State AG Opinions
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Is a mortgage given to a federal credit union exempt from Maryland's recordation tax?
No. The Attorney General withdrew a 1975 advice letter and concluded that the federal statute exempting federal credit unions from state and local taxes, 12 U.S.C. §1768, does not exempt a mortgage…
Can a Maryland employer order a workplace drug test without a doctor, and who is allowed to see the results?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that a Maryland employer could contract directly with a laboratory for job-related drug testing; the usual rule that only a physician may order a lab test did…
Can Texas police accept a bail bond somewhere other than the county jail?
Yes, when the officer is authorized to take the bond. This 1990 opinion said municipal police officers could accept bonds away from the county jail under articles 17.20 and 17.22 in the…
Could Connecticut lawyers use NOW accounts for short-term client funds in the IOLTA program?
Yes, where the funds were in practice available on request without delay. The Attorney General said the statute's withdrawal language did not demand a noninterest-bearing demand deposit account,…
Could Connecticut use a Medicaid applicant's support assignment to pursue a community spouse's assets?
The Attorney General said no under the Connecticut statutes and regulations then in force: they allowed support claims based on the community spouse's income, not assets. A standard Medicaid…
Can a Texas mental health agency legally pay a parent to provide care to their own mentally disabled child?
Yes, but only in part, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded such a contract is legally valid only if it pays the parent for services beyond what the parent is already…
Can a Texas county commissioners court require prevailing wages, health benefits, or English-speaking staff on contracts that aren't public works projects?
The 1990 opinion said counties must determine and pay prevailing wages, including locally prevailing fringe benefits, on public works contracts, but cannot require prevailing wages on other…
If a boarding home is registered with a local mental health authority in Texas, does that automatically exempt it from Texas Department of Health licensing as a personal care home?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that merely being registered under the mental health boarding home statute does not, by itself, bring a facility within the Health…
Can a Texas city require its outside security guard contractors to provide health insurance to their employees as a condition of winning the contract?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that requiring contractors to provide employee health insurance benefits has no direct relation to the quality of security guard…
Could Connecticut renew Hartford's special general-assistance work program contract after its two-year pilot authorization expired?
No. The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that the statute authorized one municipality's special program for two years, and the legislature had not extended it. Hartford and the state could still…
Did two 1990 Supreme Court rulings make Maryland's parental notification law for a minor's abortion enforceable?
In a 1990 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that two Supreme Court decisions issued that year, Hodgson v. Minnesota and Ohio v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, did not change existing…
In Maryland, who pays for a county's child support enforcement office, the state or the county?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that Montgomery County's child support enforcement program was a 'local support enforcement office' and a component of the Circuit Court, so the county, not…
Can a New Jersey county or town put a non-binding referendum on the ballot asking voters what they think about state tax law or state spending?
No. Counties and municipalities can only put non-binding referenda on their ballots about matters they themselves have authority to act on. State tax policy and state appropriations are committed to…
Can a New Jersey county pay for a court-ordered jail improvement using a 'special emergency appropriation' (and three-year notes) instead of putting the cost in its annual budget?
No, when the county already knew about the obligation at budget-writing time. The Director of Local Government Services must reject a final county budget that leaves out a known, foreseen liability…
Could a Connecticut police commissioner hold a liquor permit as permittee or backer?
No. The Attorney General concluded that police commissioners were covered by the statutory bar on permits for members of a police force, whether they sought to be permittees or backers. The opinion…
Could a Washington fire district buy medical insurance to satisfy its disabled firefighter care obligation?
No. In 1990 the Attorney General said the pension law required medical, hospital and nursing care and did not authorize using the pension fund for insurance premiums instead. A pension board could…
Can the trustees of a Texas municipal firefighters' pension fund enter into securities lending agreements with a corporate borrower?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that securities lending agreements are not among the investments the fund's governing statute authorizes, since they involve a…
Can a Texas county pay a rural fire prevention district or a volunteer fire department to provide fire protection, and does creating a fire district take away the county's own fire protection power?
Yes, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded a county keeps its authority to provide fire protection even after a rural fire prevention district is created covering the same…
Can a Texas transit authority charge the state more per bus ticket for Medicaid riders than it charges the general public?
The Attorney General did not decide this question in 1990. The opinion concluded that whether such pricing violated state nondiscrimination statutes, the federal Rehabilitation Act, or the Urban…
Can a city like Boise require the State of Idaho to pull a city building permit, or pay city plumbing and electrical inspection fees, before constructing or remodeling a state building inside city limits?
No. The Idaho legislature has fully occupied the field of state-owned building construction (Idaho Code § 67-5711). City building, electrical, and plumbing codes do not apply to state projects, and…
Could a Connecticut town require a special zoning exception for a registered family day care home?
