State AG Opinions
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Did Arkansas's pandemic mask mandate (Executive Order 20-43) violate the state constitution?
The Attorney General declined. Senator Ballinger's questions about Governor Hutchinson's Executive Order 20-43 mask mandate, including whether it violated the Arkansas Constitution's nondelegation doc…
Can the Virginia General Assembly expel a member who participated in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol?
Yes. Although Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment may require congressional enabling legislation to be operative, the Virginia Constitution (art. IV, § 7) gives each chamber of the General Assembly …
If I'm a member of the public body being sued, can I use Delaware FOIA to see communications between my own group and its lawyer about settling the case?
No. The AG ruled the Village of Arden's Town Assembly properly denied Warren Rosenkranz's request for communications about the in-progress trust settlement of an estate-bequest lawsuit. The pending-li…
Does an Arkansas public employee have the right to see their own internal affairs file before discipline is final?
Yes. The City of Little Rock's decision to withhold the subject employee's own internal affairs records (because the investigation had not yet reached final administrative resolution) was inconsistent…
Can a California county contract with the U.S. military or California's Military Department to supply water, sewer, road maintenance, vehicle repair, or other services to a base within the county?
Yes. The AG concluded that a county's police powers, the general grant of authority in Government Code section 23004(c), the Joint Exercise of Powers Act, and a longstanding statute on county defense …
Can a Delaware attorney FOIA prison surveillance video and inmate disciplinary records?
No. The AG ruled DOC properly withheld correctional facility surveillance footage under the security exemption (§ 10002(l)(17)) and inmate disciplinary records under 11 Del. C. § 4322(a) (case records…
Does a newspaper report make a Texas pension fund's confidential investment information public?
Not by itself, the AG concluded. The Teacher Retirement System of Texas asked whether confidential private-investment-fund information loses its protection under Government Code section 552.143 once a…
Must the Texas Capitol stay open during a legislative session, and can lawmakers vote remotely?
The AG concluded that the Texas Constitution requires legislative sessions to be open and accessible to the public, so the Capitol cannot be closed to the public while the Legislature is in session, e…
Can the Mississippi Achievement School District issue bonds and other debt for absorbed Yazoo and Humphreys schools, and who authorizes it?
The 2021 opinion concluded that the Mississippi Achievement School District inherited the same borrowing authority as the former Yazoo City and Humphreys County school boards under § 37-17-13. So it c…
Can a Mississippi drainage district lease hunting and farming rights without competitive bidding on land it owns but didn't buy from the state or at a tax sale?
The 2021 opinion concluded that Mississippi's relaxed lease procedures for drainage districts in §§ 51-33-49 and 51-33-55, which let commissioners lease without competitive bidding, applied only to la…
Can the Virginia Senate hold a hybrid session, some senators in the chamber, others on Zoom, during the COVID-19 emergency?
Yes. Item 4-0.01 of HB 5005 (the current Appropriation Act) authorizes the Virginia Senate to meet during an emergency with some senators physically present and others participating electronically, pr…
Was Little Rock's plan to release Mark Ison and other LRPD officers (group request)'s personnel and disciplinary records consistent with the Arkansas FOIA?
The AG referred this request entirely to Op. Att'y Gen. 2021-003 (Silas, January 7, 2021), which addressed virtually identical facts. Mark Ison and other LRPD officers (group request)'s objection to t…
Was Little Rock's plan to release Officer Jeremy Graves's personnel and disciplinary records consistent with the Arkansas FOIA?
The AG referred this request entirely to Op. Att'y Gen. 2021-003 (Silas, January 7, 2021), which addressed virtually identical facts. Officer Jeremy Graves's objection to the City of Little Rock's pla…
Was Little Rock's plan to release Officer Hannah L. Thomas's personnel and disciplinary records consistent with the Arkansas FOIA?
The AG referred this request entirely to Op. Att'y Gen. 2021-003 (Silas, January 7, 2021), which addressed virtually identical facts. Officer Hannah L. Thomas's objection to the City of Little Rock's …
Was Little Rock's plan to release Detective Justin Taynor's personnel and disciplinary records consistent with the Arkansas FOIA?
