State AG Opinions
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When a Mississippi statute says "latest available federal census," do you use the prior official census or the new one's preliminary numbers?
The 2021 opinion concluded that until the 2020 census numbers became finalized and official, the official 2010 census numbers were the "latest available federal census" for Section 21-23-3…
Could a South Carolina county charge a municipality a monthly fee to fund county 911 dispatch?
In 2021, the South Carolina Attorney General said a county could not charge a municipality within its territory a monthly fee to fund the county 911 system. It said the particular dispute was…
Does a Tennessee school board member who moves out of their district lose the seat?
Yes. Tennessee school board members must be residents of both the county and the specific district from which they were elected. If a member moves outside the district, even while staying in the…
Can a Florida school board refuse to follow a state law or Department of Health emergency rule it thinks is invalid, like the 2021 parental mask opt-out rule?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a Florida school district must comply with applicable statutes and regulations until a court declares them invalid. Article IX, Section 4(b)'s grant of…
During Virginia's early voting period, can I carry a gun in or near the local registrar's office, a satellite voter office, or a central absentee precinct? And does the 40-foot rule cover the whole building or just the voting area?
Yes, the firearm ban applies. Central absentee voter precincts, voter satellite offices, and offices of general registrars used as designated early-voting locations are 'polling places' under Va.…
Can Tennessee state and local governments stop their employees from storing handguns in their cars at work?
No. § 39-17-1313 (Tennessee's 'parking-lot storage' law) gives any person authorized to carry a handgun the right to transport and store that handgun, in a privately owned motor vehicle while on the…
Can a Texas general-law city switch to staggered election terms, and can council members refuse to draw lots?
It depends on whether the city used an ordinance, and council members cannot refuse the lots. The San Augustine County Attorney, for the City of San Augustine (a Type B general-law city with a mayor…
Can a Kentucky district health department official also sit on the state retirement systems board?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that serving as a public health department director (Wedco) or home health administrator (Green River) is not incompatible with serving on the Kentucky Retirement…
What is the longest deferred adjudication probation term for a third-degree felony in Texas?
Ten years. The Hood County District Attorney asked whether two community-supervision statutes conflict on the maximum term of deferred adjudication for certain third-degree felonies, those under…
Could a South Carolina homeowners association prohibit handguns in its common areas?
The 2021 South Carolina AG opinion did not decide whether this HOA could prohibit handguns in its common areas. It said a court would need to examine the covenants, bylaws, and property interests.
Could a Richland-Lexington Airport Commission member be reappointed after two consecutive full terms?
In 2021, the South Carolina AG said the commission statute barred reappointment after two consecutive full terms without a break. It distinguished a partial predecessor term and discussed uncertain…
Did Folly Beach and Isle of Palms parking fines violate the constitutional ban on excessive fines?
The 2021 South Carolina AG opinion said excessive-fines protections could apply to municipal parking penalties, but it could not decide whether the particular fines were unconstitutional without…
Can a Texas legislator be removed from office for walking out to break quorum?
Not by the Attorney General, and not automatically. Representative James White asked, during the 2021 special sessions when House members left the state to deny a quorum, whether a legislator has a…
Can a Texas officer force entry into a home to serve a parole revocation (blue) warrant?
Yes, within limits. Senator Joan Huffman asked whether a peace officer is barred from forcing entry into a residence to enforce a parole revocation warrant, the warrant often called a 'blue…
Could Furman University prohibit a permit holder’s firearm secured inside a locked vehicle on campus?
In 2021, the South Carolina AG said Furman could not prohibit a concealed-weapon permit holder from keeping a firearm in an attended or locked vehicle in the specified closed compartments. The…
Does Arkansas Act 1053 of 2021, which bans pharmacy steering using patient data, conflict with federal law for Federally Qualified Health Centers, and can FQHCs still tell patients about in-house pharmacy services?
Act 1053 of 2021 bans only one narrow practice: using patient charts or billing data to contact patients and solicit a prescription transfer to a particular pharmacy. It does not bar FQHCs from…
In South Dakota, when residents want to split off part of a township and form a new township, does the petition to start the process need signatures from a majority of the whole original township, or only from a majority of the people in the area that would become the new township?
