State AG Opinions
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If someone lawfully brought a live elk into Washington, did the state own it, and could wildlife officials regulate it?
The Attorney General concluded in 1992 that a lawfully acquired and imported elk remained the individual’s property, including captive offspring, but ownership remained subject to state wildlife…
Does a Texas city council violate the Open Meetings Act if a majority signs a letter without an open meeting?
It can. The Attorney General concluded that when a quorum of a governmental body agrees on a joint statement (such as a letter expressing the 'undersigned majority's' position) about public business…
How long could Kentucky’s Insurance Department delay access to a narrowed, voluminous records request?
The 1992 AG said an initial two-week inspection estimate was reasonable for the narrowed insurance-records request, but a delay of about three months without a detailed explanation or earliest…
When a Texas tax abatement expires, does the newly taxable property count as 'new property value' for the county's effective tax rate?
No. The Attorney General concluded that improvements built on property while it was exempt under a tax abatement agreement are not 'new property value' under section 26.012(17) of the Tax Code when…
Could a Kentucky city keep a police officer’s disciplinary charges secret through a settlement confidentiality clause?
The 1992 AG said no. Radcliff had to release records showing charges against the former officer and the final action, despite the settlement’s secrecy clause and a privacy objection. The city said…
Could Connecticut switch off state extended benefits to use federal emergency unemployment pay?
Yes. The AG read Connecticut law as permitting the governor to trigger off its state extended-benefit period so claimants could use the federally funded emergency program then in effect. He also…
Was land granted to Washington Territory for an asylum subject to the state constitutional trust for later state land grants?
The Attorney General concluded in 1992 that the particular 1874 territorial grant was outside the constitutional trust tied to the statehood Enabling Act. Federal conditions still restricted its use…
Could a Washington collection agency send the statutory bounced-check notice even though it mentioned possible criminal charges?
The Attorney General concluded in 1992 that a licensed collection agency could use the statutory notice of dishonor, including its caution that law enforcement might receive a copy. The general ban…
Did Maine's statutory ban on unfunded state mandates actually stop the Legislature from passing such mandates?
No. The AG concluded that 30-A M.R.S.A. § 5684, which purported to prohibit the Legislature from enacting unfunded mandates on counties and municipalities, was of no effect. One Legislature cannot…
Which agency controls bidding for grass mowing along North Carolina public highways: the Department of Administration under G.S. 143-49(3), or the Department of Transportation under G.S. 136-28.1(f)?
The Department of Administration. The AG concluded grass mowing on highway rights of way is maintenance, not 'professional or specialized services necessary in connection with highway construction…
If a North Carolina landlord uses 'service by posting' on the door of a rental and the tenant does not show up, can the magistrate award the landlord both possession and back rent in the same default order?
No. A small-claims magistrate cannot enter a money judgment for back rent and damages when service was made under the posting method of § 42-29. Service by posting (mail plus phone attempt plus an…
Could a Kentucky planning commission review a municipal electric utility’s scrubber-waste landfill?
The 1992 AG said the proposed Maceo landfill was exempt from local planning and zoning review under KRS 100.324 on the stated facts: it would take only scrubber waste incidental to producing…
Did a Kentucky county have to provide committee minutes and bid records for an emergency radio contract?
The 1992 AG said Madison County’s oral, incomplete records response was improper. Its telecommunications committee was a public agency whose minutes had to be recorded and released; responsive…
Could a Kentucky prison officer deny an inmate's records request after the records custodian said the reports would be available later?
The 1992 AG said the officer's denial was a nullity because it did not come from the official custodian or her authority. The custodian's initial response was consistent with the Open Records Act,…
Could a Kentucky school board give teachers a 13.5 percent base raise while administrators got only 5 percent?
The 1992 AG said a 13.5 percent increase to the single base salary schedule would apply to administrators as well as teachers. The board could reduce administrators’ extended employment with proper…
Could a Washington county control noxious weeds without activating its county weed-control board?
The Attorney General concluded in 1992 that a county could use its own staff without activating the board only under a narrow statutory alternative after the Agriculture Director ordered activation…
Could a Kentucky pharmacy fill a Tennessee physician’s prescription if the doctor lacked a Kentucky license?
The 1992 AG said a Kentucky pharmacy could fill prescriptions only from practitioners licensed under Kentucky law. A Tennessee physician without that license did not qualify; one also licensed in…
Could a Connecticut official face personal damages for acts on the job, and would the state defend?
The AG said a state official could already face personal liability under federal civil-rights law for on-duty acts violating federal rights; Hafer clarified that rule. Connecticut’s defense and…
How did Kentucky check 1992 pay ceilings for constitutional officers using inflation?
The 1992 AG approved the Department of Local Government’s inflation-based maximum-pay computations under the cited statutes and Kentucky Constitution. The opinion prints the CPI formulas, but some…
Could a Kentucky prison deny an inmate access to transfer forms despite a facility policy favoring release?