The AG referred this request entirely to Op. Att'y Gen. 2021-003 (Silas, January 7, 2021), which addressed virtually identical facts. Detective Justin Taynor's objection to the City of Little Rock's p…
Was Little Rock's plan to release an officer's personnel and disciplinary records consistent with the Arkansas FOIA?
The AG referred this request entirely to Op. Att'y Gen. 2021-003, issued the day before to Detective Brad Silas, which addressed virtually identical facts. Officer Harris's question (whether the City …
Was Little Rock's plan to release Officer William High's personnel and disciplinary records consistent with the Arkansas FOIA?
The AG referred this request entirely to Op. Att'y Gen. 2021-003 (Silas, January 7, 2021), which addressed virtually identical facts. Officer William High's objection to the City of Little Rock's plan…
Was Little Rock's plan to release Officer Courtney Bewley's personnel and disciplinary records consistent with the Arkansas FOIA?
The AG referred this request entirely to Op. Att'y Gen. 2021-003 (Silas, January 7, 2021), which addressed virtually identical facts. Officer Courtney Bewley's objection to the City of Little Rock's p…
Could a Little Rock police officer block release of his personnel and disciplinary records by objecting under the Arkansas FOIA?
No. The AG concluded that an LRPD detective's objections were not legally sufficient grounds to withhold his personnel and disciplinary records under the Arkansas FOIA. The custodian had to apply the …
Was Little Rock's plan to release Alva Archer's personnel and disciplinary records consistent with the Arkansas FOIA?
The AG referred this request entirely to Op. Att'y Gen. 2020-063 (Withers, January 5, 2021), which addressed virtually identical facts. Alva Archer's objection to the City of Little Rock's planned rel…
Was Little Rock's plan to release Tabitha F. Mullins's personnel and disciplinary records consistent with the Arkansas FOIA?
The AG referred this request entirely to Op. Att'y Gen. 2020-063 (Withers, January 5, 2021), which addressed virtually identical facts. Tabitha F. Mullins's objection to the City of Little Rock's plan…
Can a Little Rock city employee block release of her personnel and disciplinary records by objecting under the Arkansas FOIA?
No. The AG concluded that an employee's objections to release, including concerns about how the requester might use the information, were not legally sufficient reasons to withhold personnel records u…
Can a Mississippi county use electronic signatures on board minutes, resolutions, contracts, and purchase orders?
The 2021 opinion confirmed that Mississippi's Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (Miss. Code Ann. § 75-12-1 et seq.) allows electronic signatures and electronic records on county boards' minutes, res…
Does Mississippi's auctioneer licensing exemption for government employees cover independent contractors who run reverse auctions for the state?
The 2021 opinion concluded that Mississippi's auctioneer licensing exemption in § 73-4-5(2)(b), which covers sales conducted by 'an employee' of the United States, the State, or a political subdivisio…
When the chancellor who serves both Tennessee's Fourth and Fifth Judicial Districts retires, does the next chancellor still serve both districts, or does each district get its own?
One chancellor still serves both districts. Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-2-506(4)(A) does not tie the shared-chancellor arrangement to a specific person. Read in context, terms like 'incumbent chancellor' or …
Does TRICOR's authority to contract with Tennessee counties and cities for inmate 'work training programs' include traditional work release?
Yes. The AG concluded that the phrase 'work training programs' in Tenn. Code Ann. § 41-22-415 was broad enough to include traditional work release programs for inmates in county and city jails. Work r…
Can a Tennessee real estate broker have a title company disburse the commission instead of doing it personally?
Yes. The Tennessee Real Estate Broker License Act required commissions to originate with the principal broker, but it did not require the principal broker to physically write the check. The principal …
Could Springdale PD release Officer Boyd's disciplinary summary even though Boyd objected the requester gave no reason for asking?
Yes, in all likelihood. Officer Rusty Boyd's objection rested on the requester not explaining her motive. The AG identified that under the Arkansas FOIA the requester's identity or motive is generally…
Could Springdale Police Department release a Springdale officer's disciplinary record listing the policies he violated and the action taken?
