State AG Opinions
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Could the Connecticut Bar Foundation invest lawyer trust account interest in the state investment fund?
No. The AG said the private Connecticut Bar Foundation could not place IOLTA money in the state Short-Term Investment Fund because it was neither named by statute nor a state agency, instrumentality…
Who pays the medical bills for an indigent inmate held in a Texas county jail?
The Attorney General concluded that it turns on where the inmate lives. If an indigent jail inmate is a resident of a hospital district, that district pays for the medical care, even when the inmate…
Could Lexington-Fayette regulate lawn chemical applications by local ordinance?
No, under the 1993 statutes the AG interpreted. On reconsideration, the office reaffirmed that the state lawn-chemical law was a comprehensive legislative scheme, so Lexington-Fayette's urban-county…
When the 1991 NC legislature rewrote the state personnel statutes to make career-employee status depend on job level rather than pay grade, and said the new rules applied to employees hired on or after July 1, 1993, did that leave employees hired before July 1, 1993 stuck under the old (slower) tenure rules?
No. Reading the act to create a dual personnel system (where current employees achieve career status more slowly than new hires) would raise serious equal-protection and class-legislation problems.…
Could the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority pull legislative appropriations out of its Reserve Trust Fund and put them in a separate Contingency Reserve Trust Fund managed by the State Treasurer?
Yes, with one explicit limit. The Authority had power under G.S. § 116-204 and other provisions of Article 23 (particularly § 116-209.3) to create a Contingency Reserve Trust Fund and transfer to it…
Could a former Connecticut judge draw a judicial pension while working in the executive branch?
Yes, if the former judge remained in the executive job when his vested judicial pension became payable. The AG found no provision in either retirement system that suspended that pension because he…
Could a Kentucky professional fundraiser file a review or compilation instead of an audit?
No. The 1993 AG read KRS 367.655(2)(f) to require an audited consolidated financial report from a professional fundraiser or solicitor. A review or compilation did not meet that requirement; the…
Could a Washington county charge an extra booking fee for a person serving jail time on weekends?
The AG said a county could not add that fee to a sentence for a state crime. For a county-ordinance offense, a court could impose it under a county ordinance, subject to limits including the…
Did a pardon or final discharge automatically restore handgun rights after a violent or drug-related conviction in Washington?
The Attorney General concluded in 1993 that a pardon or final discharge restoring civil rights did not, by itself, restore handgun possession rights for the convictions at issue. Washington’s…
What did Maryland's new Health Care Decisions Act mean by 'end-stage condition,' and who was allowed to make medical decisions for an incapacitated patient who never signed an advance directive?
The opinion interpreted several parts of Maryland's newly enacted Health Care Decisions Act, including how 'end-stage condition' should be understood, how a court-appointed guardian fit into the…
Can a bail bond company hold multiple agent licenses, and does that give it extra votes on the county board?
The Attorney General concluded that the answers split. A corporate surety must get a separate license for each agent it authorizes to write bail bonds, and the board can issue those multiple…
Can a former state regulatory board member lobby that same board right after leaving office?
The Attorney General concluded that a former Polygraph Examiners Board member cannot sponsor a polygraph intern until two years after leaving the board. The state's revolving-door statute (V.T.C.S.…
Can the Idaho Public Utilities Commission set safety, equipment, insurance, and operator-licensing rules for tow truck operators?
Yes, mostly. Tow trucks fit Idaho's statutory definition of 'common carrier' under the Motor Carrier Act, so the PUC has authority to regulate equipment, safety, operator qualifications, insurance,…
Can Cumberland County put a car tax on vehicles owned by people who aren't in the military but live on Fort Bragg?
Probably not, but the answer turns on when the federal government acquired Fort Bragg and how. If the federal government acquired Fort Bragg under the Jurisdiction Clause with North Carolina's…
Can a North Carolina bank's trust department market and sign preneed funeral arrangements with customers, with a funeral home as the service provider?
No. After the 1992 General Assembly moved preneed regulation from the Banking Commission to the Board of Mortuary Science and recodified the rules as Article 13D of Chapter 90, the previous…
Did Maryland's blind-made-products law require Blind Industries and Services of Maryland's vending machine business to keep mostly blind employees, even though the snacks and drinks weren't made by blind workers?
