State AG Opinions
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Which of the new misdemeanor crimes the Georgia legislature created in 2017 should require fingerprinting at arrest?
The AG designated only one of two reviewed 2017 misdemeanors as fingerprintable: providing tobacco to a jail inmate without the jailer's consent under § 42-4-13(d.1), but only as to non-incarcerated…
Is it a FOIA violation if a Delaware town posts meeting notice six days instead of seven before the meeting?
Yes, technically, but the AG found no remedy was needed because the only agenda item was a properly-noticed executive session and no substantive votes were taken at the meeting.
Can a party to a California administrative hearing, including a special education due process hearing under IDEA, be represented by someone who is not a licensed California attorney?
The AG concluded no on both counts. California's Administrative Procedure Act does not itself authorize non-lawyer representation in OAH proceedings. An agency may allow it where the agency has…
Could Faulkner County withhold investigation records when the employee wasn't suspended or fired?
Yes. The Faulkner County prosecuting attorney's decision to withhold closed investigation records was consistent with FOIA. The records were employee evaluation records, and the employee in question…
Does a Delaware county council violate FOIA if it votes on 'recommendations from executive session' without specifically noticing that vote on the agenda?
Not necessarily. The AG found New Castle County Council's Personnel Subcommittee did not violate FOIA by voting to direct legal research after an executive session, even though the agenda didn't…
Were South Carolina state highway projects and their borrow pits subject to local zoning?
The Attorney General concluded in 2017 that a court would likely exempt Department of Transportation projects from local zoning when they furthered the state’s eminent domain power or its uniform…
Did South Carolina’s Base Load Review Act constitutionally make utility customers pay for an abandoned nuclear plant?
In a 2017 advisory opinion, the Attorney General called several provisions constitutionally suspect as applied to the abandoned V.C. Summer project, particularly customer charges for unfinished…
Can a Little Rock firefighter's union representative get records from a pending internal investigation under Arkansas FOIA?
Likely yes for the firefighter's own records. The City's blanket denial was inconsistent with FOIA. An employee or their designated representative is entitled to that employee's personnel and…
Can a county civil attorney in Arkansas serve simultaneously as an elected member of the Arkansas House of Representatives?
Yes, in the AG's view. The county civil attorney position created under Ark. Code Ann. § 16-21-114 is public employment, not a 'lucrative office' under Ark. Const. art. 5, § 7, so the constitutional…
When does an Arkansas city's property tax exemption start after buying property for public use?
Not immediately. Tax status is set on January 1 of each tax year. A city that buys property for public purposes in mid-year owes the full year's taxes; the exemption first applies on the following…
Can a Tennessee municipality grant an exclusive contract for roll-off dumpster service, and is House Bill 1293 (which lets any private hauler operate anyway) constitutional?
The AG said a municipality may award an exclusive roll-off dumpster franchise without violating federal antitrust law or Tennessee's anti-monopoly clause. Whether a particular fee arrangement is…
Why did Arkansas reject Mary Berry's recreational marijuana ballot title in Opinion 2017-097?
The proposal defined 'carry on' as possession 'on one's body and personal effect' and 'personal effects' as items people 'often carry with them.' The AG found both phrases unclear. Because…
Can a sitting member of the Arkansas Motor Vehicle Commission also be hired as the Commission's Executive Director?
No. Common-law incompatibility blocks a current commissioner from also holding the Executive Director job, regardless of dealer status. A former commissioner who is a licensed dealer can be hired.…
Could a South Carolina county keep legal control of its jail while contracting day to day control to the sheriff?
The Attorney General concluded in 2017 that the proposed split control contract likely conflicted with state law. The statutes placed jail custody and control with either the sheriff or county…
Can Delaware DOT keep the identity of someone who filed a complaint about you confidential under FOIA?
