State AG Opinions
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Does Mississippi's Fresh Start Act let a person with a serious felony become a licensed nursing home administrator?
No, for serious felonies. The AG concluded that Miss. Code Ann. § 43-11-13(5)(c), which bars nursing home administrator licensure for felonies including drug offenses, murder, manslaughter, sexual bat…
Does Mississippi's Fresh Start Act stop the Optometry Board from rejecting a license applicant for a moral-turpitude crime?
No. The AG concluded that Miss. Code Ann. § 73-19-23(1), which lets the Optometry Board refuse, cancel, or suspend a license for 'conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude,' was 'applicable stat…
Does Mississippi's Fresh Start Act of 2019 stop the social-worker board from denying a license based on a felony conviction?
No. The AG concluded that the social-work board's enabling statute, Miss. Code Ann. § 73-53-13, was 'applicable state law' that exempted the board from the Fresh Start Act's restrictions on using prio…
Does a Mississippi tax collector in a two-district county get $7,000 extra pay or just $3,500?
$7,000. The AG concluded that under Miss. Code Ann. § 25-3-3(5), the Hinds County Tax Collector was entitled to two mandatory $3,500 supplements: one for serving in a county with two judicial district…
Why did the Missouri Attorney General reject Mark Parachini's second initiative petition (2020-146) on form grounds in late January 2020?
Same defects as the prior filing. Attorney General Eric Schmitt rejected the petition because it did not follow § 116.040, RSMo's format rules and did not show deletions in brackets and additions unde…
Can a Delaware agency invoke the 'pending or potential litigation' FOIA exemption based on a lawyer's threat to sue if the agency doesn't act?
Yes. Delaware's pending-or-potential-litigation exemption (29 Del. C. § 10002(l)(9)) applies when (1) litigation is likely or reasonably foreseeable and (2) there is a clear nexus between the records …
Can a Texas appraisal district keep a 'one entity, one vote' method for choosing its board after House Bill 1010?
Probably not, the AG advised. A county appraisal district is run by a five-member board appointed by the local taxing units (the county, cities, school districts, and others) that participate in it. B…
How do you repeal a special county road tax in Texas?
The AG laid out a two-part procedure. A special road tax is a county tax for maintaining county roads, adopted under Transportation Code section 256.052 after a petition signed by at least 200 registe…
Can a Texas county refuse to register your car for unpaid fines even without a DMV data-sharing contract?
Yes, the AG concluded. Transportation Code section 502.010, the 'County Scofflaw' law, lets a county tax assessor-collector (and the DMV) refuse to register a vehicle when the owner owes the county a …
Why did the Missouri Attorney General reject Mark Parachini's initiative petition (2020-145) on form grounds in January 2020?
Attorney General Eric Schmitt rejected the petition for two formatting failures: it was not in the form prescribed by § 116.040, RSMo, and it did not show deletions in brackets and additions underline…
What did the Missouri Attorney General decide about James Owen's renewable energy initiative petition (version 3) when reviewed for form in January 2020?
Attorney General Eric Schmitt approved the form of version 3 of Owen's petition (Secretary's tracking number 2020-144) under § 116.332, RSMo. Like its sibling versions, the form approval was procedura…
What did the Missouri Attorney General decide about James Owen's renewable energy initiative petition (version 2) when reviewed for form in January 2020?
Attorney General Eric Schmitt approved the petition's form under § 116.332, RSMo. The approval did not address whether the underlying renewable energy proposal was a good idea or whether the petition …
Did the Missouri AG approve the form of James Owen's initiative petition to amend Chapter 393, RSMo (2020-142)?
Yes, as to form only. AG Eric Schmitt approved the sufficiency as to form of James Owen's initiative petition under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.332. The letter notes that the Secretary of State retains final…
Can a Delaware charter school board's subcommittee hold an executive session, or is that authority reserved for the full board?
Yes. The Delaware AG agreed that the Odyssey Charter School Nominating Committee, as a public-body subcommittee of the Board, could notice an executive session under FOIA for an authorized purpose. Th…
Can I FOIA Delaware's Office of Animal Welfare for the name and address of someone who filed an animal-control complaint about my property?