The opinion concluded that Maryland's law requiring products sold as 'made by the blind' to have at least 75 percent blind direct labor applied to Blind Industries and Services of Maryland's vending…
When Monroe City and Union County school systems merged in 1993, did the two separate voter-approved local school taxes collapse into one county-wide tax, and could either tax pay for any school in the merged system?
The two tax districts stayed separate, but the proceeds could fund the whole merged system. The State Board of Education's merger plan, ratified by G.S. § 115C-68.3 as if enacted by the General…
Was the 1992 contract awarding NCDOT employees' supplemental-insurance payroll deduction slot to Colonial Life valid, given that the NCDOT Insurance Committee's members were not appointed on rotating terms and the contract was signed by both the Committee and the Department, with third-party Agents of Record listed as parties?
Mostly yes, with one carve-out. The AG concluded that under G.S. § 58-31-60 the Insurance Committee is autonomous in selecting insurance products and awarding payroll deduction slots. The…
Can the North Carolina State Highway Patrol assign State-owned vehicles to civilian (non-sworn) employees like radio technicians and mechanics to drive home and back, and if so, do those civilian employees have to pay the State a commuting fee?
Yes, the Highway Patrol can assign State vehicles to civilian on-call employees for commuting, and they do not have to pay a commuting fee. Under IRS guidance, on-call emergency-response vehicles…
Did a Kentucky fiscal court have to set the jailer's salary by the first Monday in May?
No. The 1993 AG read KRS 64.530's express exception for jailers as controlling over its general deadline for elected county officers. Because that provision did not govern the jailer's salary, the…
Does the NC law that limits gifts and favors from contractors to government officials (G.S. 133-32) apply to outside attorneys and law firms that represent a local school board, and can those attorneys buy meals or gifts for school-board members or administrators?
Yes. The AG held that a local board of education is a 'governmental agency' and that an attorney or law firm retained to provide legal services is a 'contractor' for purposes of G.S. 133-32(a). So…
What standards should the NC State Superintendent of Public Instruction apply when approving or rejecting local school districts' differentiated pay plans, and can those plans pay teachers extra just for joining a particular professional organization or for years of experience already covered by the state salary schedule?
The AG concluded that the State Superintendent should apply three criteria: was the plan adopted under the procedures in G.S. § 115C-238.3(c), is it based on one or more of the five pay-plan types…
Can a parent sign over court-ordered child support to a collection company without going back to court?
The Attorney General concluded no. A custodial parent (managing conservator) filed a limited power of attorney with the district clerk naming a collection company to receive her child's support…
If South Dakota law requires one of the trustees of a county hospital to be a 'legally-qualified physician or nurse,' does that person have to hold an active medical license, or does an inactive license satisfy the rule?
An inactive license is sufficient. The 1993 SD AG read the statutory phrase 'legally qualified' as different from 'licensed.' A physician or nurse who has met the licensure requirements of SDCL ch.…
Can a Texas home-rule city add its own pesticide notice and reporting rules on top of state pest-control law?
The Attorney General concluded it depends on the provision. The City of Greenville's ordinance required 24-hour advance notice of indoor pesticide applications, but the Structural Pest Control Act…
Can the Maine Legislature, by ordinary statute (LD 1350), establish a recall election mechanism for the Governor, State Senators, and State Representatives, or does that require a constitutional amendment?
Unconstitutional, requires amendment. The AG concluded that LD 1350 (which would have established a statutory mechanism for citizens to petition for and trigger a recall election against the…
Under N.C. Rule of Civil Procedure 4(h), when can a clerk of superior court appoint a private process server to serve a summons, and does the sheriff 'neglect' his duty within the meaning of the rule if he diligently tries but cannot find the defendant?
Only when the sheriff has actually neglected the duty (refused to make service or made no reasonable attempt) can the clerk appoint a private process server. A sheriff who makes a reasonable,…
Could Kentucky cities keep staggered city council elections after the 1992 amendment?
No. The 1993 AG concluded that Kentucky's 1992 constitutional amendment required city officers to be elected in even-numbered years, ending staggered city council elections. It said 1993 council…
Did Kentucky commissioner counties need separate districts for justices and constables?
