State AG Opinions
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How does a Mississippi county decide if a 501(c)(3) qualifies for property-tax exemption as a charitable society?
The board of supervisors decides. 501(c)(3) status alone does not exempt property under § 27-31-1(d). The Board must determine that the entity is actually a charitable society and that the property is…
If a fertility clinic discards an unused human embryo that was created in a lab and never transferred to a uterus, is that a crime under Tennessee's Human Life Protection Act?
No. The AG concluded that Tennessee's Human Life Protection Act does not apply to embryos that have never been transferred to a woman's uterus. The Act's text limits 'abortion' to terminating the preg…
If a Delaware department says it will 'undertake to identify' people with responsive records and 'provide a cost estimate,' does that count as a FOIA response within the 15-day clock?
The Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security violated FOIA. It missed the 15-business-day deadline entirely, then said in an email after the petition was filed that it 'will undertake to id…
How can a Texas county legally get rid of worn-out items like old culverts when nobody bids on them at auction?
Cherokee County removes about one culvert a week and tries to sell them as 'salvage property' under Local Government Code section 263.152, but sometimes the bids do not even cover the newspaper notice…
Can a Texas store offer a suspected shoplifter a theft deterrent class instead of calling the police?
There is no Texas law that prohibits it. A House committee chair asked whether a merchant operating under the shopkeeper's privilege in Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 124.001 can offer a the…
Can a Delaware journalist get a count of inmate deaths broken down by cause and facility under FOIA?
Yes, violation. The Department of Correction provided a log of inmate deaths with names and dates but redacted cause of death citing medical privacy. The DOC's affidavit explained how it produced the …
How long can a Delaware agency keep extending the deadline on a FOIA request, and at what point does repeated 'thirty more days' become bad faith?
Six months and five identical 30-business-day extensions were not bad faith here. Karl Baker requested 13 years of contracts between the Delaware Department of Insurance and Zack Stamp Consulting LLC.…
Can a North Dakota township refuse an open-records request by pointing to a lawsuit that has already been decided and not appealed?
The AG concluded the Township was wrong to deny. North Dakota's litigation exception under § 44-04-18(6) only blocks open-records requests from a litigant when there are still discovery procedures ava…
What notice does a North Dakota township board have to give before holding a special meeting?
The AG concluded the Butte Township Board violated North Dakota's open meetings law for three special meetings. Notice has to be filed with the county auditor, posted at the meeting location on the da…
If you want to pull a piece of land out of a South Dakota sanitary district, how many petition signatures do you need? Is it 20% of all voters in the district, or 20% of votes cast for the top trustee at the last election?
It is 20% of the votes cast for the top vote-getter at the last annual trustee election, not 20% of all district voters. So in a small new district where the leading trustee got 40 votes, an exclusion…
Can Virginia's Commonwealth Transportation Board authorize license plate reader cameras to be installed on state highways for law enforcement?
No. The Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) lacks the statutory authority to amend its Land Use Permit Regulations to authorize the installation of license plate reader (LPR) cameras in VDOT right…
If the Tennessee legislature names a stretch of state highway as a memorial highway, can a city or county pass an ordinance removing the memorial signs?
No. The General Assembly has plenary authority over state highways under Marshall v. State and BellSouth, and § 3-2-112 expressly authorizes the legislature to name or rename roads, highways, bridges,…
Can an Arkansas constable join the state employees' retirement system, and can a state employee accrue extra retirement credit for serving as a constable?
No on both. A constable cannot be a member of the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System (APERS), paid or unpaid, because constables are township officers, not employees of a 'participating publi…
Can a Kentucky county pay to build and maintain pedestrian swinging bridges with public money?
Yes, with one limit. The Attorney General concluded that a fiscal court may spend public funds to build and maintain pedestrian swinging bridges within the county, because KRS 67.083 lets counties fun…
Is North Dakota's physician impairment program (NDPHP) subject to open records and meetings laws even though it's run by a nonprofit contractor?