No. The Attorney General concluded that state law barred towns from imposing a special exception or special permit on registered family day care homes. The opinion still recognized local codes and…
When a Texas court orders a property tax refund, does the taxing unit have to pay interest, and how is that interest calculated for multi-year cases?
Yes, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded a taxing unit must pay interest on any refund paid on or after June 15, 1989, regardless of when the underlying lawsuit was filed,…
Can a member of a Texas county housing authority board keep the frequent flier miles earned on trips the authority paid for?
Generally no. Commissioners could not take mileage credits earned on authority-paid travel as compensation. If the authority could not arrange for credits to be assigned to it, the credits assigned…
How is an independent or petition candidate listed on a Maryland general election ballot?
The Attorney General worked through Maryland's tangled ballot-designation statutes in 1990 and concluded that a petition candidate registered as 'declined' and not affiliated with any party or…
Could a Texas state employee use sick leave when adopting a child under the 1989-1990 appropriations act?
Yes, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded a state employee adopting a child under three years old could use sick leave, in an amount comparable to what a natural mother…
Did Maryland's mortgage escrow interest law apply to loans made under the credit grantor closed end credit provisions?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that CL §12-109, Maryland's requirement that lenders pay borrowers interest on residential first-mortgage escrow accounts, applied to loans made under any…
Can the Texas Veterans Land Board invest veterans' fund money in repurchase agreements or mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by GNMA?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded the Texas Constitution limits idle Veterans Land Fund and Housing Assistance Fund money to 'bonds or obligations of the United…
Is it unconstitutional for a Texas law to let larger cities keep a bigger share of interstate highway traffic fines than smaller cities?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded the population-based classification had a reasonable basis tied to the risk of small cities using radar enforcement on interstate…
Can a Texas county donate money or services to a chamber of commerce that runs a local festival?
No, not as an unconditional gift. The Attorney General concluded the Texas Constitution bars a county from donating money, property, or services to a chamber of commerce or similar private…
Can a Maryland social services caseworker report a client's crime to the police, or does confidentiality law forbid it?
It depends on how the employee learned the information. The Attorney General concluded that a social services employee may always report a client's criminal activity learned off-duty in a personal…
Can a Texas state housing agency hold title to foreclosed mortgage properties through a bank trustee, and does it have to pay property taxes on them?
Yes, the agency could hold foreclosed property in its own name or through a bank acting on its behalf. No, it did not have to pay taxes on property it owned: the property was exempt from state and…
Does an appraisal district need approval from three-fourths of local taxing units just to lease office space, or only to buy a building?
Only to buy or build. The Attorney General concluded that the Tax Code's three-fourths taxing-unit approval requirement applies to an appraisal district's purchase, sale, construction, or renovation…
Can a Texas state agency use interest earned on money in a special fund to pay administrative costs if a budget rider only mentions fees as the funding source?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the legislature had not actually appropriated the interest earned on deposits in the Texas Exporters Loan Fund for administrative costs, because a budget…
Can a Texas city require its own license, tax, or bond from an air conditioning contractor who already has a state license?
No, for license taxes, occupation taxes, and bond requirements. The Attorney General concluded that state law (V.T.C.S. art. 8861) makes a state license valid statewide and preempts municipalities…
Can a Texas city give an employee a cash advance on salary not yet earned?
Generally no. The Attorney General concluded that a salary advance is a loan of public funds, and without a clear public purpose behind it, a court would likely find it violates the Texas…
Can a Texas county still pay the salary of an employee who owes back property taxes to the county?
Yes, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that the Local Government Code provision barring salary warrants to anyone 'indebted' to the county did not reach ordinary…
If a Texas county can't mail a property tax bill because it doesn't know the owner's address, does the tax ever become delinquent?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that section 31.04 of the Tax Code, which postpones the delinquency date when a bill is mailed late, only applies when a bill can be mailed at all. When no bill…
Can a school principal or superintendent force a teacher's grievance hearing to be held in a closed executive session?
No, not if the teacher wants it open. The Attorney General concluded that section 2(g) of the Open Meetings Act only permits, but does not require, a closed session for personnel matters, and an…
Does a company dredging under a Texas School Land Board easement need a separate state permit to disturb sand, shell, gravel, or marl?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded the company's dredging was performed under state authority because it was done pursuant to the School Land Board's own easement, so…
Can a Texas commissioners court award a design-build contract for a public building through competitive bidding?
No, not if the contract includes architectural or engineering services. The Attorney General concluded that Texas's Professional Services Procurement Act barred commissioners courts from awarding…
Could Connecticut's Codes and Standards Committee hear an appeal of a state building inspector's decision about where a wheelchair lift may be installed?
No, for the building-eligibility approval under section 29-200. The Attorney General concluded that the committee had no authority to review that joint decision, although it did have jurisdiction…
Can a sheriff promote his own son or daughter after he takes office if they already worked there?
