State AG Opinions
Free state attorney general opinions with plain-English summaries, full citations, and the original source on every page.
No opinions match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
Can a city refuse to hand over employees' unemployment insurance notices under Arkansas FOIA?
Yes for the two example notices reviewed. The AG found that withholding them was consistent with FOIA’s personnel-record privacy exemption. She noted that unemployment-claim records can be exempt…
Could a South Carolina taxing jurisdiction pay a contractor a contingency fee to find unlicensed businesses?
No under the 2020 South Carolina AG opinion. It said contingency pay was authorized for collecting delinquent business-license taxes, not for other contractor services such as identifying unlicensed…
Can a Delaware administrative board deliberate in private even when FOIA's open-meeting rules would otherwise require the public to watch?
Yes. The AG ruled the Environmental Appeals Board did not violate FOIA when it deliberated on a Delmarsh, LLC appeal in executive session, because 7 Del. C. § 6008(a) is a later-enacted, more…
Can a Kentucky domestic relations commissioner also serve as an elected city commissioner?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that serving as a domestic relations commissioner is not incompatible with holding the office of city commissioner. A domestic relations commissioner is treated…
Could a South Carolina town enforce a mask ordinance at a polling place in a private building?
The 2020 South Carolina AG said the town ordinance remained enforceable within town limits, but election managers controlled order at the polls and calls for police help. A private owner could not…
During COVID, can a Mississippi school district close schools and keep paying employees who didn't work?
The AG concluded that the Cleveland School Board could close schools for the COVID-19 epidemic under Section 37-13-65 if it made the required factual findings, subject to the 180-day school-session…
Can a Delaware city refuse a FOIA request for police grant applications by saying the federal agency that received them is now the only proper custodian?
No. The AG ruled the City of Wilmington violated FOIA when it denied Jeanne Kuang's request for federal grant applications submitted by Wilmington Police, claiming the federal agency was the sole…
Can a Virginia political party hold a raffle to raise money, and if there's a gun as a prize, does the winner need a background check?
No. Virginia's charitable gaming law only allows raffles run by nonprofits chartered for religious, charitable, community, or educational purposes. A political party or campaign committee does not…
Could Benton release a former employee’s misconduct investigation records under Arkansas FOIA if a minor was mentioned?
Generally yes. The AG found Benton’s classification of most records as employee-evaluation records consistent with FOIA and could not say their proposed release was incorrect. She questioned the…
Is a federally licensed firearms dealer, manufacturer, or importer who repairs guns considered a 'federally licensed gunsmith' exempt from Washington's universal background check rule when receiving and returning a customer's firearm?
Yes, with limits. A person licensed as a 'dealer' under 18 U.S.C. § 923(a) is a federally licensed gunsmith when engaged in the business of repairing or modifying firearms. A licensed manufacturer…
Can a Mississippi HOA charge a transfer fee when a homeowner sells the property?
The 2020 opinion said a property owners' association may charge a transfer fee if its right to do so is in a deed restriction or covenant filed in the public land records. The statute also permits a…
Could a South Carolina county council member also work as a licensed bail bondsman?
Yes under the statute analyzed in 2020. The South Carolina AG said county council members were not among the listed disqualified people and were not public employees assigned to administering courts.
Can a Mississippi city let private organizations or the chamber of commerce use the municipal auditorium without paying a fee?
The AG said a city may let private users, including commercial users, use municipal property without a rental fee under a uniform policy. It must recover direct costs such as utilities and cleaning…
Can a Virginia city extend or pause the 5-day Virginia FOIA records deadline during the COVID-19 emergency?
No. Va. Code § 15.2-1413 (the continuity-of-government statute) does not give a locality power to modify or indefinitely extend the deadlines for responding to records requests under Va. Code §…
Can the Virginia Department of Taxation use a pro-rata formula (instead of cost-recovery) to figure out how much of a retiree's pension distribution is tax-free in Virginia?
Yes. The Virginia AG concluded that because § 58.1-322.02(11) is silent on the methodology, the Department of Taxation has discretion to use a pro-rata approach (drawn from IRC § 72) instead of…
Can a city custodian withhold all employee leave and FMLA records as a privacy invasion before even pulling the records to look at them?