Yes. The North Dakota AG concluded the North Dakota Professional Health Program (NDPHP) is a public entity under N.D.C.C. § 44-04-17.1(13) and subject to open records and meetings laws. The NDPHP was …
Can a Delaware governor's office invoke the pending-litigation FOIA exemption when the office itself is not a party to the lawsuit?
Yes, where the governor exercises authority over the actual litigants and the requester is a litigant trying to use FOIA as discovery. The AG ruled the Office of the Governor properly denied a 9-categ…
Does a Mississippi constable get the bailiff fee on a court day if court gets cancelled before it starts?
No. Under §§ 19-19-8 and 19-25-31, a constable serving as bailiff is paid only when the court is in session. If court is cancelled before any session, the constable does not earn the bailiff fee for t…
How does a tiny Mississippi town like Satartia enforce speed limits and write traffic tickets?
A Mississippi town governs traffic by passing ordinances and employing a police force or marshal under §§ 21-13-1 and 21-21-3. The municipal court clerk issues uniform traffic ticket books. Towns unde…
Can a Mississippi city pay incentive bonuses to municipal employees with ARPA funds?
Yes, if structured prospectively. A Mississippi city can pay incentive pay to municipal employees if (1) contracted before the services are performed, (2) measured by objective standards, and (3) earn…
If a Mississippi town owns underground utility lines, can its agent show up and verbally point them out instead of marking them?
Yes, with limits. Under § 77-13-9(2), a municipal utility owner can be onsite when excavation begins and verbally locate lines instead of marking them. But Sections 77-13-1 et seq. impose other duties…
Can a Mississippi school district give veterans free admission to athletic events?
No. Once a Mississippi school charges admission, the money is public funds. Giving free tickets to a class of people (even veterans) is an unlawful donation under Miss. Const. Art. 4 § 66. Cities and …
Can a city allow its police officers to bank more than 90 days of sick leave?
Yes. A.C.A. § 14-52-107 lets municipal law enforcement officers accumulate up to 60 days of sick leave by default, with no upper cap if the city authorizes more by ordinance. So Prairie Grove's ordina…
Can Connecticut municipalities use independent contractors as their property assessors, or does the law require assessors to be municipal employees?
Independent contractors are fine. AG William Tong concluded that Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-55 and the rest of Chapter 203 require an assessor to be properly trained, certified, sworn, and to follow specif…
Can a Texas city council member also serve as a volunteer reserve police officer for the same city?
No, at least in Freeport. A man who was serving on the City of Freeport's police reserve force was then elected to the city council, and the Brazoria County Criminal District Attorney asked whether he…
Can a Delaware journalist get the date of death of a homicide victim from the medical examiner's office under FOIA?
No. The date of a homicide victim's death is recorded in the post-mortem report (exempt as an investigatory file under § 10002(o)(3)) and on the death certificate (statutorily confidential for 40 year…
Are minor league baseball players who play in Virginia covered by Virginia's overtime and minimum wage laws?
No. Based on the facts presented, minor league baseball players employed by the five MLB-affiliated minor league teams in Virginia are exempt from Virginia overtime pay and minimum wage requirements. …
Can a Virginia circuit court clerk carry a firearm into the courthouse where they work?
Yes, while in the conduct of their official duties. The AG concluded that the clerk of a circuit court is a 'court officer' as that phrase is used in § 18.2-283.1, the statute that generally bans weap…
In California, are paid victim advocates who work with sexually exploited children mandated reporters of child abuse?
Generally no. Paid victim advocates are not on CANRA's list of mandated reporters. But they become mandated reporters if they hold a license that places them in a listed category, or if their job duti…
Does an advisory committee created by a school superintendent without school board action have to follow North Dakota's open meetings law?
No. A committee created by the superintendent under his administrative authority, with no school board members, no delegated decision-making power, and only recommendation authority back to the board,…
Is it OK to wait six weeks to give a citizen meeting minutes after she requested them, and did the special meeting itself get proper notice?
The November 1, 2021 special meeting was properly noticed (email to newspaper plus website). But waiting over a month to provide requested meeting minutes was an unreasonable delay and violated the op…
If a North Dakota citizen asks a school board to be personally notified of all future meetings, does the board have to send her notice of a special meeting?