Yes, in all likelihood. The disciplinary summary record at issue (covering Officer Kyle Naish's name/rank, incident date(s), policy violations, and disciplinary action) likely satisfied all four prong…
Can a Kentucky city annex a strip of road or land because its utility lines run through it?
Yes, if the utility lines already exist. The Attorney General concluded that a city's existing gas, water, and sewer lines running through a corridor of land are a real, present municipal purpose suff…
Can a Kentucky county magistrate also serve as a certified court security officer?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a county magistrate and a certified court security officer are functionally incompatible under the common law, so one person may not hold both. A court security…
Can a Kentucky sheriff use court security officers to transport newly arrested prisoners to jail?
Yes, under the facts. The Attorney General concluded that if the fiscal court has designated the Spencer County Sheriff as the prisoner transportation officer under KRS 441.510(4)(c), the sheriff may …
Can Virginia cities and counties require government contractors to pay a living wage above the state minimum?
Yes. Virginia public bodies have discretion under the Public Procurement Act to require successful bidders to pay employees a minimum or living wage above federal and state floors. The 2015 amendments…
When the same person FOIAs your personnel records four times, can the public defender's office release them again, with the same redactions?
Mostly yes. The custodian's redacted release of Lana Fraser's personnel records was substantially consistent with the FOIA under the framework set out in Op. 2019-062 (issued to the same requester). O…
Can a Maryland code home rule county charge a private waste transfer station a 'host fee' without express authorization from the state legislature?
The opinion concluded that Charles County, as a code home rule county, could not impose the proposed 'host fee' on private waste transfer stations because no state law in effect when the county adopte…
Can a Delaware agency invoke 'legal review' as a response extension within minutes of receiving my FOIA request and then go silent for weeks?
Practically not. The AG ruled William Paskey's timeliness petition was moot because DSHS finally produced the off-duty firearms policies, but cautioned DSHS that immediately invoking a legal-review ex…
How far outside town limits can Virginia town police go when they're investigating a crime that happened in town?
Town police have authority to take many investigative actions outside their territorial jurisdiction, consensual interviews, applying for warrants, delivering evidence, but they cannot arrest, detain,…
When a Texas local election was postponed from May to November 2020 because of COVID, did the candidate filing deadline reopen?
The AG did not give a yes-or-no answer. After Governor Abbott's COVID-19 disaster declaration let political subdivisions move their May 2, 2020 elections to November 3, 2020, the Secretary of State is…
Who can remove a Texas county auditor, and what process is required?
The AG concluded that the power to remove a county auditor rests within the sole discretion of the district judges who appoint the auditor, but that discretion is not the end of the story. The auditor…
Can a Texas junior college district transfer a museum it owns to a state agency, and under what authority?
Yes, but only under one specific statute. After the Legislature moved jurisdiction over the Star of the Republic Museum from Blinn College District to the Texas Historical Commission (Senate Bill 2309…
Can a Washington physical therapist or occupational therapist co-own a clinic with a physician, chiropractor, or other health care professional?
No. Under the Professional Service Corporation Act, the 21 health care professions listed in RCW 18.100.050(5)(a) (medicine, osteopathy, chiropractic, optometry, etc.) can co-own one professional serv…
Did Little Rock have to release a city employee's evaluation records when the underlying investigation was still ongoing?
Yes, the withholding was consistent with the FOIA. Under Ark. Code Ann. 25-19-105(c)(1), evaluation records cannot come out unless the four prongs are met (suspension/termination, finality, basis, com…
Can a Kentucky mayor or council member take the oath of office over video?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the oath of office required by KRS 62.010 may be administered either in person or by virtual means. The statute is silent on how the oath must be given, and th…
Can a Washington pharmacist actually diagnose a patient under a collaborative drug therapy agreement, and can a physician or physician assistant authorize a pharmacist to do so?
Yes, in limited circumstances. RCW 18.64.011(28) lets a pharmacist initiate or modify drug therapy under written guidelines and protocols established by a prescriber. The AG concluded that this author…
Can a Mississippi elected county official withdraw a resignation before the board of supervisors meets to act on it?
The 2020 opinion confirmed that an elected Mississippi county official could withdraw a written resignation any time before the resignation's stated effective date. No board of supervisors acceptance …
Can a Delaware public body avoid producing a former official's text messages by saying they're gone from her phone?
