State AG Opinions
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Can the Arkansas Treasurer sign a $450,000 contract for an online financial-literacy program without specific statutory authority?
The AG concluded that the Treasurer's general executive authority to spend appropriated funds for state services made the EverFi contract permissible without a specific statutory grant, although the L…
Is an online convenience fee for paying rent an illegal credit card surcharge in Texas?
A state representative asked whether the convenience fee a tenant pays to pay rent online through a third-party processor is a credit-card or debit-card surcharge banned by Finance Code section 339.00…
Can a Texas judge refuse to apply another country's law in a divorce or custody case?
A state representative posed many scenarios asking how far a Texas judge may go to refuse to apply the law of a country outside the United States in family-law disputes, meaning disputes over a marria…
Is it a Georgia crime to possess another voter's absentee ballot, for example to drop it in the mail for an elderly relative?
No, mere possession of another voter's absentee ballot was not a crime under either O.C.G.A. § 21-2-385(a) (the return-of-absentee-ballot statute) or § 21-2-574 (the felony for possession of a ballot …
If I sue a county after filing a records request, can it use my own lawsuit as a reason to withhold the records?
Yes, according to this opinion. A former county employee's records request for meeting audio went unanswered past FOIA's 15-day deadline, which the AG found was a violation. But once the requester sue…
How long do I have to file a FOIA open-meetings complaint after the meeting I'm complaining about?
About six months, according to this opinion. The AG declined to investigate several open-meeting allegations because they were raised more than six months after they occurred, and found two other alle…
Can a Tennessee teachers' organization use dues collected by payroll deduction under PECCA to fund political communications, contribute to political-spending groups, or commingle those dues with other funds it uses politically?
PECCA bars payroll deductions obtained through collaborative conferencing from being used to engage in or pay for political communications, or to make contributions to entities that engage in politica…
If pending lawsuits challenge Proposition 123 as conflicting with Arizona's federal Enabling Act, can the State Board of Investment be sued personally for following Prop 123's payout rules in the meantime?
No liability. Arizona public officials must obey the law unless a court enjoins it or declares it unconstitutional. Until that happens, the State Board of Investment must follow Proposition 123's dist…
Can a Florida city issue a new permit to sell fireworks under the agricultural-use exception if it never issued one before 2007?
No. The opinion read the 2007 moratorium in section 10(5), Chapter 2007-67, Laws of Florida, to bar the City of Altamonte Springs from issuing any new permit for permanent or temporary retail firework…
Can a county commission fire members of a county hospital board of trustees in the middle of their term without holding a public hearing?
No. The AG read W. Va. Code § 7-3-15 to allow the county commission to remove a hospital trustee mid-term only 'for incompetency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office after an opportunity to be he…
Does a county administrator have to hold a public meeting before deciding to give employees a bonus or an extra day off?
No, according to this opinion. A Sussex County resident alleged the County Council secretly agreed to give employees an extra day off and a bonus at annual employee luncheons. The AG found the County …
If a state agency misses the FOIA deadline but the records would have been exempt anyway, is there still a remedy?
Yes, a violation was found, but with no remedy ordered. DNREC missed FOIA's 15-business-day deadline to respond to a records request from an environmental group. The AG found that a technical FOIA vio…
Is whether my early-retirement payment went to me as a stipend or into a retirement plan a public record?
The AG concluded that UALR's resolution was a personnel record. The amount of the early-retirement allowance had to be disclosed because of the strong public interest in expenditure of public funds, b…
Can a state university release records showing whether a faculty member's early-retirement payment went to him directly or into a retirement plan?
The AG concluded that the early-retirement resolution was properly classified as a personnel record. The public clearly had a substantial interest in the payment amount, but the AG was not persuaded t…
Can the same person serve on a Washington school board and a city planning commission at the same time?
The AG concluded that, although it's an extremely close call, school director and city planning commissioner are likely incompatible offices because the planning commission's land-use work and the sch…
Can an Arkansas city take out a short-term loan for a project and pay it back with grant money?
