State AG Opinions
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Could the Brazos River Authority place funds in fully FDIC-insured banks that had not qualified as its official depositories?
No. The authority had to use lawfully qualified official depositories, although a selected depository did not need extra bonds or pledged securities for the portion already protected by FDIC insurance.
Could the Texas Rehabilitation Commission require job applicants to provide background records and update an application after a felony guilty plea?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the commission could require criminal-history, traffic, military, and similar records and could require applicants to update their applications after a…
Could the Texas Human Rights Commission or EEOC order a state agency to seal personnel records after an employment-discrimination complaint?
No. The Attorney General concluded that neither commission had specific authority to order a Texas agency to seal records governed by the Open Records Act. A court could order sealing, privacy law…
Could a Texas taxing unit grant its optional homestead exemption to seniors but not disabled homeowners, or vice versa?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a taxing unit could offer the optional residence-homestead exemption to either people age 65 or older or disabled people without offering it to both groups.
Could Washington’s industrial insurance appeals board pay the bar dues of its attorney employees?
The 1987 AG said no. Bar membership was required for industrial appeals judges, but the Board lacked statutory authority to pay their dues as compensation or reimburse them as an employment expense.
Could a hospital-district clinic employee serve on the district's board when the board controlled her job and salary?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the board's authority over the clinic employee's job and salary created a supervisor-subordinate relationship barred by common-law incompatibility.
Could Texas give the Anderson County groundwater district special powers over pumping near a hazardous-waste facility, including requiring injection-well operators to buy district water?
The Attorney General concluded that the special district law was facially valid and contained adequate standards, and that it did not facially conflict with statewide hazardous-waste law.…
Could the Washington State Patrol carry out vehicle-equipment duties that 1987 laws still assigned to a commission?
Yes. The 1987 AG read three acts from the same session together and concluded that the State Patrol could perform the former Commission on Equipment duties in the ignition-interlock and…
Could Texas require out-of-state and Mexican motorists driving in Texas to carry liability insurance meeting Texas standards?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that applying the same financial-responsibility rule to resident and nonresident motorists was a valid highway-safety regulation, absent federal preemption or an…
Could a Texas county clerk file an assumed-name certificate whose acknowledgment was in another language but carried a Hague apostille?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the acknowledgment required for the assumed-name certificate had to be written in English. A Hague apostille authenticated the signature, capacity, and seal…
When could a Texas county pay private lawyers to defend county officials, and could the commissioner suing them vote on the defense?
A county could fund the defense when commissioners found in good faith that the officials acted within public duties and the public interest was at stake. A commissioner suing the officials could…
Could a Washington state agency put its headquarters outside Olympia or move its director temporarily?
The 1987 AG said principal executive offices, including the agency head and core administrative functions, had to be in or near Olympia as it existed in 1890. Branch offices could be elsewhere; the…
Were Texas lawyers' fees for collecting debts subject to sales tax under the 1987 debt-collection service amendment?
Usually no. The Attorney General concluded that a lawyer's services were taxable only when the lawyer provided no legal service and acted solely as a debt collector, not when debt-collection…
Did a Washington court order placing a child outside the home itself establish that staying home was contrary to the child’s welfare?
The 1987 AG said yes for orders approving alternative residential placement, court-ordered shelter care, and dependency disposition orders for out-of-home placement. The required findings inherently…
Did a nonprofit volunteer fire department have to release records when it received public funds from a rural fire district?
Yes, to the extent of the publicly funded operation. The Attorney General concluded that Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department was a governmental body because the contract generally supported its fire…
Could Maine prohibit tobacco companies from sponsoring community, sporting, recreational, or civic events?
No. The Maine Attorney General concluded that the proposed sponsorship ban was preempted because the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act expressly barred state requirements or…
Should North Carolina Motor Vehicle Dealers' Advisory Board members get the $7 per diem from their 1973 statute or the higher $15 per diem from the general state board compensation statute?
$15. § 138-5 was rewritten in 1973 (Chapter 1397, effective July 1, 1974) to set a uniform $15-per-day per diem for all state boards, commissions, committees, and councils operating from State…
Was Maryland's long-running Homeowner's Tax Credit, capping assessment jumps above 15%, actually unconstitutional?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General reaffirmed a decade-long position that Maryland's Homeowner's Tax Credit, which capped property tax assessment increases above 15% each year, violates…
Could the Texas Historical Commission waive the 180-day waiting period for altering, selling, leasing, or demolishing a historic courthouse?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the statute gave the Commission no express or implied authority to waive the waiting period, which existed to allow time for preservation efforts.
