State AG Opinions
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Could Tallulah's city council limit employee travel by resolution, and what mileage rate applied to the mayor?
The AG said Tallulah's adopted budget ordinance controlled the mayor's and council's authority to change travel spending, and a budget amendment had to be made by ordinance at an open council…
How did Louisiana school boards calculate and distribute teacher pay from sick-leave savings?
The AG said school boards compared each year's leave spending with the statutory three-year average to identify savings for teacher compensation. For 2003–04, the comparison used the 1996–99…
Did a person held as incompetent to stand trial have to register as a sex offender when released to the community?
On the specific facts in this 2004 opinion, no. The AG said unresolved charges and a delay caused by incompetence were not a guilty plea, conviction, or deferred or withheld adjudication under the…
Could Terrebonne assistant district attorneys privately contract to provide part-time legal services to the parish?
Yes under the dual-officeholding law as the AG applied it. The AG assumed the lawyers' firms would hold contracts with the parish, so the second role was contractual rather than a second public…
Was the LSU-Tulane cancer research center a private entity, and which law governed bonds issued for it?
The AG said the center met the statute's private-entity criteria. Bonds issued solely under the HEAL Act followed that act; bonds issued under the Capital Outlay Act followed it, and citing both…
Could Livingston Parish put its voter-approved mosquito control fee on the assessor's tax rolls?
Yes, if the assessor and mosquito district made a mutually agreeable arrangement and tax-roll collection would assist the district. The AG said the assessor was not required to carry the fee.
Who paid Louisiana election expenses for justice of the peace and constable races?
The AG said the parish police jury or council was the local entity responsible for its prorated share of expenses for those ward and district elections, as the Department of State had billed it.
Could Nicholls State University pay for retiree breakfasts, faculty-spouse events, or an employee holiday meal?
No, according to this 2003 Louisiana AG opinion. The university identified possible benefits from the events, but the AG found no legal obligation or authority to spend public funds on the proposed…
Were two-wheeled electric scooters vehicles under Louisiana traffic law, and could cities regulate them?
Yes for the scooters described. The AG classified them as vehicles, said local traffic ordinances could govern roads within municipal authority, and explained that sidewalks were for pedestrians…
Could a state employee run a private organization during paid state work hours or use state equipment for it?
The cited dual-employment rule created no conflict with serving as a private executive director. The AG said private-organization work during state business hours or use of state equipment violated…
Could a Louisiana state agency create a nonprofit to perform services the agency normally performs?
The AG said an agency could establish such a nonprofit if it had express or implied authority and complied with the statutory restriction on corporations that may issue debt. The opinion did not…
How did Jefferson Parish have to deliver a last-week bid addendum to contractors who requested bid documents?
For an addendum issued within the statute's seven-day window, the parish had to send it to every requesting prime bidder by fax, email, or hand delivery within 24 hours, and also by regular mail.…
Could a Louisiana clerk commission one election watcher to serve in more than one precinct?
Yes. The AG said La. R.S. 18:435 did not bar commissioning one watcher for multiple precincts, and an earlier opinion did not limit those precincts to the same polling place.
Could a parish assessor list Secret Service agents anonymously on public property-tax rolls?
The AG said no. The rolls were public records, and the cited privacy exception for certified law-enforcement officers applied only to records held by voter registrars or the secretary of state, not…
What happens to Education Excellence Fund money credited to a school that closes or loses eligibility before receiving it?
The AG said the money remained state-owned while in the treasury, but existing allocation rules could strand it under an ineligible school's credit. The opinion called for legislative action and…
Must Sulphur hold a binding vote on a zoning ordinance after a valid charter referendum petition and council refusal?
Yes, on the charter excerpts supplied. The AG said that if the petition met the signature and procedural rules and the council refused to act, Sulphur had to put passage or repeal of the zoning…
Did a town alderwoman commit public-contract fraud by placing town money in a bank where she was a branch manager?
The AG said the described certificate of deposit did not fit the cited fraud statutes on the facts given: the principal remained withdrawable and the alderwoman received no commission. Ethical…
When buying vehicles, did Capital Area Human Services District follow public bid rules or Louisiana's state fleet program?
The AG classified the district as a political subdivision, so it followed the Louisiana Public Bid Law for vehicle purchases and was outside the State Fleet Management Program's stated scope.
Does an elected Louisiana justice of the peace receive additional pay when temporarily assigned to a vacant ward?
Yes. The AG said the assigned justice was entitled to at least the assigned court's compensation and supplemental pay in addition to his existing salary, subject to the statute's funding condition…
Could a livestock owner be prosecuted for trespass while retrieving escaped animals from someone else's land?