Probably not under Amendment 78. The AG concluded that grant funds restricted to a specified purpose (like a state airport grant for runway resealing) are not 'general revenues' and so cannot be used …
If a county tax collector loses my check, am I still on the hook for the property taxes?
The AG concluded that yes, the taxpayer remained liable because Arkansas law treats a check as only conditional payment until it is actually paid in cash, but the county had to treat these specific ta…
Can an Arkansas city give $25 gift cards to volunteer EMS members as a thank-you?
The AG concluded that, on the limited facts available, the $25 Christmas gift cards to Fairfield Bay's volunteer EMS team looked like an unconstitutional donation to private individuals under Article …
Can a state environmental agency refuse to release records about how it negotiated a settlement, citing settlement talks or draft-document privilege?
Partly. The AG rejected DNREC's claim that Delaware law recognizes a special privilege protecting settlement-negotiation records, and found DNREC hadn't proven every document it labeled a 'working dra…
Does Washington's fish-protection permit (HPA) reach work done above a river's high-water line, like bulldozing a steep bank or building in a floodway?
The AG concluded that WDFW's HPA jurisdiction is not limited to work at or below the ordinary high water line. The Hydraulic Code defines a 'hydraulic project' by its effect on state waters, not its l…
Do Virginia private preschool teachers need a state teacher license to be paid with public Lottery funds?
Teachers in private preschools had to hold a VDOE teacher license to be paid from public funds. Lottery proceeds could lawfully fund the Virginia Preschool Initiative in nonsectarian preschools, inclu…
Now that the federal government has recognized the Pamunkey tribe, do Virginia state and local police lose their authority to enforce the law on the Pamunkey reservation?
No. AG Herring concluded that federal recognition of the Pamunkey tribe doesn't make the Pamunkey or Mattaponi reservations 'Indian country' under federal law, because the lands were set aside by the …
Is the Virginia term jury list (the pool of potential jurors for a term of circuit court) open to the public, and can lawyers copy it?
No. AG Herring concluded that Virginia term jury lists are not public records and may be inspected only by counsel of record in cases to be tried during the term. Counsel may copy the list only with l…
How does the Arkansas Attorney General certify a ballot title for a citizen-initiated casino amendment?
AG Leslie Rutledge certified the popular name as submitted and substituted a revised ballot title to fix minor grammatical and typographical errors. The opinion summarizes the legal standards she appl…
Can a Florida town that was chartered by special act amend its charter by referendum, and will the Department of Revenue treat a re-enacted charter provision as valid?
The opinion presumed the prior repeal by referendum was valid, said section 166.031, Florida Statutes, controlled how the town could re-enact the deleted provision, and left the Department of Revenue'…
Is the list of Twitter accounts an elected official has blocked from their personal feed a public record under Florida's Sunshine Law?
The AG declined to answer because the question turned on facts the office could not resolve. The informal comments said that if the official's tweets themselves were public records (made in connection…
Are oil and gas Division Orders that companies share with county assessors public records under Arkansas FOIA?
The AG concluded that a court would very likely treat Division Orders given to Arkansas county assessors as exempt from FOIA disclosure under the competitive-advantage exemption, because releasing the…
Can a Texas public university contract with a company a regent has a financial stake in?
A state senator asked the AG to reconcile two Texas statutes that seemed to contradict each other on whether a public university could contract with a business in which a member of its governing board…
Who owns the interest an appraisal district earns while holding a county's tax money?
A county attorney asked who owns the interest an appraisal district earns while holding county property taxes it collected, whether past interest must be paid back, and whether the county tax assessor…
Can an Arkansas school district donate an unused school building to a nonprofit community center?
The AG concluded that Greenland School District could donate the former Winslow school property to a local nonprofit for community and after-school programs without violating the Arkansas constitution…
What gave the Tennessee Attorney General authority to investigate a sitting member of the General Assembly (Representative Jeremy Durham), and can the legislature shut that down if it disagrees with how the AG handles it?