Can a Maryland state prosecutor also serve as a special assistant state's attorney for a different county without giving up their regular job?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Assistant and Deputy State's Attorneys, Assistant and Deputy Attorneys General, and Assistant and Deputy State Prosecutors are not public…
Can a mortgage lender force a borrower to use the lender's own attorney for the title exam?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a Maryland mortgage lender could require a borrower to pay for legal services connected to the loan, including a title examination performed…
Can a North Carolina regional airport authority member, who runs a PR firm, contract with another company that is currently providing services to the same airport authority?
Likely not under N.C.G.S. § 14-234(a). The Asheville Regional Airport Authority was created by interlocal cooperation between Buncombe County and the City of Asheville and its members are public…
Can a Maryland county use its own licensing rules or zoning restrictions to control where state-licensed child care homes can operate?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded Maryland's Juvenile Services Agency licensing scheme had fully preempted county authority to license or use zoning to control where…
In Maryland child support cases, can a non-lawyer caseworker sign the court paperwork to withhold a parent's wages, or does the circuit court clerk have to handle the paperwork instead?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a support enforcement agency's motion or request for an earnings withholding order must be signed by an attorney representing the agency,…
Did a conviction for issuing a bad check prevent Texas from later prosecuting theft based on the same transaction?
No. The Attorney General concluded that issuing a bad check and theft required different elements. The bad-check offense focused on knowingly passing the worthless check, while theft required…
Can one person serve at the same time as a Texas justice of the peace and a part-time appointed municipal judge for a city in the same precinct?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that concurrent criminal jurisdiction did not make the two offices incompatible because the judge did not control where a complaint was filed and the offices'…
Can a state ethics board investigate and discipline a police officer, or does the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights take over instead?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's State Ethics Commission could investigate State law enforcement officers for violations of the Public Ethics Law, but that any…
Can a state require someone to live there for a year before letting them become a notary public?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's one-year residency requirement for notaries public was constitutional, holding that it survived rational-basis review under the…
Could a county reimburse its clerk for an independent audit the clerk hired without prior approval to defend a theft charge?
The county was not already liable because it had made no promise and had not knowingly accepted the audit's benefits. The commissioners court could still choose to ratify and pay for the audit if it…
Could a Washington community-college board member also direct the Spokane joint higher-education center?
The 1987 AG said no, even on an interim consultant contract. The director performed duties for and was paid by public universities, making the role an employee position or at least a direct…
Could a Texas state university buy products from a corporation partly owned and managed by a regent's spouse?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the regent had direct and community-property financial interests in the corporation. Delegating purchases to university employees did not remove the Board of…
Could the City of Amarillo Hospital District refuse to let paying patients use its public hospital for first- or second-trimester nontherapeutic abortions?
Under the federal constitutional law applied in 1987, no. The Attorney General concluded that Amarillo's public hospital could not deny paying patients access for first- and second-trimester…
Did Maryland need a new law to start letting the state pay, or 'pick up,' employees' pension contributions tax-free in the 1980s?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a 1986 law required the General Assembly, not just the Board of Trustees, to enact implementing legislation before Maryland's employer…
Did former Texas law requiring counties to support paupers give an indigent resident a property right protected by federal due process?
No. The Attorney General concluded that former article 2351(11) required counties to make some provision for paupers but left the nature and extent of general welfare services to county discretion,…
Could the Tyler County judge also serve as Woodville city attorney?
No. In Tyler County, which had no county court at law, the city attorney's prosecution and litigation duties conflicted with the county judge's appellate role and statutory limits on practicing law.…
Could a Texas sheriff use drug-forfeiture sale proceeds to buy a patrol car?
Only if the car would be used solely to investigate alleged criminal-law violations. The Attorney General could not decide that factual question because sheriffs also used vehicles for noncriminal…
Could a sitting county commissioner be nominated to fill a legislative vacancy chosen by county boards?
The 1987 AG said no for a joint legislative district that included the commissioner’s county. A party state central committee could submit only candidates eligible for the eventual appointment at…
Could a Texas criminal district attorney receive, hold, spend, and arrange the sale of drug-forfeited property?
Yes, within statutory limits. The Attorney General concluded that the court could forfeit property to the office, funds could be spent only on criminal investigations, no statute fixed a holding…
Could a Texas general-law city enforce its ordinances on city-owned land outside its limits and extraterritorial jurisdiction?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the city could not give its ordinances extraterritorial effect, but it could protect property under its control and prescribe rules for a public park acquired…
Could a Texas constable serve civil process in another county, keep the service fee, or act as a private process server?