The AG said the new trespass law included an affirmative defense for a livestock owner or agent retrieving domestic livestock escaped from a fenced area. It also concluded the law accommodated…
Could a Louisiana school board regulate students' possession of cell phones at school after state law addressed their use?
Yes. The AG said the state law regulated unauthorized use or operation, without deciding possession, so a local school board could address possession in its student code of conduct if the rule…
Could private supporters create a nonprofit foundation to raise money for the Orleans Parish district attorney's office?
The AG found no legal impediment to creating the separate nonprofit. Louisiana's public-funds donation ban did not prevent a public office from receiving donated money, but the AG referred ethical…
Could an Iberia public hospital indemnify its private manager for negligence and reimburse a CEO incentive bonus?
An indemnity covering someone else's negligence would violate the cited public-contract statute; the AG could not tell whether the hospital otherwise had a legal duty to indemnify. The proposed CEO…
Did Louisiana's new criminal-bond fee law require municipal police departments to collect the fee?
No. The AG read R.S. 15:85.1 as assigning collection of the criminal-bond fee to parish sheriffs, not municipalities.
Could a parish tax assessor fund a town building for a satellite assessor's office?
The AG said a satellite assessor's office was authorized and that the proposed funding could be allowed for a public purpose through a cooperative endeavor with the town. Counsel for both offices…
Are St. Tammany hospital district nominating committee members appointed officials, and are they personally liable for nominations?
The AG classified the committee members as appointed officials and applied a good-faith limit on their individual liability for official policy judgments, absent willful or wanton misconduct.
Can a Louisiana town alderman also manage a private nonprofit water system?
Louisiana's dual officeholding law did not apply to the alderman's reported private water-system job. The AG sent the separate ethics questions to the Louisiana Board of Ethics.
Must Avoyelles Parish use its garbage sales tax to pay for a school board's pickup beyond the seven-bag limit?
No automatic entitlement followed from the tax vote. The police jury could set the amount of collection paid with tax proceeds, including the seven-bag limit, if it used the money for the…
Could St. John the Baptist Parish give loans or aid to uninsured residents whose homes were lost in a tornado?
The AG said the parish could not simply provide those loans or payments from public funds. It could establish a genuine social-welfare program for needy disaster victims, using objective criteria to…
Could Franklin Parish choose one private ambulance provider without facing federal antitrust liability?
State law could not bar a federal antitrust suit. The AG said Louisiana's authorization appeared to satisfy one part of the state-action immunity test, but whether active state supervision existed…
Could the Iberia Parish clerk of court give employees annual salary supplements when funds were available?
Yes, if the supplements were earned salary increases for future work. The AG said the clerk could not give an unearned bonus for past service and recommended putting the funding condition in each…
Could the Plaquemines Parish sheriff contract with the port district to provide security funded by its shipping tariff?
The AG said the sheriff could enter the proposed cooperative endeavor for additional port security if the services were part of the sheriff's legal duties, served a public purpose, were related to…
Could a Louisiana juvenile court impose a juror fee after a delinquency adjudication?
The AG said the fee for criminal defendants should not be imposed after a juvenile delinquency adjudication. Juvenile adjudications are not criminal convictions, and the opinion noted that juvenile…
Could a Louisiana state employee insurance vendor without an A.M. Best rating keep receiving payroll deductions?
Under the law examined in 2003, the AG said DINA/Guaranty could keep its payroll deduction approval under a grandfather clause if it met the earlier rules. The AG also considered it appropriate for…
Did the Louisiana Local Government Budget Act cover a parish court judicial expense fund?
Yes. The Attorney General said the Act applied to the Second Parish Court's judicial expense fund. He concluded the fund appeared to be a general fund, not a special revenue fund for purposes of La.…
Could Louisiana school board members receive actual-cost reimbursement for travel outside their district?
The AG said Act 376 capped those reimbursements at the Division of Administration's rates for state employees. It rejected treating school board members as state officers entitled to actual expenses…
Could a water system accept public-works bids whose bonds used a different form than the one in its specification book?
The AG said yes for these bids. Both bidders submitted the required bond information, and the project notice requested use of the book's form without making that particular form mandatory. The…
Were a plant nursery's machinery, equipment, inventory, and furniture exempt from Louisiana property tax?
The AG said nursery machinery, equipment, and inventory were exempt from ad valorem tax when used exclusively for agricultural purposes and held by the original producer. It declined to decide…
Could a fire chief or captain sit on the fire district board that employed them?
The AG said no. The dual-officeholding incompatibility provisions barred the fire chief from serving on the board that employed him, and the opinion applied the same reasoning to the district…
Which National Board certified Louisiana school employees qualified for the teacher salary supplement?