The AG's authority came from a resolution of an Article II, Section 12 Ad Hoc Select Committee of the House of Representatives. The committee acted under the House's constitutional power to determine …
Can a Texas county give money to the Boys and Girls Club or another nonprofit?
A county auditor asked whether a county could give financial assistance to the Boys and Girls Clubs without violating the constitutional ban on gifts of public funds in article III, section 52 of the …
When does a Texas county judge qualify for the state salary supplement?
A county auditor asked what counts as a 'judicial function' so a county judge may claim the state salary supplement under Government Code section 26.006, which gives the judge a supplement equal to 18…
If a state employee on 'arrears pay' is appointed to fill a vacant elected office, like State Auditor, do they get switched to 'current pay'?
No. The AG read W. Va. Code § 6-7-1 to require arrears-pay status for everyone hired into state government after July 1, 2002, with one carve-out for 'elected officials.' That exemption does not cover…
Is a nonprofit hospital that leases a county facility subject to the Arkansas FOIA?
The AG concluded that on the facts presented, the North Arkansas Regional Medical Center's nonprofit operator was not wholly subject to the FOIA because there was no direct public funding of its gener…
Does the county treasurer take a 2% commission on prisoner commissary and telephone profits before they reach the sheriff's communications fund?
The AG concluded that yes, Ark. Code Ann. § 21-6-302 unambiguously requires county treasurers to collect a 2% commission on all funds coming into their hands as treasurers (with limited statutory exce…
Can a regional planning and development district charge a percentage administrative fee on grants it disburses?
The AG concluded that no, Arkansas's economic planning and development districts have no express or necessarily implied statutory power to charge grantees an administrative fee, and they cannot alloca…
Can a county buy land from a company partly owned by a county official?
The AG concluded that no, the Arkansas county ethics code at Ark. Code Ann. § 14-14-1202 forbids county officials from being directly or indirectly interested in county transactions, and the waiver pr…
Does Tennessee's 'sole supplier' exception let a county official contract with the county when his business is merely doing business in the county, and must an official who violates the conflict statute give back all the money he was paid?
The sole-supplier exception applies only when the county official's business is located in the county, not when it merely does business there. And under Tenn. Code Ann. § 12-4-102, an official who vio…
Can a Texas river authority ban open carry of handguns in its parks?
No. The AG concluded that the broad rulemaking power a river authority has over its water-related parks (Parks and Wildlife Code chapter 25) does not let it ban the open carry of handguns, because Pen…
Can a Texas DA spend asset-forfeiture money to investigate a juvenile detention center?
The AG did not give a yes-or-no answer because it turns on the facts. The AG explained that under article 59.06 of the Code of Criminal Procedure a prosecutor may spend asset-forfeiture funds only for…
Does Texas have to follow federal refugee-funding rules that aren't in the statute?
On the first question, the AG concluded that a court would likely treat any condition on federal refugee money that does not appear in the text of a federal statute as unenforceable, because the Spend…
Can a Washington state agency lobby the legislature for budget items the governor's office didn't include?
The AG concluded that the Public Works Board has authority under RCW 42.17A.635 to provide the legislature with information about Board business and to advocate for the Board's official positions and …
When a city releases a former employee's personnel file under FOIA, what gets redacted and what about disciplinary letters?
The AG concluded that the City of Little Rock's redacted release was consistent with the FOIA. Most documents were properly personnel records subject to disclosure, but a March 2015 disciplinary lette…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject a casino ballot title under § 7-9-107?
The AG rejected the May 12, 2016 submission of a three-county casino constitutional amendment because the underlying text contained ambiguities and the ballot title failed to completely summarize the …
Why did the Arkansas AG substitute a popular name but reject the ballot title for a lobbyist-gifts and campaign-finance amendment?