Yes. Under § 44-04-20(5), when a citizen requests notice of future meetings, the public entity must give that person personal notice of each meeting, including special meetings. Public posting plus pe…
Can a Mississippi pretrial detainee held in their home county vote absentee on the disability excuse?
Only if they actually have a temporary or permanent physical disability. Detention itself is not a disability under § 23-15-713(d). Whether a particular elector qualifies is a case-by-case determinati…
Can a North Dakota city hold administrative nuisance hearings before its regular meeting without giving notice, and can it withhold the city attorney's emails as work product?
No on both counts. A quorum holding administrative nuisance hearings is a meeting that requires notice to the newspaper and the public. And the attorney work product exemption requires all three statu…
When a school district closes and is absorbed by another, what happens to the property tax millage residents were paying?
Yes, the millage transfers to the receiving district. When a school district is dissolved and annexed to or consolidated with another district under Arkansas law, the existing millage rate stays in pl…
What does it mean that the Mississippi Civil Rights Education Commission is assigned to the Secretary of State 'for administrative purposes only'?
The Mississippi Secretary of State assists the Civil Rights Education Commission with managing activities and organizational tasks. The SOS has no statutory funding obligation, no authority over the C…
What happens when a Delaware agency simply ignores a FOIA request and the AG's request for a response?
Yes, violation. The Office of the Auditor of Accounts violated FOIA by failing to respond at all to Jack Guerin's July 29, 2022 request for policy work products by My Campaign Group, Innovative Consul…
Can a Virginia local election office accept grants, equipment, training, or website services from the Center for Tech and Civic Life or the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence?
No. Under Virginia Code § 24.2-124.1, the State Board, the Department of Elections, every local electoral board, and every general registrar's office is forbidden from soliciting, accepting, using, or…
Can a Mississippi town deed homes to long-time residents to make up for Community Block Grant houses that were promised but never built?
Generally no. A Mississippi municipality cannot deed municipally-owned property to individual citizens because that is an unlawful donation. The narrow exception is § 43-35-503: if the Town of Gunniso…
How does a Mississippi joint airport board dispose of abandoned personal property left at the airport?
A Mississippi joint airport board created under § 61-5-37 can dispose of abandoned personal property using the county procedure (§ 19-3-85) or the city procedure (§ 21-39-21), unless the joint agreeme…
Can a Mississippi county make all employees take their paychecks by direct deposit?
No. A Mississippi county can offer direct deposit, and may pay an employee electronically once the employee agrees, but it cannot make direct deposit mandatory for all county employees. Mandatory dire…
In Mississippi, do you have to get a community mental-health screening before filing a commitment affidavit?
No. A relative or interested person can file an affidavit with the chancery clerk first. After the chancellor directs, the sheriff transports the person to a community mental health center for the pre…
Can a Texas magistrate change the bail set in the county where someone was arrested on an out-of-county warrant?
Likely yes, in the right circumstances. When a warrant issues in one county but the person is arrested elsewhere, the arresting county magistrate sets bail and the accused may be transferred back to t…
Can a Texas county give the sheriff's office a pay raise in the middle of the budget year?
Usually not without an emergency. San Jacinto County's commissioners court wanted to give every sheriff's office employee a raise mid-budget-year, but the budget had no money set aside for it. The AG …
Can a company that owns farmland in a Texas water district send a representative to vote in the district's elections?
Likely no. An LLC that owns irrigable farmland in the Maverick County Water Control & Improvement District No. 1 and uses the district's irrigation water wanted its authorized representative to regist…
If a city council member also works for the state, can the city still pay them per-meeting compensation?
It depends on whether the payment is a 'salary,' and the AG would not decide that. A Hutto city council member took a job with a state college system and was paid from state funds. Article XVI, sectio…
Did a Texas county have to give public notice before paying elected officials federal COVID 'premium pay'?