No. In 1993, the AG concluded that a county using the commissioner form had three justice-of-the-peace and constable districts with the same boundaries as its three commissioner districts. It…
Can a private security company in DC use one Special Police Officer commission to cover several separately owned buildings, and have that officer walk or drive between them on public sidewalks?
Yes. Both armed and unarmed Special Police Officers can patrol several separately owned residential and commercial buildings under one commission, and they can travel across public space between…
In Minnesota, are tribal or individual Indian lands held in fee simple exempt from local property tax under the 'Indian lands' exemption in § 272.01?
No. The AG concluded that the 'Indian lands' tax exemption in Minn. Stat. § 272.01, subd. 1 covers only land held in trust by the United States for an Indian tribe or member, and land held by a…
Could the Avery County Sheriff's Department hold and spend voluntary cash 'gifts' from arrested defendants in a separate 'Drug Fund' outside the county budget, and could the county finance officer cut the sheriff's regular appropriation by the amount in that fund?
The finance officer could not unilaterally reduce the sheriff's appropriation because of cash gifts placed in the department's Drug Fund. Such gifts had to enter the county fiscal system, and…
Could Connecticut accept a lottery winner’s consent to pay his hospital debt from future winnings?
Yes. The AG said the lottery’s anti-assignment regulation did not bar the state, as creditor, from accepting the winner’s written direction to use his remaining lottery payments toward an…
Could a former hospital social worker serve as a public member of Connecticut’s hospital commission?
No. The AG concluded that a nominee’s former social-work job at a hospital was a past professional affiliation that barred her from a public seat on the Commission on Hospitals and Health Care, even…
Who can collect rollback taxes on farmland that changed use, after the law moved that job to the appraisal district?
The Attorney General concluded it depends on timing. The 1989 amendment to Tax Code section 23.55(e) moved the power to determine a change of use of agricultural land (and to notify the owner) from…
Could a Washington district court hold a traffic ticket open, require traffic school, then dismiss it without an infraction finding?
The Attorney General concluded in 1993 that a court could order traffic school after finding an infraction, including with a deferred or suspended sentence, but could not require school as a…
Could Washington state and local treasurers invest public funds in commercial paper bought on the secondary market?
The Attorney General concluded in 1993 that state, county, and municipal treasurers could invest eligible funds in commercial paper purchased on the secondary market, subject to statutory investment…
Can a Texas licensing board charge a fee that its governing statute does not specifically authorize?
The Attorney General concluded that it cannot. The Board of Licensure for Nursing Home Administrators wanted to collect a $10 fee for each participant in continuing-education courses approved for…
Can a Texas city use sales-tax money to pay for a homestead exemption instead of lowering the property tax rate?
The Attorney General concluded that a city may not. An additional sales and use tax adopted under Tax Code section 321.101(b) must be used first to reduce the property tax rate, and a homestead…
Can a Texas agency block state payments to someone who owes it fees?
The Attorney General concluded that the Texas Surplus Property Agency could use Government Code section 403.055 to collect unpaid service-and-handling charges by asking the Comptroller to withhold…
Is school bus fuel tax-free in Texas if a private contractor runs the buses?
The Attorney General concluded that the Tax Code's gasoline-tax exemption for fuel sold 'to a public school district in this state for its exclusive use' does cover fuel a district buys directly and…
Can a state or local law enforcement agency in North Carolina turn property seized under a state search or seizure warrant over to federal authorities for federal forfeiture, or does a NC court have to release the property first?
Yes, the agency can hand the property to federal authorities without a state-court turnover order. The AG concluded that NC search-warrant statutes (G.S. § 15A-11.1 and § 15A-258) allow transfer to…
Did Washington’s former 106 percent property-tax levy limit apply to a voter-approved emergency medical services levy?
The Attorney General concluded in 1993 that the six-year emergency medical services levy was exempt from the 106 percent limit in its first year but subject to that limit in later years.
Did Kentucky's teacher sick-leave definition include a son-in-law or daughter-in-law?
No. Under the 1993 version of KRS 161.155(1)(c), the AG said a teacher's son-in-law or daughter-in-law was not within the statute's listed 'immediate family' members.