The AG substituted a corrected popular name (and certified that) for the proposed constitutional amendment that aimed to prohibit lobbyist gifts to certain officials, ban contributions from specified …
When a city's records custodian responds to a media FOIA request about a former employee, how does the AG check the release decision?
The AG concluded that the City of Camden custodian's release decision was consistent with the FOIA for some documents but inconsistent for others. The opinion's bigger lesson is procedural: a custodia…
Can a Texas city regulate the propane (LPG) industry with its own ordinance?
The AG concluded that section 113.054 of the Natural Resources Code preempts and supersedes a city's or other political subdivision's LPG ordinances across the board: it does not matter whether the lo…
Is the Texas crude oil production tax still in effect after SB 757 and HB 7?
The AG concluded the tax was gone. Senate Bill 757 expressly repealed the Natural Resources Code section that levied the three-sixteenths-of-a-cent-per-barrel tax on crude oil. A week later, House Bil…
Did Virginia's ban on sex discrimination cover discrimination against LGBT people?
The AG concluded that Virginia's anti-discrimination statutes most likely prohibited discriminatory conduct against LGBT Virginians when that conduct was based on sex-stereotyping or on treating them …
Does Tennessee's rule that wholesalers must offer the same discounts and pricing terms to all retailers mean wholesalers cannot extend 10-day credit to liquor stores, because grocery store wine licensees must pay on delivery?
No. The AG harmonized the three statutes: the general price-uniformity rule in Tenn. Code Ann. § 57-3-404(i) is subject to the more specific credit-sales rules in § 57-3-404(g) (10 days for retailers)…
Can Texas fix a sales-tax election that pushed an area over the 2% local cap?
The AG concluded there was no statutory fix. A Montgomery County emergency services district held an election to add a half-percent sales tax but did not exclude an economic development zone where the…
Who pays to move a body from an autopsy to the funeral home in Texas?
The AG concluded that the cost of transporting a body from a justice-of-the-peace-ordered autopsy to its final destination generally falls on the person with the legal duty to inter the deceased, or t…
Can a physical therapist do dry needling in Texas?
The AG concluded that a court would likely uphold the Texas Board of Physical Therapy Examiners' authority to determine that trigger point dry needling falls within the scope of practice of physical t…
Can a town make you view public meeting minutes only at a town clerk's private home?
No, according to this opinion. A resident asked the Town of Little Creek for Town Council meeting minutes. The AG found the Town wasn't required to post minutes online, but did violate FOIA's reasonab…
Did Florida's AG ask the state Supreme Court to review the proposed 'Voter Control of Gambling' constitutional amendment?
Yes. The AG's filing was the statutory petition required by Article IV, section 10 of the Florida Constitution and section 16.061, Florida Statutes. It asked the Florida Supreme Court for an advisory …
If a Tennessee security guard pleads guilty under judicial diversion, does that trigger the Private Protective Services Act's mandatory notice and automatic license revocation?
No to the automatic-revocation provision. The AG concluded a guilty plea under judicial diversion is not a 'conviction' under Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-313, so the notice and automatic-revocation provis…
When a Tennessee school board hires an outside search firm to find a new director of schools, do public records and open meetings laws apply to the firm's work?
Records the firm gathered about candidates for the school board were public records under Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503(f) and had to be open for inspection. Whether the firm's own meetings fell under th…
Did Oregon's law banning 'electioneering' within 100 feet of election offices violate the state constitution's free speech protections?
Likely yes. The AG concluded that ORS 260.695(2), which prohibited 'electioneering' near election offices for the entire weeks-long ballot return period, likely violated Article I, section 8 of the Or…
Does Florida law let a court terminate a rapist's parental rights to a child conceived through sexual battery?
Yes. Section 39.806(1)(m), Florida Statutes, adopted in 2013, lets a court terminate parental rights when clear and convincing evidence shows the child was conceived through unlawful sexual battery un…
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