The 1992 AG upheld withholding the requested transfer recommendation and authorization forms under the inmate-security statute despite the facility policy. It also faulted the prison’s response for…
Could a Kentucky prison withhold an inmate’s psychological evaluation while giving an incomplete response to his records request?
The 1992 AG upheld withholding the evaluation under the cited inmate-records rule, but found the prison’s written reply untimely and legally insufficient because it gave no specific exemption or…
Could a Kentucky coroner publicly release a deceased person’s psychiatric treatment records obtained for a death investigation?
The 1992 AG said no for records protected by the psychiatrist-patient or psychologist-client privileges. A coroner could require the records for a death investigation, but that limited access did…
Can a budget rider change the competitive bidding rules that Texas school districts must follow?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Rider 30 to the 1991-1992 General Appropriations Act was unconstitutional. The Texas Constitution lets an appropriations bill cover the single subject of…
If someone sues over Maryland's legislative redistricting map under the federal Voting Rights Act, do they file in a circuit court, the Court of Appeals, or federal court?
In 1992, Maryland's Attorney General concluded that a private Section 2 Voting Rights Act challenge to the state's legislative map could proceed in federal court. If filed in a Maryland state court,…
Can the Texas engineering board still give a reduced license fee to engineers 65 and older after a $200 fee increase?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers could treat the $200 fee increase added in 1991 by House Bill 11 (section 13B of the Engineering…
Does 'physician' in the Texas Occupational Therapy Title Act include chiropractors?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the word 'physician' in sections 15(b)(6) and 27 of the Occupational Therapy Title Act (V.T.C.S. art. 8851) meant a person licensed to practice medicine by…
What lights and reflectors are required on a North Carolina farm trailer used on public roads?
Every farm trailer operated on a North Carolina highway must have a stop lamp activated by the towing vehicle's foot brake. Beyond that, the requirements depend on weight, registration status, time…
Could a Kentucky flood wall commission put its benefit assessment on the county property tax bill?
No. The AG said Spencer County's flood wall commission was formed under the drainage law, which used benefit assessments and its own collection procedure. The property tax billing option belonged to…
Did a Kentucky brick maker's sales tax resale certificate exempt water used in making bricks from the school utility tax?
No. The AG said the resale exclusion in Kentucky's school utility gross receipts tax covered utilities resold as utilities. Water used as a raw material in bricks did not qualify, even though the…
Could Kentucky's governor fire a workers' compensation judge for holding state leases under an ethics executive order?
The AG said the ethics order applied to the administrative law judge and his state leases appeared to conflict with it, but only the Governor's office could officially interpret the order. Its…
Did Kentucky’s criminal-law justification for teacher force override a school regulation banning corporal punishment?
The 1992 AG said no. The criminal statute addressed when physical force was not a crime, while the State Board’s regulation set school employee conduct rules and barred corporal punishment, with…
Could a Kentucky state university avoid attorney hiring and contract rules by calling a lawyer a part-time employee or auditor?
The AG said a state university had to follow KRS 12.210 when hiring an attorney for legal services, even as an employee. If it bought services by contract, it also had to follow the personal service…
Can Maine's Legislature raise state employee retirement contributions and divert most of the money to the General Fund, or transfer money from retiree health funds to reduce other retirement payments?
Mixed. The AG said Part W's plan to raise employee retirement contributions by 1% and pay only 20% of the increase to the retirement system would not violate the November 1991 amendment to Article…
Did Maine's new constitutional protection for the Maine State Retirement System also protect the separate Maine Judicial Retirement System from legislative deappropriations?
No. The AG concluded that the Maine Judicial Retirement System is a separate corporation from the Maine State Retirement System. When voters added the anti-diversion sentence to Article IX, § 18 in…
Could Kentucky deny a broad juvenile-justice records request because of litigation and the volume of files?
The 1992 AG said pending civil litigation and a motion for a protective order did not by themselves justify withholding the records. The cabinet could deny seven broad categories as unduly…
Could a Connecticut town receive a prison PILOT grant before the facility appeared on its tax list?
No. The AG said a certified correctional facility still had to be on the town’s assessment list for the statutory date two years before the grant year. He also said the 1991 revaluation amendments…
Can a Texas navigation district grant a tax abatement on land the county already abated, and for how long?
Only for a limited window. The Attorney General concluded that under chapter 312 of the Tax Code, the Property Redevelopment and Tax Abatement Act, only a county or a municipality can start a tax…
Can someone with a felony conviction run for alderman in a Texas type B general law city?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the Election Code's bar on candidacy by anyone finally convicted of a felony (and not pardoned or released from the resulting disabilities), section…
Must both vehicle owners sign a Kentucky UCC filing when the title joins their names with 'or'?
Yes. The AG concluded that a UCC filing for a jointly owned vehicle required the same signatures whether the title joined the owners' names with 'and' or 'or'. The word 'or' did not reduce either…
Does the Texas prompt-payment law for government contracts cover construction projects?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that article 601f, V.T.C.S., the statute setting deadlines for state agencies and local governments to pay vendors (and for vendors to pay their subcontractors…
Who has to transport juveniles between detention and court, and can the county judge order the sheriff to do it?