Did marriage excuse a Kentucky minor from school attendance and truancy rules?
No. The 1993 AG said marriage did not remove a minor from compulsory school attendance or the juvenile code's definition of a child. For juvenile-court truancy jurisdiction, the opinion used the…
Could Kentucky pharmacists fill nurse practitioners' prescriptions under the 1993 law?
No, under the Kentucky statutes the AG reviewed in 1993. The opinion said advanced registered nurse practitioners were neither listed among authorized prescribers nor separately granted…
Could a Kentucky property valuation administrator candidate stay on the ballot if the required certificate expired after filing?
The AG concluded in 1993 that the certificate had to remain valid on the primary and general election dates, not merely when the candidate filed. The county clerk had to check before printing PVA…
Should parent members of Kentucky school councils review identifiable student records?
The 1993 AG advised schools not to treat parent school council members as 'school officials' allowed to review identifiable student records under FERPA while federal guidance was unresolved. It said…
Could Kentucky's petroleum tank cleanup fund reimburse a landowner's lawyer fees?
Sometimes. The 1993 AG said the tank fund could reimburse reasonable, fully documented legal work directly and necessarily tied to assessing or cleaning up a specific site, such as a needed cleanup…
When should a Kentucky planning commissioner step aside from zoning votes affecting private land interests?
The 1993 AG said disqualification depended on whether a member's private interest was sufficiently direct and personal to call the member's judgment into question. A personal benefit from action…
Can a Minnesota police officer issue a traffic citation for a misdemeanor traffic offense that the officer did not personally see, but learned about later from investigation?
Yes, with limits. The AG concluded that an officer with probable cause may issue a uniform traffic ticket for a misdemeanor not committed in the officer's presence, as long as the officer does not…
Could a Washington local health board charge a sewer district for services under a hazardous-waste plan?
The Attorney General concluded in 1993 that a local health board could implement a moderate-risk-waste plan and charge a sewer district for related services, but the fee could not exceed the actual…
Can Idaho's State Board of Education be split into two separate councils, one for higher education and one for public schools, the way House Bill 345 set up?
Not as fully autonomous councils. Article 9, section 2 of the Idaho Constitution requires a single State Board of Education with general supervision over all educational institutions. The AG…
Could Connecticut pass a deficiency budget bill or amend its spending cap after the 1992 vote?
The AG said the balanced-budget amendment limited deficiency appropriations to amounts covered by additional revenue. The existing statutory spending cap remained, but amendments or constitutional…
Could Washington cities or counties require local pesticide licenses in addition to state licenses?
The Attorney General concluded in 1993 that state law preempted local licensing of pesticide application and use, with a specific exception for structural pest control in qualifying large cities and…
Did Kentucky schools have to report every student drug or alcohol possession incident to police?
No. The 1993 AG found no Kentucky statute requiring school officials to report every student drug or alcohol possession incident to law enforcement, although they could report it. For contraband…
Could Kentucky school boards control council elections, principal hiring, and discipline policies?
The 1993 AG assigned different decisions to different bodies: state rules governed eighth-grade Algebra I credit; local boards set reasonable council-formation procedures; an installed council…
Can the NC State Board of Cosmetic Art Examiners adopt a rule defining rented cosmetology booths as 'cosmetic art shops' subject to licensure and inspection, even though the statute doesn't expressly say so?
Probably yes, if the Board could show on the facts that the definition was reasonably necessary for it to function properly. The AG concluded the Board had express authority to set sanitation rules…
Can a Texas doctor waive your copay or deductible if they take an insurance assignment?
The Attorney General read section 4(c) of Insurance Code article 21.24-1 narrowly. The sentence saying a provider 'may not waive copayments or deductibles by acceptance of an assignment' was not a…
Can the North Carolina Medical Database Commission, by changing its own administrative rules, start releasing patient-level health data instead of only aggregate statistics, even if the patient identities are encrypted? Who legally 'owns' the data submitted by hospitals, and are hospitals exposed to liability if a patient is inadvertently identified despite encryption?
No legislative shortcut for patient-level data. The 1993 AG concluded that G.S. 131E-210 authorizes only release of aggregate data, and G.S. 150B-2(8a) limits a rule to implementing or interpreting…
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