Probably not. Tyler County received federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money and, in September 2021, the commissioners court voted a one-time 'premium pay' payment to county employees and officer…
Can the Texas Greyhound Association pay simulcast purse money straight to kennel and dog owners?
Likely not. When a Texas horse racetrack carries a simulcast of an out-of-state greyhound race (an 'interstate cross-species simulcast'), the Texas Racing Act requires it to pay 5.5 percent of each wa…
What problems did the Idaho AG flag with the proposed Idaho Medical Marijuana Act ballot initiative in 2022?
Mostly drafting-mechanical issues plus the federal-law overlay. The Cert flagged vague provisions in §§ 39-9712(2) and 39-9721(9), a fatal chapter-numbering conflict (chapters 97-99 already used by ot…
Can a West Virginia county collect its emergency ambulance service fee from people who live in public housing, even though the housing project itself is tax-exempt?
Yes. The fee under W. Va. Code § 7-15-17 is a user fee on people, not a property tax. Public housing residents are 'users' of emergency ambulance services and may be charged. The state housing law's t…
Can a Mississippi public school district bus non-district students to a special STEM program?
Yes, conditionally. If the school board determines a program is a 'special or alternative program' under § 37-41-3, the district may transport non-district students, provided no additional public fund…
When a Delaware council majority avoids a public meeting by signing checks at private offices in series, is that a FOIA violation?
Yes. A quorum of the Georgetown Town Council violated FOIA when three councilmembers used serial private visits at one councilmember's workplace to sign and deliver a $24,750 grant check to the George…
Does Mississippi's HB 1365 ban on private election funding cover student art and essay contests about voting?
It depends on the facts. HB 1365 prohibits Mississippi election officials from soliciting, accepting, using, or disposing of private donations for election-related expenses or voter education, outreac…
Can a California prosecutor give a witness's or victim's criminal history (RAP sheet) to defense counsel during discovery, and do they have to redact anything first?
Yes, but with limits. A California district attorney may voluntarily give defense counsel a copy of an adult witness's or victim's RAP sheet during criminal discovery, provided juvenile court informat…
How is the 2,000-foot residency limit measured for an Arkansas Level 3 or Level 4 sex offender, and does a homeschool group or church camp count as a school or youth center?
A homeschool group meeting weekly at a church is NOT a 'private elementary or secondary school' for purposes of Ark. Code Ann. § 5-14-128, so it does not trigger the 2,000-foot residency restriction o…
In a California criminal case, can the district attorney just hand over the defendant's RAP sheet to defense counsel, or does the defense have to apply to the Attorney General?
The DA can hand it over voluntarily. Nothing in the criminal discovery rules prevents a prosecutor from giving defense counsel the defendant's own RAP sheet. But for an adult defendant, the DA must fi…
When a Virginia officer is holding someone under a temporary detention order and the person has calmed down, can a family member take over the transport to the mental health facility?
If a law enforcement officer holding a person under a temporary detention order (TDO) believes the person can be safely transported by an alternative provider (including a family member), and that pro…
Does the 90% pay cap on Virginia deputy sheriff salaries apply when my county adds local supplemental pay on top of the state salary?
The 90% cap in Virginia Code § 15.2-1609.2(F), which says a deputy sheriff's salary cannot exceed 90% of the sheriff's salary, does not apply to a deputy's total pay when a county or city provides sup…
Can a Mississippi county pay each employee a $1,000 ARPA bonus for staying on the job during the pandemic?
No. Once American Rescue Plan Act funds enter the county treasury, state rules govern how they are spent. Miss. Const. Art. 4 §§ 66 and 96 prohibit a county from granting extra compensation for servic…
If I file a transfer-on-death deed in Mississippi, do I have to reapply for my homestead exemption?
No. A revocable transfer-on-death deed does not affect the owner's homestead rights during life, so no reapplication is required after filing. The homestead exemption keeps rolling forward annually un…
If a Mississippi county overpaid sick leave by mistake, can other employees donate leave so the worker can repay it?
Yes. If the county determines an administrative error caused an employee to be paid sick leave they had not earned, the employee can repay the county using leave donated by coworkers, as long as the d…
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