State AG Opinions
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Are an Arkansas coroner's COVID-19 death investigation records public, including identifying and medical info?
Yes, after the coroner's final report is issued. Under Ark. Code Ann. § 14-15-304, the coroner's investigation records are confidential only until the final report. After issuance, the report…
Do campaign yard signs trigger Texas's resign-to-run rule and force a city council member out of office?
Probably, if the signs urge voters to elect the official to another office and are posted in public. A state representative, on behalf of the City of Palmview, asked the AG whether a home-rule city…
Could Little Rock release a complainant's statement while withholding another employee's evaluation records?
For the records reviewed, yes. The AG agreed that the decision letter and the complainant's recorded statement should be released as the complainant's own personnel records. Based on the records and…
Can a Texas city spend hotel occupancy tax money on a public space at an apartment complex?
Probably not, as described. A state representative asked whether a city could pay hotel occupancy tax (HOT) revenue to fund a 'public space' and clubhouse inside an apartment complex, meant to…
Does a Texas city or county have to give specific reasons when it denies a plat application?
Yes, with citations to law, and a generic denial backfires. Senator Bryan Hughes, who authored House Bill 3167, asked the AG to spell out what local governments must do under the law's plat-approval…
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…
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…
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…
Could a South Carolina county or city collect overdue assessments for a private homeowners association?
In 2021, the South Carolina AG doubted that local governments could collect HOA assessments serving only private owners. It said a court would likely question the public purpose, but left any…
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…
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…
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…
Did dividing or combining South Carolina parcels trigger a new property tax appraisal without a sale or change in use?
The 2021 South Carolina AG said parcel subdivision or combination alone did not create an assessable transfer when ownership and use stayed the same. It left proportional appraisal-cap questions…
Could a Pine Ridge town council member also serve on South Carolina’s Respiratory Care Committee?
Yes under the law analyzed in 2021. The South Carolina AG said the committee only advised the medical board and did not exercise sovereign power, so its membership was not a second public office.
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…
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,…
Did South Carolina FOIA bar citizens from speaking privately with one board member about nondisciplinary matters?
No. The 2021 South Carolina AG said FOIA did not confine citizen contact with individual public-body members to open meetings. Separate rules could restrict certain communications, including…
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…
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…
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,…
Did the Arkansas AG decide that Little Rock could release the personnel records of Mark Ison and other officers over their objection?
No release of specific records was approved. The AG referred Mark Ison and the other requesters to Opinion 2021-003 for the same analysis. That opinion approved proposed personal-information…
Did the Arkansas AG approve release of Officer Jeremy Graves's personnel records after the objection?
No release of specific records was approved. The AG referred Officer Graves to Opinion 2021-003 for the same analysis: proposed personal-information redactions were consistent with FOIA, the…
Did the Arkansas AG approve release of Officer Hannah L. Thomas's personnel records after the objection?
No release of specific records was approved. The AG referred Officer Thomas to Opinion 2021-003 for the same analysis: proposed personal-information redactions were consistent with FOIA, the…
Did the Arkansas AG approve release of Detective Justin Taynor's personnel records after the objection?
No release of specific records was approved. The AG referred Detective Taynor to Opinion 2021-003 for the same analysis: proposed personal-information redactions were consistent with FOIA, the…
Did the Arkansas AG approve release of Officer Jason Harris's personnel records after he objected?
No release of specific records was approved. The AG referred Officer Harris to Opinion 2021-003 for the same analysis: proposed personal-information redactions were consistent with FOIA, the…
Did the Arkansas AG approve release of Officer William High's personnel records after he objected?
No release of specific records was approved. The AG referred Officer High to Opinion 2021-003 for the same analysis: proposed personal-information redactions were consistent with FOIA, the…
Did the Arkansas AG approve release of Officer Courtney Bewley's personnel records after he objected?
No release of specific records was approved. The AG referred Officer Bewley to Opinion 2021-003 for the same analysis: proposed personal-information redactions were consistent with FOIA, the…
Could a Little Rock police officer block release of his personnel and disciplinary records by objecting under the Arkansas FOIA?
The AG could not decide whether Silas’s personnel and disciplinary records should be released or whether his specific objection would prevent release. She approved the city’s planned redaction of…
Did the Arkansas AG approve Little Rock’s plan to release Alva Archer’s employee records?
The AG referred Alva to the enclosed Opinion 2020-063. That opinion had not reviewed the records and did not approve their general release; it said the custodian had to classify each record and…
Did the Arkansas AG approve Little Rock’s plan to release Tabitha F. Mullins’s employee records?
The AG referred Tabitha to the enclosed Opinion 2020-063. That opinion had not reviewed the records and did not approve their general release; it said the custodian had to classify each record and…
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…
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,…
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…
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'…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Did Santee Cooper need a legislative act to sell an outdoor lighting system to a homeowners association?
The 2020 South Carolina AG thought legislative approval likely was unnecessary for a lighting system outside electricity generation, transmission, or distribution. It could not decide whether the…
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…
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…
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…
Can Virginia cities and counties require government contractors to pay a living wage above the state minimum?
Yes, when appropriate to the goods or services being procured. The Public Procurement Act lets a public body decide whether to include a minimum or living-wage requirement in a solicitation. The…
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).…
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…
Could a disabled veteran’s surviving spouse claim the South Carolina home-tax exemption if the veteran never owned the house?
The 2020 South Carolina AG said no under the statute and agency decisions it analyzed. It read the exemption as requiring the veteran’s ownership and prior approved exemption before a spouse could…
Could a Richland County council member also serve on the South Carolina First Steps board?
Yes under the constitutional dual-office analysis in 2020. The South Carolina AG treated county council as a public office but First Steps trusteeship as nonprofit-board service, and left separate…
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…
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,…
Can a county prohibit its employees from donating to candidates running for any county office?
No. Pima County's blanket ban on county employees making political contributions to candidates for any county office violates both the First Amendment and Arizona Constitution Article II, § 6. The…
Could a Lancaster County auditor keep serving after losing voter registration in the county?
The 2020 South Carolina AG said an elected auditor had to remain a qualified local elector. It could not verify this auditor’s status; if she had lost that qualification, the office said a vacancy…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Did Little Rock have to release a city employee's evaluation records when the underlying investigation was still ongoing?
No. Little Rock did not have to release the employee-evaluation records while the investigation was ongoing. The AG found the required final administrative resolution lacking and held that the…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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