Only the affected portion. AG Ravnsborg ruled that SDCL 8-1-8(3) requires signatures from a majority of registered voters in the portion that would become the new township, not the whole original…
Can Arizona employers or businesses require proof of COVID-19 vaccination?
Arizona's AG concluded that state law bars government employers and certain schools from mandating COVID-19 vaccination, and that any employer or business vaccine mandate must include accommodations…
Can an Arkansas city council legally hold its meetings online if it has rules letting members attend virtually, and is the COVID-era virtual-meeting law still in effect?
Yes, a city council can meet virtually under rules adopted under § 14-43-501 if proper notice and public access are provided. Act 2 of 2020's virtual-meeting language expired December 31, 2020,…
Was Governor Ducey's 2020 letter opting Arizona out of the federal CRNA-supervision rule valid, and did it change Arizona's scope-of-practice rules?
Yes and no. The AG concluded that the Governor's consultation with the Executive Directors of the Arizona Medical and Nursing Boards likely satisfied the federal regulation's consultation…
Can DNREC keep septic-inspection records secret while it investigates a Lewes manufactured-home community?
Yes. The investigatory files exemption in 29 Del. C. § 10002(o)(3) covers DNREC's septic-inspection records of a Lewes community where DNREC has issued a notice of violation and is pursuing…
Does teaching critical race theory or antiracism in Arkansas public schools and universities violate Title VI or the Equal Protection Clause?
Yes, with qualifications. The AG concluded that practices based on critical race theory or antiracism, when they classify, segregate, or stereotype students by race, can violate Title VI, the Equal…
Can a first responder or law enforcement officer who works for an Arkansas state, city, or county take paid leave for voluntary National Guard or reservist training, and does the employer have to hold the job?
The AG answered yes to the first two questions for leave under Ark. Code Ann. § 21-4-102(a), and no to open-ended leave. Covered public employees may take paid leave for qualifying training or…
Could South Carolina DHEC issue school COVID-19 guidance without a declared public health emergency?
In 2021, the South Carolina AG said DHEC had ordinary statutory public-health authority separate from emergency powers. Only the governor or an interim successor could declare the public health…
Did Texas's no-mask-mandate order override the federal mask rules for buses and trains?
The AG could not say for sure that the federal orders won. Representative Senfronia Thompson asked how Governor Abbott's executive order interacted with the federal mask mandate on public transit.…
Can a Texas city or state agency require an emergency-use COVID-19 vaccine to enter a government building?
No, the AG said. Representative James White asked whether a government jurisdiction could legally condition access to a government facility on receipt of a vaccine issued under an emergency use…
Is every email a public employee sends from their work account automatically a public record under Arkansas FOIA, and can a vague or voluminous request be denied?
No to both. Whether an email is a public record depends on its content, not who sent it. The custodian decides that case by case. A voluminous request can be acknowledged with a longer timeline, but…
Can a Washington, DC lawyer working for Tesla file a Delaware FOIA request for DelDOT's records about Tesla's motor vehicle dealer license dispute?
No. Delaware FOIA only guarantees access to citizens of Delaware. The petitioner conceded she was not a Delaware citizen, so DelDOT's denial on that basis was proper. The AG also flagged that the…
If a West Virginia county commissioner dies and the county commission misses its 30-day deadline to appoint a replacement, can the local party committee nominate the late commissioner's spouse even if she only just recently registered with the party?
The 60-day party-membership requirement in § 3-10-7(a) does not apply to a party committee's nominees under § 3-10-7(b). The late commissioner's widow is not disqualified by her recent party…
Can a Mississippi school district run a tuition-based 3K (three-year-old) program and a tuition-based after-school program?
Yes. The 2021 opinion confirmed that Mississippi school districts can run a tuition-based program for three-year-olds (3K) under Section 37-7-301(zz), as long as it does not conflict with the Early…
Can a California county recorder pull back base recording fees that the county deposited in the general fund, or offset them against other county charges?