A constable or deputy could serve civil process in the officer's county or a contiguous county. Service fees had to be deposited with the officer's county treasurer, and a deputy serving under Rule…
Could the Texas Rehabilitation Commission contract with for-profit agencies for its Extended Rehabilitation Program?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the amended statute allowed contracts with public or private agencies and no longer limited the program to nonprofit providers.
If a temporary employment agency supplies security guards to North Carolina businesses or government agencies, must the agency itself be licensed by the Private Protective Services Board?
Yes. Chapter 74C requires a security guard and patrol license for any person, firm, association, or corporation engaging in the business of providing contractual private security services for a fee.…
Did a Texas county medical examiner have to use a licensed funeral director or embalmer to move a body to the county morgue?
No. The medical examiner could order the transfer without engaging a funeral director or embalmer. If the examiner authorized a funeral director to make the transfer, the first-call supervision…
Did Idaho's Board of Nursing need to get the Board of Medicine's joint approval before adopting rules for certified registered nurse anesthetists?
No. The 1987 AG opinion concluded that a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) is not a 'nurse practitioner' under Idaho Code § 54-1402(d). The Board of Nursing could promulgate rules…
Does a North Carolina licensed professional engineer need a separate private investigator license under Chapter 74C in order to perform engineering investigations such as fire-cause analysis or accident reconstruction?
No. The AG concluded that an individual licensed professional engineer needs no separate Chapter 74C private investigator license to investigate within the scope of that engineer’s work, training,…
Were all items listed in the Texas personal-property exemption statute protected from execution regardless of their total value?
No. The Attorney General concluded that only the listed categories qualified and that their combined fair-market value could not exceed the statutory cap, then $30,000 for a family or $15,000 for a…
Could a hazardous-waste corporate guarantee be enforced when a settlement agreement disclaimed tort liability?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the settlement created contractual liability for the agreed amount, and that liability could support enforcement of the federal-form corporate guarantee.
Could a Texas home-rule city issue general-obligation bonds to finance affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families?
Yes, the Attorney General found no categorical constitutional or statutory bar. The bonds and the housing program still had to satisfy voter-approval, public-purpose, fair-value, and…
Did refinancing a housing development with refunding bonds trigger Texas's elderly-unit reservation requirement?
No. The Attorney General concluded that refunding bonds continued the original financing rather than funding new development, so they did not newly impose the elderly-occupancy reservation.
Could a Washington crane game be both a gambling device and an amusement game?
The 1987 AG said yes if material chance made it gambling and material skill plus the other statutory criteria made it an amusement game. The Gambling Commission had to evaluate each machine’s design…
Could the Texas Attorney General decide whether a county had to pay a judge-approved appointed-counsel fee claim?
No. Because a judge had already entered an order directing payment, the Attorney General declined to review the order or resolve whether the claimed preappointment services and expenses were compensable.
When did related loans to a credit-union member, spouse, partnership, or company count together under the ten-percent loan limit?
The opinion did not create one automatic aggregation rule. It concluded that the credit-union commissioner had primary authority to decide violations using the borrowers' actual liability,…
Could a Texas county commissioner hire another county commissioner's son as a road hand in the commissioner's precinct?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the commissioners court retained authority to approve or disapprove an ex officio road commissioner's hiring decisions, so the county nepotism statute barred…
Who counts as a qualified voter for signing a Maryland town's annexation referendum petition: someone registered before the vote, or anyone who registers in time?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that under Article 23A, §19(g), a person who meets a municipality's voter qualifications at the time a referendum petition is presented for…
Could a Texas county finance construction of a jail under the Public Property Finance Act by calling the building personal property?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the jail was ordinarily real property and that the parties could not change the statute's scope by contractually labeling it personal property.
Does Maryland's crime victims compensation fund pay for disfigurement or scarring alone?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded Maryland's Criminal Injuries Compensation Board could award compensation for disfigurement alone if it caused serious financial hardship, could…
Could a Texas county bail-bond board cap the total bail bonds written by a state-authorized corporate surety?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the statute expressly exempted corporate sureties from the ten-times-security limit and made the state insurance certificate conclusive evidence of security,…
Could a Texas defendant receive jury-recommended misdemeanor probation while already serving felony probation?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a defendant already on felony probation had a prior felony conviction for jury-probation eligibility, even though that conviction was not final for sentence…
Does charging sales tax on the paper and ink used to print a free community newspaper violate freedom of the press?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's retail sales tax, which taxes the materials used to produce free publications while taxing the final sale price of publications…
Was a full Texas pardon the same as restoration of citizenship rights, and could the parole board recommend rights restoration without a pardon?
The Attorney General concluded that a pardon and restoration of full citizenship rights were synonymous except for the prisoner's status. After the statutory amendment, however, the board lacked…
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