No. The Delaware AG ruled the Division of Public Health properly denied Laura Allen's request for animal-control complaint records targeting her address. The Office of Animal Welfare's complaints, com…
Could Maryland nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives, and physician assistants provide medication abortions, and could physician assistants perform surgical abortions?
The Attorney General predicted that a Maryland court would likely allow nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives, and physician assistants to prescribe and provide medication abortions because th…
Are personal direct messages on a state-issued phone public records under FOIA?
The AG declined to rule. The threshold question (whether the messages are 'public records' at all) is outside the AG's review authority under § 25-19-105(c)(3)(B), which only reaches whether an exempt…
Can a Mississippi county hire its Planning and Development District to handle tax-refund setoff collections for it under the 2019 Local Government Debt Collection Setoff Act?
The AG concluded that the Local Government Debt Collection Setoff Act limited delegation: a county could not assign its point-of-contact or notice duties to a Planning & Development District, but its …
Can a Mississippi levee board partner with the Army Corps to build a flood-control berm that disturbs a cemetery on the levee toe?
Yes, with conditions. The AG concluded the Mississippi Levee Board has plenary constitutional authority under Article 11, Section 232 to construct, or partner with the Army Corps of Engineers to const…
Can a Mississippi mayor and aldermen replace an appointed school board member before the appointee's five-year term ends?
No. The AG concluded that an appointed municipal-separate-school-district trustee was entitled to serve the full five-year term as long as he remained qualified, and a mayor and aldermen could not rep…
Can a city withhold a police chief's suspension letter from public records when other related records have already been released?
The AG questioned the withholding. Letters from a police chief explaining the reasons for suspending an officer are employee-evaluation records, but if the disciplinary action is final and the public-…
What does Texas law require before a court can seize or order the destruction of a dog that attacked someone?
The AG answered three questions about the dog-attack procedures in Health and Safety Code chapter 822. First, a 'sworn complaint' that triggers a seizure warrant under section 822.002 does not have to…
Does an appointed county prosecuting attorney in Mississippi have to live in the county and be a registered voter there?
The AG concluded that an appointed Mississippi county prosecuting attorney is a contract employee, not an officeholder. Article 12, Section 250's qualified-elector rule and Section 19-23-9's residency…
Can a Mississippi town require a business that only sells beer and light wine to also get an ABC liquor license?
No. The AG concluded that a Mississippi municipality cannot require a business already permitted by the Department of Revenue under § 67-3-25 to also hold an ABC liquor license to sell beer or light w…
Can a Mississippi city forgive part of an under-billed water bill if the customer's water pressure was so low she barely received service?
The AG concluded that a Mississippi municipality could compromise an under-billed utility account, including the meter demand fee, when the customer credibly received minimal or no benefit from the se…
Does a Mississippi regional railroad authority have to get a full CPA audit each year, or is a CPA 'review' enough?
Neither is statutorily required as such. AG Hood concluded that a Mississippi regional railroad authority's only annual reporting duty under § 19-29-45 is to file a general report of activities; the s…
Can a Mississippi town sign a 15-year energy savings agreement with a private vendor that would bind the next Board to keep paying after this Board's term ends?
Yes, if the agreement is structured under § 31-7-14, which expressly authorizes energy-efficiency contracts up to 20 years and overrides the usual rule that one municipal board cannot bind a successor…
Can a Mississippi county board of supervisors appoint an attorney who lives outside the county to serve as the appointed county prosecutor?
Yes. AG Hood concluded that under § 19-3-49 Miss. Code, an appointed county prosecuting attorney does not hold a constitutional 'office,' so the qualified-elector residency requirement in Article 12 §…
Can a Delaware charter-school board hold a meeting in a locked building, and can it go into executive session without putting that on the agenda?
Mostly no. The Odyssey Charter School Board violated FOIA by holding an executive session at the December 3, 2019 meeting without including it on the agenda. The locked-building location did not viola…
Is the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, the state's economic-development nonprofit, subject to FOIA?
No. The Delaware AG ruled the Delaware Prosperity Partnership (DPP), the State's economic-development public/private partnership, is not a 'public body' under FOIA. Its enabling statute expressly stat…
If a Minnesota county wants to set up an in-person absentee voting site, does it have to keep that site open for the full 46 days before the election, or can it open the site for just the last week of voting?