No to both. The AG concluded that base recording fees collected under Government Code section 27361(a) belong to the county as a whole, not to the recorder. The board of supervisors decides how to…
Can a county clerk use poll books instead of voter registration applications to verify absentee ballot signatures, and how far does the county judge's authority over county buildings reach during elections?
A clerk had to compare an absentee application’s signature with the voter-registration application, not a poll book. A county judge could manage county buildings but could not unduly interfere with…
Can a Tennessee grocery store with a wine license also hold a license to deliver alcohol?
Yes, with several layers. (1) A retail food store wine licensee under § 57-3-803 is not statutorily prohibited from also holding a delivery service license under § 57-3-224. (2) That same single…
Does a Kentucky fire protection district have to give firefighters paid military leave?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that KRS 61.394 and KRS 61.396 require a fire protection district created under KRS Chapter 75 to provide paid military leave to firefighter employees who serve…
Can a Kentucky school board member also serve on a water district board?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that serving on a board of education is not incompatible with serving on a water district board created under KRS Chapter 74. A water district is a statutory…
Could Aiken County adopt a firearm ordinance that repeated state law or rejected federal gun rules?
In 2021, the South Carolina AG expected courts to find such county firearm ordinances preempted by state law, even if a draft repeated state rules. It declined to decide the separate federal-law question.
Under Arkansas's medical marijuana law, can an employer designate any job that handles confidential information as a 'safety sensitive position', or only jobs handling criminal investigation files?
Any job working with confidential information can qualify, not just criminal investigation files. The AG read Amendment 98's definition disjunctively: confidential information is one type of…
Does amending an old government contingent-fee lawyer contract trigger Texas's Chapter 2254 approval and fee-cap rules?
It can. Representative Terry Canales asked whether amendments to a contingent fee legal services contract that a political subdivision originally signed before September 1, 2019 must comply with the…
Could South Carolina DMV share license photos with other state DMVs under South Carolina FOIA?
In 2021, the South Carolina AG said the state FOIA provisions did not bar SCDMV from sharing license images with other government DMVs. It declined to decide whether the program complied with…
Could Rock Hill delay ward elections for redistricting while holding the mayoral election on schedule?
The 2021 South Carolina AG said a city could change election dates for a reasonable public purpose and could hold its mayoral election separately if it used four-year terms. The council had to…
If the Commonwealth's Attorney does not show up or take a position in a Virginia criminal case, can a judge enter a deferred disposition under § 19.2-298.02 anyway? Or does silence count as agreement?
No. The Commonwealth's Attorney must affirmatively communicate agreement to a deferred disposition under § 19.2-298.02. The AG says this may happen in person or through other acceptable means in…
Can the public see how much sick leave or annual leave a public employee has used under Arkansas FOIA, even if the employee objects?
Yes. The AG has consistently held that leave and attendance records are personnel records that should generally be disclosed under FOIA. The public's interest in seeing whether an agency follows its…
Are recorded promotional interviews of police candidates 'employee evaluation records' (rarely releasable) or 'personnel records' (released after a privacy balancing test) under Arkansas FOIA?
Likely personnel records, not evaluation records. The AG drew on Young v. Rice's treatment of police promotional exam materials. The custodian still has to apply the personnel-records balancing…
Can a city release a list of HR complaints against a named public employee under Arkansas FOIA, including allegations that turned out to be unfounded?
Yes. The AG concluded the list of complaints, allegations, and dispositions is a personnel record and the public's interest in seeing how the city handles HR complaints generally outweighs the…
Can a Delaware town council 'poll' its members by email and phone to decide whether to close for a holiday, instead of voting at a public meeting?
The Town of Georgetown violated FOIA. The Town Manager polled all five council members by email and phone on whether to close for Juneteenth 2021. Three said no, two said yes. The Town Manager then…
Do Mississippi food trucks selling Mississippi-grown beef, poultry, or seafood need a transient vendor license?
Beef, poultry, and seafood produced or grown in Mississippi qualify for the agricultural-products exemption to Mississippi's Transient Vendor Law (Section 75-85-3(1)(i)), so vendors selling those…
Can Mississippi's university board put a retention payment in a president's employment contract?