Yes. The AG found that records identifying who complained to DelDOT about a person's mailbox are exempt investigatory files under FOIA, so the agency did not have to disclose the complainant's name…
Can a Tennessee county school board approve a non-binding memorandum of understanding for a school turnaround partnership that isn't yet allowed by law?
Yes. The AG concluded that a county board of education may vote on a non-binding memorandum of understanding about a potential partnership district to help priority schools, even though current law…
Could Little Rock release records about police recruits who received incentive pay and later left city employment?
The AG could not approve or reject release of the specific records because she had not seen them. Salary and payroll records are generally open, but the custodian had to inspect the names list and…
Can a Tennessee LEA open a public school or authorize a charter school inside another LEA's territory?
No. The AG concluded that an LEA, as a creature of statute, has no inherent power. It can open and operate a public school or authorize a charter school only within its own jurisdictional…
Can a Tennessee LEA open a school or authorize a charter school inside another LEA's territory?
No. The AG concluded that LEAs are creatures of statute with only express or necessarily implied powers. Nothing in the public school or charter school statutes authorizes an LEA to operate a public…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject Ed Frizzell's 'Multi-Member Districts Amendment' ballot title in September 2017?
The ballot title said the proposed districts would reflect geographical, community and political interests, but the AG could not tell from the amendment's text whether anything besides population…
When did the Arkansas Public School Health Services Advisory Committee created by Acts 414 and 935 cease to exist?
December 31, 2017. Act 935 of 2015 amended Ark. Code Ann. § 6-18-709 to fix that termination date, replacing the earlier December 31, 2014 sunset in Act 414 of 2013.
Is a Florida mosquito control district a political subdivision, and is its drone a public aircraft eligible for FAA Certificate of Authorization?
Yes. The Lee County Mosquito Control District, an independent special district created by special act, is a political subdivision under § 1.01(8). Section 388.231(1) prohibits use of…
Is the Florida property appraiser a public entity for FAA Certificate of Authorization purposes?
Yes. The Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser is a constitutional county officer (Art. VIII, § 1(d)). Acting in his official capacity, the property appraiser is part of Santa Rosa County, a…
Does Tennessee's new charter-school student-directory-information disclosure statute conflict with FERPA, and can charter schools use the info for outreach?
Mostly no conflict; charter outreach is fine. The AG concluded that (1) Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-132 does not violate FERPA because the required information is the kind FERPA expressly permits to be…
Does a Texas county clerk have to record an affidavit of adverse possession?
The AG concluded the clerk does have to record it. A county clerk must record any instrument the law permits to be recorded, and Property Code section 12.001(a) permits recording an instrument that…
If a Texas county adopted a stock law by election back in 1918, is that law still in force today?
The AG concluded the old stock laws survived. When the Legislature folded the local stock law statutes into chapter 143 of the Agriculture Code in 1981, that recodification did not repeal stock laws…
Does the district attorney's office have to pay for the extra copy of the court reporter's record in a criminal appeal?
The AG concluded the district attorney's office does not have to pay. In a criminal appeal, Rule of Appellate Procedure 34.6(h) makes the court reporter prepare a duplicate of the reporter's record…
Can a Texas county pay its fire marshal's salary out of the county health services sales tax?
The AG concluded a court would likely say no. A chapter 324 county sales and use tax can be spent only to provide health services in the county, and the statute points to hospitals and public health…
Does a name on a ballot petition have to exactly match the voter registration to count?
The AG concluded an exact match is not required. Election Code section 141.063 does not make a qualified voter print his or her name exactly as it appears on the voter registration list, and the…
Could South Carolina education officials transfer charter school funds when a school changed sponsors?
The 2017 opinion concluded that the Department of Education likely could transfer funds allocated to the Public Charter School District to an independent higher education institution that became the…
Does a Delaware zoning board violate FOIA if it doesn't forward a citizen's written comments to the final decision-making body?