Partly. AG Rutledge agreed that leave and FMLA records were properly classified as personnel records, but concluded that withholding them based on the wording of the request alone (without first…
Can a Mississippi city forgive part of a cleanup assessment when the cost to clean up exceeds what the property is worth?
The AG concluded that cleanup assessments imposed under Section 21-19-11 are property liens that a Mississippi municipality cannot reduce, waive, or postpone, even when the cost exceeds the…
Can a former Arkansas police officer block release of his disciplinary file under FOIA when his old department wants to give it to a requester?
Mostly yes for the release. AG Rutledge concluded that the Benton Police Department custodian's decision to release one personnel record and four employee-evaluation letters was consistent with…
Can a Mississippi county board of supervisors shrink, dissolve, or audit the trustees running a county hospital?
The 2020 opinion concluded a Mississippi board of supervisors could (1) decline to fill an at-large hospital trustee vacancy, letting the trustee board operate with six members until it could shrink…
Can a Mississippi county tax assessor send employees home with pay during COVID without the Board of Supervisors' approval?
The AG concluded that under Executive Order 1460 and H.B. 1647 (2020), only county boards of supervisors, municipal governing authorities, and local school boards could grant administrative leave…
Can a Mississippi municipal court expunge a first-offense drug-related DUI?
The AG concluded that a Mississippi municipal court could expunge a first-offense drug-related DUI that had been nonadjudicated under Section 63-11-30(14), but could not expunge any DUI conviction.…
Can a Mississippi municipal court start its own veterans treatment court for misdemeanor cases?
The AG concluded that the Greenwood Municipal Court could not create a municipal veterans misdemeanor treatment court. Only the Mississippi Legislature can establish inferior courts, and the…
Does the Texas Constitution's separation of powers apply to a city government and how it handles employee grievances?
No, the AG concluded, separation of powers does not apply to municipal government. The mayor of Glen Rose, a Type A general-law city, was concerned that the city council's role in hearing employee…
Did South Carolina FOIA require release of voted ballots, ballot images, and vote-cast records?
The Attorney General believed a court would hold that FOIA did not require production of voted ballots, scanned ballot images, or vote-cast records. Its reasoning centered on the state…
What does Virginia law say about voter intimidation and people carrying guns at polling places?
Virginia and federal law criminalize intimidation, threats, and other coercion at polling places. Brandishing a firearm to instill fear is a crime, courthouses and schools (often polling locations)…
What can California state board members do, and not do, outside an open meeting under the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act?
The AG drew three lines for FPPC commissioners. (1) A private lunch with a quorum to discuss how the Act applies to the Commission is itself a meeting and violates the Act. (2) An agenda whose…
Can a Virginia school board adopt a policy that blocks board members from getting records the public could get under VFOIA?
No. A school board policy cannot delay or deny a board member access to records obtainable under VFOIA. Whether a particular request falls under VFOIA depends on the facts. School board bylaws…
Can a Virginia school board member vote on a budget that affects their spouse's salary along with thousands of other school employees?
A budget decision that affects the salaries of thousands of school employees does not 'affect the public generally' just because it affects a large group. A board member married to one of those…
Can a Texas city require architectural control committee approval before issuing a building permit without violating HB 2439's building-materials law?
It depends on the facts, the AG concluded. House Bill 2439, codified at Government Code section 3000.002(a)(1), bars a governmental entity from adopting or enforcing a rule that directly or…
Can a Texas prosecutor's investigator who is not a licensed peace officer carry a gun into a courtroom?
A court would likely conclude that she can, because she is a peace officer, the AG said. A civilian investigator for a prosecutor's office carried a firearm into a district courtroom, and the…
Can the Texas DMV title and register a three-wheeled electric low-speed vehicle as a motorcycle, and what counts as a 'saddle'?
The AG gave a two-part answer. On the definition question, it explained that a vehicle can qualify as a 'motorcycle' under three different Transportation Code provisions, each with its own seating…
Could Myrtle Beach tourism development fees pay for city beautification?