It depends on which statutory option the county auditor uses. Under Minn. Stat. § 203B.081, subd. 1, any site dedicated to in-person absentee balloting must be open for the full 46-day period. But the…
Can a Texas river authority charge property owners or create a taxing district to fund dam repairs?
The AG gave a split answer. After two Guadalupe River dam failures drained Lake Wood (2016) and Lake Dunlap (2019), a state senator asked how the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority could pay to replace …
Does Senate Bill 22 stop the Texas State Employee Charitable Campaign from listing abortion providers or their affiliates as eligible charities?
Yes, the AG concluded. The State Employee Charitable Campaign lets state workers give to approved charities through automatic payroll deductions; a Policy Committee decides which charities are eligibl…
Can a Texas city spend hotel occupancy tax money on a visitor center owned by a chamber of commerce?
Probably yes, the AG advised, but it depends on the facts. A district attorney asked whether the City of Big Lake could use municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue to repair a visitor information center…
Which formula decides how Texas hands out county road grants from the SB 500 transportation fund?
It depends on the award date, the AG advised. A state representative asked which distribution formula applied to a $125 million supplemental appropriation that the Legislature put into the Transportat…
Are Maine school board members supposed to act on behalf of the town that elected them, or as state officers carrying out state law?
Assistant AG Sarah Forster concluded that Maine school board members were public officers responsible to the state, not town representatives. Once elected, they had to apply state education law faithf…
Can a Tennessee county school board move its administrative offices to a federally controlled building like the TVA East Tower without violating the statutes that put 'public schools' and 'school property' in the board's custody?
Yes, with conditions. The Knox County Board of Education's duty under Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-2-203(a)(2) to 'manage and control all public schools' did not extend to its administrative offices, because …
Who has to approve a change to the data sources used in Tennessee's TACIR fiscal-capacity model that drives the BEP school-funding formula?
Changes to the TACIR fiscal-capacity model's data sources had to be adopted by the State Board of Education and approved by the Commissioners of Education and Finance and Administration. The legislatu…
Under Washington's amended landlord-tenant statute, when can a service member terminate a residential lease, and what is the effective date of that termination?
Service members could clearly terminate after retirement or separation if their pre-service home of record was 35+ miles from the rental, and termination was generally effective on the date specified …
Which of the new misdemeanor crimes the Georgia legislature created in 2019 should require fingerprinting at arrest?
The AG designated 7 of the 9 reviewed 2019 misdemeanors as fingerprintable: false reports to the Agricultural Commodity Commission for Propane (§ 2-8-218(a)), battery against a sports official (§ 16-5…
Can a Delaware county refuse to tell me whether my property is 'flagged' in the 911 system as a danger to first responders?
Yes. The Delaware AG ruled New Castle County properly withheld 911 'flag' information for George X's property under § 10002(l)(17). Records that warn first responders of dangers and outline response s…
Did the Missouri AG approve the Secretary of State's summary statement for Winston Apple's state-run health cooperative initiative (2020-141)?
Yes. AG Eric Schmitt approved the legal content and form of the proposed summary statement under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334. The Apple petition (2020-141) proposed amending Chapter 192, RSMo, to create …
Did the Missouri AG approve the Secretary of State's summary statement for Winston Apple's initiative to restructure the Missouri legislature (2020-140)?
Yes. AG Eric Schmitt approved the legal content and form of the proposed summary statement under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334. The Apple petition (2020-140) proposed amending Article III to cut the House …
If an Arkansas probationer with a medical-marijuana card tests positive for THC, can probation officers, prosecutors, or courts revoke probation, and do they have to report the positive test to federal authorities?
Probation officers, prosecutors, and judges have discretion (not a mandate) to revoke probation when a positive THC test violates a 'no federal-law violations' condition. There is no Arkansas requirem…
Can a city council pass an ordinance that takes professional-services contracting away from the mayor and gives it to a city engineer or city council vote?
Probably not. State law gives the mayor exclusive authority to negotiate and execute city contracts, so an ordinance shifting that power to a city engineer or letting the council reject and rewrite th…
Can a sitting Washington county commissioner or councilmember be appointed by their own county legislative body to fill a vacant state legislative seat?