Not by itself. The AG found no FOIA violation in a Planning & Zoning Commission's alleged failure to share a citizen's opposition materials with the County Council, since FOIA's petition process…
Why did Arkansas reject the proposed recreational marijuana ballot title in Opinion 2017-093?
The AG could not certify the title because the proposed amendment offered several popular names, used unclear language about which acts would become lawful, left business representatives' age…
Could a South Carolina fire department consider an applicant pardoned for arson?
The Attorney General concluded in 2017 that a pardon removed the statute’s lifetime legal bar on firefighter employment for an arson conviction. The hiring authority could consider the applicant on…
When a Tennessee defendant skips bail, are 'costs of the court proceedings' under § 40-11-120 just the forfeiture costs or all the costs in the case?
All of them. The AG concluded that 'costs of the court proceedings' under Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-11-120 includes the costs of every proceeding in the case against the defendant, not just the bail…
Are towns inside a Virginia county required to be parties to a revenue-sharing agreement between the county and an adjacent city?
No. The AG concluded that for a growth-sharing agreement between a city and an adjacent county under § 15.2-1301, towns inside the county are not 'affected localities' (and not necessary parties)…
What's the right procedure to amend a Tennessee county comprehensive growth plan if the coordinating committee is gone, and did the 2015 annexation reform impliedly kill any growth-plan provisions?
Use an alternate entity, agreed by the county and all municipalities. The AG concluded that (1) under § 6-58-104(a)(9)(B) the only alternative to a coordinating committee is an entity the county and…
Can Delaware withhold Planned Parenthood adverse-event reports sent to the state health department from a FOIA request?
Yes. The AG found the records confidential under Delaware's peer-review statute, 24 Del. C. § 1768(b), and upheld DHSS's denial through FOIA's exemption for records protected by other law, 29 Del.…
What residency and voter-registration rules apply to candidates for sheriff in Tennessee?
Two rules. The AG concluded that Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-8-102(a)(3) requires a sheriff candidate to be (1) a 'qualified voter of the county' (meaning the person meets the qualifications in § 2-2-102…
Could Beaufort County use tourism taxes to build a culinary institute or tourism center?
The 2017 opinion treated a technical college culinary institute as generally a local educational benefit, not automatically a qualifying tourism use. It saw a possible hospitality tax argument if…
Can Delaware's governor's office redact executive privilege material from FOIA calendar records if it backs the redactions with a sworn affidavit?
Yes. The AG found the Governor's office properly redacted executive privilege and attorney-client privilege material from calendar records once it backed the redactions with detailed, notarized…
Does a Delaware city have to announce the Attorney General's FOIA rulings at a public council meeting?
No. The AG found nothing in FOIA that requires a public body to present or discuss the AG's prior FOIA determinations during a council meeting; publishing them online is enough.
Will Delaware's AG consider an open-meetings petition about a meeting more than six months old?
Generally no, under the AG's discretionary policy. The AG declined to reach a petition about 2002 and 2016 zoning meetings because both were more than six months old when the office received it. The…
What rules limit a Virginia locality's authority to remove or relocate a war or veterans monument on its property?
A Virginia locality considering removal or relocation of a war or veterans monument must work through three layers: Code § 15.2-1812 (which only applies prospectively to monuments erected after the…
Can Delaware deny a FOIA request both because the requester isn't a Delaware citizen and because the records are investigatory files?
Yes. The AG found the Division of Professional Regulation properly denied a complainant's records request on two independent grounds: she wasn't a Delaware citizen, and the records were exempt…
If a West Virginia county wants to contract directly with local EMS squads for ambulance service, does it have to put the contracts out to competitive bid first?
No. The competitive-bidding requirement in W. Va. Code § 7-15-16 applies only when an 'emergency ambulance service authority' is procuring supplies, equipment, materials, or facilities, not when a…
Must a Delaware prison hand over its own cumulative summary reports on contraband seizures under FOIA, even if individual incident reports are exempt?