The AG said a full-time school-board employee generally had to teach students regularly, hold the required Louisiana and National Board certificates, and meet the statute's other conditions.…
What could Vivian do if a former mayor kept town keys and allegedly used them to enter town property?
The AG identified a trespass action or a permanent injunction as possible responses, but said the town needed eyewitness or circumstantial evidence supporting the alleged use of the keys. Without…
Did Louisiana university boards need the new state approval process to accept donated land?
No. The AG concluded that the 2003 procedure for state acceptance of donated immovable property did not apply to post-secondary system management boards, which had separate statutory donation…
Could a Louisiana parish add a different road to an existing paving contract by change order?
No, under the facts in this 2003 opinion. The advertised contract covered Broussard Road alone, so adding Kathy Road was outside its scope. Because the new work was below the opinion's…
Could a Louisiana city pay severance promised in a union employment contract without violating the ban on gifts of public money?
Yes. The AG said the contract made severance for a qualifying employee an earned benefit and a legal obligation of the city, so payment was not a prohibited donation. It distinguished an earlier AG…
Did the petition to recall an Opelousas alderman have enough valid signatures to trigger an election?
No. The AG said the registrar certified 714 valid signatures from a voting area with 2,505 electors, below the required one-third share. The governor therefore could not issue a proclamation for the…
Did a federal court-approved Medicaid settlement require Louisiana lawmakers to appropriate program funds?
The AG said only the Legislature could decide whether to appropriate money for the settlement plans. But it warned that failure to fund the plans could violate the federal court order incorporating…
Could a Louisiana department pay juvenile detention center start-up costs without a legislative appropriation?
No. Although the statute directed the corrections department to provide start-up funds, the AG said only the Legislature could appropriate the money. The department could pay those costs only if…
Could an Oakdale city jailer keep the job after being elected to the city council?
No. The AG said the employee could run for city council while still working as jailer where civil-service rules did not apply, but would have to resign from the municipal job if elected.
Could one person serve on Clinton's planning commission and historic district commission?
No. The AG concluded that a municipal planning commissioner could not simultaneously hold the historic district commission position because the planning-commission statute barred members from…
Did Louisiana's election-year payroll-padding law stop a clerk of court from funding an ongoing office renovation?
The AG said no. The DeSoto Parish clerk's ongoing office restructuring was outside the payroll-padding prohibition, and physical improvements were capital expenses rather than operating expenses…
Did Louisiana law require BESE to distribute Education Excellence Fund money directly?
No. The AG concluded that BESE had no constitutionally or statutorily mandated direct role in distributing Education Excellence Fund money. Its specified approvals and budget-letter work supported…
Could Sibley keep a driver's license after any traffic ticket until the fine was paid?
No. The AG said Louisiana law allowed an officer to retain a license only in the listed circumstances. Sibley could not broaden that rule by ordinance to cover every traffic citation.
Could Monroe charge a business for the cost of its local sales tax audit?
The AG said local audit costs could be charged only under an authorizing ordinance, proper notice, and the statutory 30-percent cap. Monroe could not charge this taxpayer because its audit notice…
Could a city court probation officer arrest a misdemeanor probationer under supervision?
Yes. The AG said court-appointed probation officers were peace officers for matters involving the people they supervised and could make arrests incident to that supervision; their authority did not…
Who paid for feeding and housing children committed to Louisiana's corrections department?
The AG said the department, subject to appropriations and the placement rules in the cited statute, owed the applicable nonstate-facility costs; local governing authorities did not. It found no…
Could a treatment facility help officers arrest a patient named in a warrant without violating confidentiality rules?
The AG said treatment facilities should cooperate fully with officers holding an arrest warrant. It said acknowledging a patient's presence might not disclose a treatment record, and calling the…
Was Louisiana responsible for an employee's work as treasurer of a professional association?
The AG found no fiduciary relationship between the state and the described organizations. It said separate employer liability for an employee's conduct would depend on the facts, and the…
Could a St. Tammany council candidate run in a newly drawn district before moving into it?
Yes, if the new district was formed in whole or part from the old district where the candidate had met the one-year domicile and residence requirement. If elected, the candidate had to move into the…
Could Vivian co-sign or guarantee another party's bank loan under an economic development agreement?
The AG said Vivian needed prior written State Bond Commission approval before co-signing or guaranteeing the note. It also said a guarantee could violate the constitutional ban on pledging public…
Could Alexandria's fire and police civil service board close an employee disciplinary hearing to the public?
No. The AG said the board had to hold the hearing in public, although it could enter executive session for limited discussions of a person's character, competence or health, or an investigation into…
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