Yes. The AG ruled DelDOT did not violate FOIA when its former Secretary's text messages about real estate transactions were no longer on her personal phone, accepting counsel's representation as a def…
Can a Delaware public body list 'review financial data' on its agenda as a reason it might go into closed executive session?
No. The AG ruled the DAPE Finance Committee committed a technical FOIA violation when its November 10, 2020 agenda listed 'financial data' as a possible executive session purpose, because § 10004(b) d…
In a Virginia city that has both a police department and a sheriff's office, who serves protective orders?
The police department, not the sheriff. Under §§ 16.1-253.1, 16.1-253.4, 16.1-279.1, 19.2-152.8, 19.2-152.9, and 19.2-152.10, in a city with both a police department and a sheriff's office, the police…
If teachers and staff pre-tax money into a school district's Section 125 flexible benefits plan, can the city demand the unused balance back at year-end?
No. Money that school employees pre-tax into a Section 125 flexible benefits plan is not 'local funds' under Va. Code § 22.1-100, so the school board does not have to return unspent balances to the ci…
If a Mississippi school district receives back-payments of federal Weeks Act forest funds, does it have to escrow them and reduce next year's tax levy?
The 2020 opinion concluded that federal Weeks Act payments (national forest revenue shared with local schools and roads under 16 U.S.C. § 500 and Miss. Code Ann. § 49-19-23) are not 'in lieu' tax paym…
When a Mississippi county civic center sells food, can the county absorb the credit card processing fees, or must the customer pay them?
The 2020 opinion concluded that a Mississippi county-owned civic center selling food for immediate consumption had to assess credit card processing fees to the customer, not absorb them. Section 17-25…
Can a Mississippi county prosecutor dismiss a justice court case on his own, without telling the judge or the arresting officer?
The 2020 opinion concluded that a Mississippi county prosecutor could not dismiss a case on his own. Only a judge has authority to dismiss a case after it has been filed; the prosecutor must file a mo…
Can the same person serve on a public school board and a charter school board in Mississippi at the same time?
The 2020 opinion concluded that simultaneously serving on a public school board and a charter school board did not violate Mississippi's separation of powers doctrine, because both positions are in th…
Does a Texas peace officer have a legal duty to step in and stop another officer who is using unlawful force?
The AG would not say there is an absolute duty. Representative James White, writing in 2020 as departments adopted policies requiring officers to intervene against colleagues using unreasonable force,…
Can a Delaware county say my FOIA request for an arrest warrant is denied because 'we are not bound by FOIA' and demand a subpoena instead?
Not for that reason. The AG ruled the New Castle County Division of Police was wrong to claim FOIA didn't apply, but the denial still stood because the County submitted a sworn affidavit that it does …
When a Colorado regulatory program's effective renewal legislation passes after the sunset repeal date but during the one-year wind-up, is the program still law?
Yes. Under § 24-34-104(2)(b), a regulatory program continues to operate as law for one year after its sunset date. The legislature can amend or extend it at any point during that year, so the Occupati…
Can a school board hold private executive sessions to discuss school safety, security, or emergency plans under Arkansas FOIA?
No. Act 541 of 2017 (Ark. Code Ann. 6-15-1304) makes school safety/security records confidential, but it does not exempt school-board meetings from the FOIA's open-meetings requirement at Ark. Code An…
When a county road department cuts down trees in the county road right-of-way that runs through your land, who owns the firewood?
Trees in a county road right-of-way generally belong to the adjoining landowner who owns the underlying fee, because the county typically holds only an easement. But once the county removes trees that…
Can two school board members negotiate with a new superintendent privately, then bring the contract back to the full board for a vote?
Generally no, when the two-member group has been formally tasked with selecting and negotiating. The AG ruled that the Christina School Board's two-member committee that negotiated a superintendent's …
Is a resignation letter from a city employee a personnel record that the city must disclose to a journalist who FOIAs it?
Yes, in all likelihood. Voluntary resignation letters generally constitute 'personnel records' under Ark. Code Ann. 25-19-105(b)(12), and the Young v. Rice balancing test (which tips toward disclosure…
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