The AG said a public body may include an employee incentive if it is contracted for before the services, measured objectively, and earned by the employee's personal services. The Board had to decide…
Can a Mississippi IHL Board trustee receive per diem, travel reimbursement, and tort-claims protection while serving before Senate confirmation?
The 2021 opinion concluded that newly appointed IHL Board trustees serving before Senate confirmation could legally receive per diem under § 25-3-69 and travel reimbursements under § 25-3-41(8).…
Act 349 of 2021 set the school board candidate filing window as 'ninety days before a general election', but Arkansas holds school elections in odd-numbered years when there is no general election. How should the law be applied?
The AG concluded a literal reading would make the statute impossible to apply for November 2021 school board elections, so a strong argument exists to interpret 'ninety days before a general…
Once the New York Legislature passes a special law authorizing a property transfer for a fire substation, can the town change the substation's size without going back to the Legislature?
Yes. Where the special law itself does not specify the substation's size and the home rule request's size limit was not adopted by the Legislature, the town can revise the size through normal local…
If a Virginia taxpayer's own mistake caused a local tax overassessment (wrong filing, payment to the wrong locality, failure to file leading to a statutory assessment), and the locality later refunds the overpayment, must the locality also pay interest?
Yes. An 'erroneous assessment' under Va. Code § 58.1-3916 covers any local tax assessment containing an error, whether the underlying error was the taxpayer's or the locality's. So a Virginia…
After a Virginia police officer shoots someone, when does the Virginia Freedom of Information Act require the local police department to release body-worn or dashboard camera footage of the shooting?
Generally yes. The Virginia Freedom of Information Act requires local police to release body-worn and dashboard camera footage of officer-involved shootings unless a statutory exception applies…
Can someone simultaneously serve on a California healthcare district board and a community college board in the same area, especially when the two have a clinical-training affiliation agreement?
There are substantial questions, the AG concluded, and granted Lancaster leave to sue Michael Rives in quo warranto. The two boards' overlapping powers (real property, eminent domain, contracts with…
When an internal investigation is finished but no discipline has been imposed yet, can the public get the investigation file under Arkansas FOIA?
The final investigative report is an employee-evaluation record, and because no suspension or termination has happened, it cannot be released. But lumping every supporting document in the file under…
If Arkansas adopted ABA Model Rule 8.4(g), the rule disciplining lawyers for harassment or discrimination in conduct related to the practice of law, would it violate the First Amendment or the Religious Freedom Restoration Act?
Yes to both, in the AG's view. The AG concluded that ABA Model Rule 8.4(g), if adopted in Arkansas, could infringe lawyers' rights to free speech, free exercise of religion, expressive association,…
What counts as 'residency' to run for county attorney in Texas, intent or actually living there?
Both. The Goliad County Auditor asked whether residency to run for county attorney is based on intent or on actually living in the county. The AG explained that the Election Code defines 'residence'…
Does Arkansas's 5% in-state bidding preference for public agencies apply only to commodity purchases, or also to construction contracts that include some materials cost?
Only to commodities. The 5% preference for Arkansas-resident firms applies when a public agency is buying 'commodities' (materials and equipment for public works) by competitive bidding. It does not…
Does an Illinois Secretary of State employee who stole title and registration fees and vehicle sales tax payments lose her state pension?
Yes. Candace Wanzo's mail fraud, intentional misapplication, and theft convictions all grew out of her supervisory role at the Illinois Secretary of State's Department of Vehicle Services. She…
Who pays for the postage when Mississippi justice court constables have to mail copies of summons and complaints under the new service rules?
The 2021 opinion concluded that Mississippi constables (not court clerks) are responsible for mailing summons and complaints when Justice Court Rule 14(d)(2) or (d)(3) requires it. The county must…
Are unpaid volunteers on a Mississippi state-board advisory panel covered by the Tort Claims Act when they're acting in that role?
Yes. The AG concluded that the Board's unpaid Anesthesia Advisory Panel members fit the MTCA definition of state employees and are entitled to its protection when acting within the course and scope…
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