Yes for the summaries, no for the underlying reports. The AG found Delaware's Department of Correction violated FOIA by not turning over its own summary documents on contraband seizures at James T.…
Could South Carolina’s Inspector General review a nonprofit foundation supporting a state school?
The Attorney General concluded in 2017 that the State Inspector General could review the foundation created to support the Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics. The school could delegate…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the 2017 'Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Amendment' ballot title submitted by Mary L. Berry?
Three fundamental ambiguities, the AG said: when the amendment would actually take effect, whether age limits applied to people working for licensed businesses, and what 'considered legally served'…
If an Arkansas inmate serving a life sentence for a juvenile crime gets paroled under Act 539, how long does parole supervision last?
For life. Act 539 makes certain juvenile lifers parole-eligible, but parole does not shorten the underlying sentence, and Arkansas law has no mechanism for ending supervision early. The Parole Board…
Can the Arkansas Auditor of State deposit unclaimed property trust funds with the State Treasurer for investment purposes?
Almost certainly no. The Unclaimed Property Act requires those funds to be deposited in financial institution accounts and administered as cash funds, which by definition are not held by the State…
Could an indictment for interfering with an officer count as a crime of moral turpitude for suspending a public official?
On the alleged facts presented in 2017, the Attorney General thought a court would likely treat an elected official’s deceptive impersonation of a police commissioner to hinder a traffic citation as…
Did a South Carolina House candidate need to file an economic interest statement before formally entering the election?
The 2017 opinion followed House Ethics Committee guidance that opening a campaign account could trigger an annual statement of economic interest duty before a formal statement of candidacy. It said…
Does Delaware's public records law apply to requests from people who aren't Delaware residents?
No. Delaware's AG confirmed that FOIA only obligates public bodies to fulfill records requests from Delaware citizens, so the State Treasurer's office did not violate FOIA by denying a request from…
When the Illinois Legislature overrides a Governor's amendatory veto on a bill that includes an immediate effective date, when does the law actually take effect?
If both houses override the amendatory veto, the law takes effect when the second house votes to override, though the bill is treated as having passed on its earlier final legislative vote. If both…
Do Connecticut's priority-funding-area rules, the village-character cooperation rule, and the State Facilities Plan apply to a state police training facility being built in Griswold using bond proceeds?
Section 16a-35d's restriction on funding outside priority funding areas does not apply to state agencies building their own facilities. The AG assumed the village-character cooperation rule applied…
How far in advance must a Delaware city council post its meeting agenda under FOIA?
At least seven days before the meeting. The AG found Wilmington's City Council violated FOIA by only posting its full agenda one day before an April 2017 meeting, even though the city argued its…
Are Virginia's statutes and constitutional ban on same-sex marriage still on the books after Obergefell, and can the Code Commission recommend removing them as obsolete?
Virginia's statutory prohibitions on same-sex marriage in Code §§ 20-45.2 and 20-45.3 are obsolete within the meaning of Code § 30-151 because they have been held unconstitutional and lack any legal…
Does Arkansas's new Amendment 95 (Article 7, Section 53) bar a county judge or sheriff from serving on regional boards, county equalization boards, or workforce councils?
It depends on whether the position is a 'civil office.' The AG declined to answer for each of the 23 boards listed because the test is fact-intensive, but laid out the criteria: a civil office…
Can a South Dakota city create a second business improvement district that overlaps an existing one, does the new overlay need its own separate board, and can hotels within the new BID pass the special assessment through to their guests as a separate line item on the bill?
Yes, a second BID may overlay an existing one (the BID statute repeatedly speaks of 'districts' in the plural). Whether the existing BID board can also serve the second BID depends on whether its…
Was a recorded South Carolina deed invalid if the auditor did not endorse it before recording?
In a 2017 clarification, the Attorney General withdrew its earlier conclusion that strict prior auditor endorsement was necessary for validity. It thought a court would find substantial compliance…
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