Yes. The AG reversed a series of opinions issued from 1965 to 1987. The Washington Constitution sets only two qualifications for state legislators (citizenship and being a qualified voter in the distr…
Do Virginia 'Second Amendment sanctuary' resolutions adopted by counties have any legal effect?
No. The Virginia AG concluded that local resolutions declaring exemption from anticipated gun violence prevention laws have no legal effect. Under the Virginia Constitution, the Code of Virginia, and …
When a second protective order issues against the same person, can Virginia law enforcement delete the first one from VCIN?
No. The Virginia AG concluded that a protective order stays in the Virginia Criminal Information Network until a court orders it dissolved or it expires by its own terms or by operation of law. Both o…
Did the Missouri AG approve the Secretary of State's summary statement for Mary Anne Sedey's voter registration initiative version 2020-136?
Yes. AG Eric Schmitt approved the legal content and form of the proposed summary statement under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334. This Sedey petition (2020-136, version 8) proposed amending Article VIII to e…
Did the Missouri AG approve the Secretary of State's summary statement for Mary Anne Sedey's voter registration initiative version 2020-131?
Yes. AG Eric Schmitt approved the legal content and form of the proposed summary statement under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334. This Sedey petition (2020-131, version 3) proposed amending Article VIII to e…
Can DelDOT withhold draft property appraisals during eminent-domain negotiations as 'potential litigation' records?
Yes. The Delaware AG ruled DelDOT did not violate FOIA when it withheld draft property appraisals and communications with its appraiser during eminent-domain negotiations with Ocean One Holdings. The …
Did the Missouri AG approve the Secretary of State's summary statement for Mary Anne Sedey's automatic voter registration initiative version 2020-139?
Yes. AG Eric Schmitt approved the legal content and form of the proposed summary statement under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334. This Sedey petition (2020-139, version 11) proposed amending Article VIII to …
Did the Missouri AG approve the Secretary of State's summary statement for Mary Anne Sedey's automatic voter registration initiative version 2020-138?
Yes. AG Eric Schmitt approved the legal content and form of the proposed summary statement under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334. This Sedey petition (2020-138, version 10) proposed amending Article VIII to …
Did the Missouri AG approve the Secretary of State's summary statement for Mary Anne Sedey's automatic voter registration initiative version 2020-137?
Yes. AG Eric Schmitt approved the legal content and form of the proposed summary statement under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334. This Sedey petition (2020-137, version 9) proposed amending Article VIII to e…
Did the Missouri AG approve the Secretary of State's summary statement for Mary Anne Sedey's voter registration initiative version 2020-135?
Yes. AG Eric Schmitt approved the legal content and form of the proposed summary statement under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334. This Sedey petition (2020-135, version 7) proposed amending Article VIII to e…
Did the Missouri AG approve the Secretary of State's summary statement for Mary Anne Sedey's voter registration initiative version 2020-134?
Yes. AG Eric Schmitt approved the legal content and form of the proposed summary statement under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334. This Sedey petition (2020-134, version 6) proposed amending Article VIII to e…
Did the Missouri AG approve the Secretary of State's summary statement for Mary Anne Sedey's voter registration initiative version 2020-133?
Yes. AG Eric Schmitt approved the legal content and form of the proposed summary statement under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334. This Sedey petition (2020-133, version 5) proposed amending Article VIII to e…
Did the Missouri AG approve the Secretary of State's summary statement for Mary Anne Sedey's voter registration initiative version 2020-132?
Yes. AG Eric Schmitt approved the legal content and form of the proposed summary statement under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334. This Sedey petition (2020-132, version 4) proposed amending Article VIII to e…
Did the Missouri AG approve the Secretary of State's summary statement for Mary Anne Sedey's voter registration initiative version 2020-130?
Yes. AG Eric Schmitt approved the legal content and form of the proposed summary statement under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334. This Sedey petition (2020-130, version 2) proposed amending Article VIII to e…
Did the Missouri AG approve the Secretary of State's summary statement for Mary Anne Sedey's automatic voter registration initiative version 2020-129?
Yes. AG Eric Schmitt approved the legal content and form of the proposed summary statement under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334. This Sedey petition (2020-129) proposed amending Article VIII of the Missouri…
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