No one is required by statute. The Attorney General concluded that no Texas law puts a mandatory duty on any officer or office to transport juvenile defendants between the detention center and…
What is a Texas sheriff responsible for when a private company runs the county jail?
Very little, directly. The Attorney General concluded that when a county contracts with a private vendor to run a detention facility, the sheriff's only duty is the 'regular, on-site monitoring' the…
When Maryland raised the interest rate on unpaid estate taxes in 1982, did the higher rate apply to deferred payments on estates of people who died before the law took effect?
Maryland's Attorney General concluded that a 1982 law raising the interest rate on unpaid estate taxes applied to all deferred estate tax payments due on or after the law's July 1, 1982 effective…
Can Texas health agencies inspect a hospital that's already licensed and medicare-accredited?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the exemption in section 222.024 of the Health and Safety Code, which spares a medicare-certified or nationally accredited hospital from duplicate 'licensing…
Could Louisville withhold detailed monthly invoices from lawyers it paid with public money?
The 1992 AG said the city improperly withheld the invoices as a whole. Statements showing fees, hours, and the general nature of legal services had to be disclosed, with any genuinely privileged…
Could a Kentucky city reject a public-records request because the written request arrived by fax?
The 1992 AG said no. The statute allowed a custodian to require a written application but did not prescribe how it had to be sent; a fax identified the requested records and satisfied that purpose.…
Can a restaurant in a dry Texas county give customers a free glass of wine or cook with alcohol?
Giving away wine is treated as a sale, so it is barred. The Attorney General concluded that a restaurant in a dry area that hands patrons a 'free' glass of wine with their meal violates section…
Who is allowed to run a bingo game in Texas, and where can they hold it?
Only the kinds of organizations listed in article III, section 47(b) of the Texas Constitution, churches, synagogues, religious societies, volunteer fire departments, nonprofit veterans and…
Does a Texas municipal court have jurisdiction over a bad check written for goods or services?
It depends on what the bad check bought and how the charge is framed. The Attorney General concluded that writing a bad check just to pay money is the offense of issuing a bad check under Penal Code…
Can a Texas budget rider require state agency employees to file financial disclosure statements with their own board?
Mostly no. The Attorney General concluded that article V, section 79 of the 1991-92 General Appropriations Act was valid only to the extent it restated the existing financial-disclosure statute…
Can a Texas city use an industrial development corporation's bonds to build or run a for-profit hospital?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a hospital or clinic is not a 'manufacturing or industrial facility,' nor a facility 'required or suitable for the promotion of commercial development,' under…
Who hires and fires juvenile probation department staff, the juvenile board or the chief probation officer?
The two share authority in a defined way. The Attorney General concluded that under sections 152.0007 and 152.0008 of the Human Resources Code, the chief juvenile probation officer of the Brazos…
What effective date did Kentucky's AG predict for 1992 laws if lawmakers adjourned April 15?
The January 1992 opinion projected July 15 for ordinary session laws on the assumption that lawmakers would adjourn April 15. They actually adjourned April 14, and the AG later gave July 14 as the…
Could a Kentucky county school district hire a private agency to collect overdue occupational license taxes?
The 1992 AG said no. Overdue school taxes remained school taxes, and the cited collection statutes allowed collection by the sheriff or an appointed school employee, not a private collection agency.…
Are a Texas river authority's oil and gas working interests exempt from property tax?
It depends on the facts, and the Attorney General could not resolve it in an opinion. The Lower Colorado River Authority owns leasehold (working) interests in oil and gas wells in Fayette County and…
If a check-cashing company takes a customer's check that both know is currently no good, gives the customer cash minus a fee, and agrees to hold the check until the customer's account has money, is that a regulated loan, and can the company be criminally prosecuted under North Carolina's Consumer Finance Act and bad-check laws?
Yes. A deferred-presentment check-cashing transaction is in essence a small-dollar loan. If the loan amount is $10,000 or less and the fees exceed Chapter 24 interest caps, the company is making…
Could Connecticut add a cash lotto game without a new lottery statute?
Yes. The AG concluded that the described cash lotto, with paid tickets and prizes determined by a random number draw, fit the statutory authority to design lottery games with Gaming Policy Board…
Could an adult disabled child’s estate conservator collect a teacher pension guardian benefit?
No. The AG said the estate conservator of an adult disabled daughter of a deceased teacher was not her legally appointed guardian and could not receive the separate monthly guardian survivor…
Can a Texas sheriff investigate crimes or make arrests outside his own county or out of state?
No, not generally. The Attorney General concluded that a sheriff has no general authority to investigate criminal activity outside the county for which he was elected, and certainly none outside…
Could a Kentucky county attorney hire out-of-county contract lawyers to prosecute child-support and paternity cases?
The 1992 AG said lawyers prosecuting the specified paternity, URESA, or cabinet child-support actions performed county-attorney duties and therefore were assistant county attorneys subject to the…
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