The Attorney General concluded that the fees could be spent only on the uses listed in the statute. It could not decide whether the unspecified beautification project qualified, though it doubted…
Could a newly elected South Carolina legislator work temporarily for Folly Beach or assist its city attorney?
The Attorney General concluded that the described transition coordinator and civil-case assistant roles were employment, not public offices, so holding either while serving in the legislature did…
When an electric co-op is serving customers inside a city's electric-service territory, does the city have to use the statutory buyout process to take those customers over?
No to both questions. The AG read Ark. Code Ann. 14-207-103 to apply only when a municipality annexes part of an electric public utility's assigned service area. When the customers were already…
If someone sues over a different election-code statute, does Arkansas's Secretary of State have to put a measure he already declared insufficient onto the ballot anyway?
No. AG Rutledge read Ark. Code Ann. 7-5-204(c)(1) to require transmission only if the Secretary had not yet decided sufficiency by the 75-day mark, or if 'an amendment or a measure has been…
Could a South Carolina nonprofit hold its annual meeting online during the pandemic?
The AG said an online annual meeting complied with the statute if the nonprofit’s bylaws allowed it. If the bylaws were silent, the office believed a court could find substantial compliance, but the…
If a city's existing service contract has run its only built-in extension, can the city renew it without putting it back out for bids?
Yes. AG Rutledge concluded that Ark. Code Ann. 14-58-104(b) plainly let a city renew or extend an existing contract without soliciting bids, regardless of whether the contract itself contained a…
Can legal aid lawyers visit migrant farm workers at the labor camps where they live, even if the employer who owns the camp tells them to leave?
Yes, in most cases. The AG concluded that migrant workers in labor camps are tenants with the right to invite guests, and that even uninvited legal advocates have First and Fourteenth Amendment…
Could Arkansas's Secretary of State set up an online voter registration system without a constitutional amendment?
No, then yes. AG Rutledge concluded the Secretary of State could not establish online voter registration under Amendment 51 as it stood, because the amendment's 'signature or mark' on a 'postcard'…
Can a county judge abolish all the townships in a county and redraw new ones, and what does that do to sitting constables?
AG Leslie Rutledge declined to answer because the same body of law was on appeal in the Arkansas Supreme Court in Clowers v. Edwards. Following the AG's longstanding practice, the office stays out…
Does Arkansas require county election commissioners to put a polling place inside every small town or city?
No, maybe, yes. AG Rutledge concluded county election boards aren't required to put a polling site in every incorporated town, may be required to put one in each ward of a second-class city (with…
Does Arkansas's Secretary of State have to follow the historic-sites contracting rules and get state approval before renovating the Capitol?
Mostly subject, with one exemption. AG Rutledge concluded the Secretary of State must follow the historic-sites improvement laws (Ark. Code Ann. 22-9-208 through 22-9-211) for State Capitol…
Could South Carolina counties conduct delinquent-tax sales online during COVID-19?
The AG saw a possible path for a live county tax auction with online bidding during the pandemic, but said an out-of-state hosted sale did not substantially comply with the county-location rule. It…
When a Mississippi city vacates an old street it acquired by common-law dedication, who owns the underlying land?
The AG concluded that when the City of Clinton vacated a former Livingston Road right-of-way it had acquired by common-law dedication, the underlying fee reverted to the abutting property owners.…
Who pays the lawyer when a Mississippi chancery court appoints counsel for someone facing private-facility commitment for drugs or alcohol?
The AG concluded that in Mississippi alcohol and drug commitment proceedings to private facilities under Section 41-32-5, attorney fees for court-appointed counsel had to be paid by the non-indigent…
Can a Mississippi county or its garbage vendor stop collecting trash from people who don't pay, and can the county block their car tags?
The AG concluded that neither the DeSoto County Board of Supervisors nor its third-party garbage vendor could suspend service to delinquent households. The county could, however, withhold car tag…
Can a Mississippi school district buy a Bluebird bus from a vendor that didn't bid in the state contract process if the price matches the state contract?