No. The Attorney General concluded that while the nepotism statute let the sheriff's son and daughter keep the jobs they already held when their father took office, it barred him from promoting them…
Can a real estate agent who sits on an appraisal district's board sell a building to that same appraisal district?
It depends on the facts. The Attorney General concluded that if the board member was contractually the seller's agent only, there was no conflict-of-interest violation, but if the board member also…
Can a county auditor require constables to submit a monthly report listing every paper they served?
No, not the kind of report described here. The Attorney General concluded that a county auditor could not require constables to file a monthly report listing the civil and criminal instruments they…
Can Maryland suspend a lawyer's license to practice law for failing to pay workers' compensation assessments?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that Article 101, §91's requirement to suspend a delinquent employer's 'license to do business' applies to attorneys who fail to pay assessments owed to the…
Do special-education suspension and expulsion protections apply to private schools in Maryland?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that a State-approved private school offering special education had to protect a disabled student against a suspension or expulsion that disrupts the child's…
When a logging operation transports forest products in a heavy truck, do the drivers need a commercial driver's license (CDL), or do they qualify for the same farm-vehicle exemption available to traditional farmers?
The AG said logging employees could use the farm-vehicle CDL exemption when their employer raised and grew the forest products, did not engage in buying products for resale, and met the statute’s…
Do the county committees that plan local jail and probation facilities have to hold their meetings in public under Texas open-meetings law?
No, not this kind of committee. The Attorney General concluded that a community justice council, created by district judges to help plan community corrections facilities and recommend how state…
When a city no longer needs a vehicle seized in a drug case, does it have to sell it at a sheriff's auction?
Yes, for forfeitures that happened before October 18, 1989. The Attorney General concluded that a political subdivision, including a home-rule city, that acquired a vehicle by forfeiture under the…
When the Maine Legislature authorizes a state agency to sign a contract with a local utility, can the utility sue the State if the agency breaches that contract, or does sovereign immunity still apply?
The utility can sue. AG Tierney concluded that when the Legislature authorized the Department of Corrections to contract with the Warren Sanitary District through Chapter 23 of the 1989 Resolves, it…
Does the Texas Internal Auditing Act require state agencies to follow its rules, or are they just suggestions?
The Attorney General concluded that the Texas Internal Auditing Act's requirements are mandatory, not merely advisory guidelines, so a covered agency must appoint a certified public accountant or…
Could Maryland deny Medicaid and state medical assistance to people incarcerated in jails and prisons?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that Maryland's policy of excluding people incarcerated in detention centers from Medical Assistance Program coverage was authorized by both federal and state…
After the 1990 Legislature added SDCL 43-4-22(18), which exempts transfers 'for which no consideration was given' from the real estate transfer fee, is an exchange of one parcel of land for another parcel of land still subject to the transfer fee, or is it now exempt?
Still subject to the fee. AG Tellinghuisen ruled that exchanging one parcel of land for another parcel is a transaction with consideration (each parcel is the consideration for the other), so SDCL…
Could Connecticut's State Insurance Purchasing Board buy surety bonds for Convention Center Authority directors?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the Authority was a public body separate from the state, outside the Purchasing Board's authority to insure the state. The Authority's own board chair was…
Did Connecticut's 1987 increase in crime-victim compensation limits cover a homicide that happened before the amendment took effect?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the higher limits and new dependent-claim rule were substantive changes that applied only to injuries or deaths on or after October 1, 1987. Filing a claim…
Could vacant college or hospital land count toward Connecticut's payment-in-lieu-of-taxes grants?
Usually not if vacant indefinitely: the Attorney General said the Branford parcels did not qualify. Yale's Woodbury land could qualify under a distinct exemption for named colleges, but only if its…
Could a weakly capitalized Connecticut bank replace withdrawn municipal deposits with new public deposits?
No. The Attorney General interpreted the 1990 statute to bar any further municipal or school-district deposits once a public depository's net-worth-to-assets ratio fell below three percent.…
Who hires and fires the staff of the Idaho POST Academy: the POST Council or the Director of the Department of Law Enforcement?
The Director of the Department of Law Enforcement. The POST Council sets training standards but has no statutory authority to hire or fire staff, so the default rule of Idaho Code § 67-2705…
Can a Maryland county charge condominiums, co-ops, and HOAs a per-unit fee for a county dispute-resolution service?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that Montgomery County's proposed per-unit fees on condominiums, cooperatives, and homeowners associations, meant to fund a county dispute-resolution service,…
Is a capitated employer health benefits plan considered insurance that the state can regulate?
The Attorney General concluded in 1990 that the health care providers participating in the Healthnet program were engaged in the business of insurance and fell under the Insurance Commissioner's…
How these opinions are useful
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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.