State Ports Authority is a true state agency, not a 'person' within the meaning of N.C.G.S. § 62-3(21), so it cannot be a 'public utility' under N.C.G.S. § 62-3(23). The Utilities Commission…
If the State sends more money to a NC county's area mental-health, developmental-disabilities, and substance-abuse authority mid-year, or if the authority collects more fees than it budgeted, can the county trim its own contribution by the same amount?
No to both. The AG concluded that G.S. § 122C-146 expressly bars the county from using extra fee collections to justify a mid-year cut in its local tax-revenue commitment. And on the state-funds…
Did higher education cost-sharing grants count against Connecticut’s 1993 spending cap?
Yes. The AG said a proposed increase in Education Cost Sharing grants to municipalities had to be counted as a general budget expenditure under the 1993-94 spending cap. The Horton school-finance…
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