The AG concluded that Mississippi school districts could buy school buses only through one of the three procurement methods in Section 37-41-101: an approved-vendor list, a district-run advertised…
Does a Mississippi city have to pay to run a water tap line from its main to a private property owner's lot, or does the owner pay?
The AG concluded that under Mississippi law, a Mississippi municipality maintains the main sewer or water line up to the point of connection, while the property owner is responsible for the personal…
Must Madison County compensate shopping-center stores that signed a cross-parking agreement but do not own the land it plans to acquire?
The AG concluded that under Section 43-37-3, only the owner of the real property a Mississippi county acquires through eminent domain is entitled to just compensation. Other shopping-center stores…
Can a new Mississippi Board of Supervisors throw out the personnel handbook the previous board adopted, and can it create an assistant county administrator?
The AG concluded that a Mississippi Board of Supervisors could amend or void a personnel handbook adopted by a prior board, and that an assistant county administrator could be hired by the county…
May a Mississippi board of aldermen appoint members to a private board, and does an elected official's service there violate separation of powers?
The AG said municipal aldermen generally may appoint members to a private board under home rule, and an elected mayor or alderman serving on a private board does not violate separation of powers. It…
When a Connecticut judge applies for disability retirement, does the Judicial Review Council have to consider whether reasonable accommodations would let the judge keep working, and if so, can the Council order the Judicial Branch to provide them?
AG William Tong concluded that the Council must consider reasonable accommodations as part of deciding whether the judge is permanently incapacitated, but the Council cannot run the interactive ADA…
How is the 40% judicial-functions test for a Texas county judge's salary supplement calculated, and who checks false claims?
The AG gave two answers. On the calculation question, Government Code section 26.006 lets a county judge collect an annual state salary supplement (18 percent of a district judge's base salary) if…
Can a Texas appraisal district employee also serve on the school board of a district that participates in the appraisal district?
No, the AG concluded. Tax Code section 6.054 says an appraisal district may not employ a person who is an officer or an employee of a taxing unit that participates in the appraisal district. The…
Can the Texas Teacher Retirement System invest in or directly own real estate?
Only through investments that count as 'securities,' the AG concluded. Senator John Whitmire asked whether the Teacher Retirement System of Texas could invest in or own real estate, directly or…
Can a California city council declare a councilmember's seat vacant on residency grounds, and what recourse does the unseated councilmember have?
The AG granted Jeremiah Brosowske leave to sue in quo warranto to challenge the City of Hesperia's declaration that his District 4 council seat was vacant. The opinion confirms that an ousted…
Did a South Carolina county need a referendum before adopting a stormwater fee?
The AG concluded that no referendum was required. It expected a court to accept a fee based on impervious surface area as reasonable and equitable, while describing notice, hearing, public-comment,…
Can an Arkansas city council reduce a newly appointed city attorney's total pay by getting rid of his office-expense stipend?
It depends on whether the office-expense stipend counts as salary. The AG said reimbursement based on receipts likely would not; fixed, regular payments alongside salary likely would. She could not…
Can an Arkansas tire shop charge customers a separate transportation or hauling fee on top of the state-mandated rim removal fee?
Yes. AG Rutledge concluded the Used Tire Recycling and Accountability Act's 'one fee per tire' rule applies only to the rim removal fee for the act of removing a tire from a rim. A separate…
Can a Kentucky city let restaurants keep the restaurant tax they collect instead of paying it to the tourist commission?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Harrodsburg's Resolution 2020-03-23(a), which told restaurants to keep the restaurant tax they collected for March and April 2020 instead of turning it over…
How these opinions are useful
- Understand state law: AG opinions are authoritative interpretations of how state law applies.
- Persuasive authority: Not binding like court decisions, but they carry significant weight.
- Government guidance: Often clarify how state agencies and officials should interpret statutes.
- Legal research: Cite AG opinions in letters, motions, and legal arguments.
Browse opinions by state
Two states are not listed and are not pending: New Hampshire publishes its opinions on a page that automated retrieval cannot read, and Rhode Island publishes no complete full-text archive at all. We will add them if that changes.