State AG Opinions
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After SB 1476's changes, which Arizona charter schools still get the Small School Weight bump in their state funding, and how does it apply to schools serving K-12?
A charter holder qualifies for the Small School Weight only if its aggregate average daily membership across all its schools is under 600. The number of separate charters held no longer matters. The c…
Is the Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District in Tucson subject to Arizona's Gift Clause when it spends money to attract private development?
No. The Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District is a tax-levying public improvement district under A.R.S. § 48-4202, and Arizona's Exemption Clause (Art. 13, § 7) exempts such districts from the Gi…
When Arkansas law requires 'at least three' of four tourism-industry seats on a city advertising and promotion commission to be lodging or restaurant owners, can a city ordinance require all four?
Yes. The AG read the phrase 'at least three' in Ark. Code Ann. § 26-75-605(a)(1)(B) as setting a floor, not a ceiling. Eureka Springs's ordinance requiring all four tourism-industry seats on its Adver…
Under Arkansas's 1,000-foot rule for retail liquor permits, does 'schoolhouse' include private schools and day care centers, and did Act 1172 of 2015 change what counts as a schoolhouse?
The AG read 'schoolhouse' in Ark. Code Ann. § 3-4-206 to mean a building used as a school or for giving instruction, generally including both public and private facilities and most day care centers. A…
Can an incorporated nonprofit volunteer fire department contract with an Arkansas city or county to provide fire protection, and how did Act 106 of 2015 change that?
Counties could contract with a nonprofit fire department under existing law, the AG said, so long as the contract had adequate consideration and served a proper public purpose. Cities were a closer qu…
An Arkansas voter who moved counties and whose transferred registration arrived at the new county after the four-day deadline before an election: can the voter still vote, including by provisional ballot?
No, in the AG's June 2015 reading. Amendment 51, § 10(b)(2)(B) said that if the updated registration arrived later than four days before the election, the voter was 'not eligible to vote in the schedu…
Can a Connecticut school board pay a reemployed retired teacher fringe benefits like health insurance, annuities, or a car allowance on top of the 45% salary cap in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 10-183v(a)?
No. The AG concluded that a retired teacher reemployed under § 10-183v(a) while drawing a Teachers' Retirement System pension may receive nothing more than 45% of the maximum salary for the assigned p…
Does a government records office have to provide bulk copies of public records in the specific electronic format I request?
No, according to this opinion. A requester (Zillow) asked the Kent County Recorder of Deeds for about a year and a half of recorded document images on external media. The Recorder instead offered free…
Can a government agency charge me thousands of dollars in fees to discourage me from pursuing a public records request?
Not if the estimate is inflated, according to this opinion. A blogger challenged the Department of Education's $6,568.86 fee estimate for a records request about testing-vendor contracts. The AG found…
Can a school board discuss and vote on renewing a superintendent's contract in a closed executive session?
No, according to this opinion. The Appoquinimink School Board violated Delaware's open meetings law by discussing the superintendent's contract renewal in executive session (personnel-matter sessions …
Can Arkansas's Alcoholic Beverage Control Division withhold the identities of minor 'cooperating individuals' it uses in undercover alcohol compliance checks from a Freedom of Information Act request?
Yes, in the AG's reading. Assuming the records were properly classified as personnel records, the custodian's decision to redact information identifying the minors was consistent with the Arkansas FOI…
Did the Arkansas Attorney General certify the popular name and ballot title for the Campaign Finance Act of 2016, a proposed initiated act on disclosure of independent expenditures and donors?
The AG certified the popular name 'The Campaign Finance Act of 2016' as submitted. The AG rejected the proposed ballot title as too technical and substituted a new ballot title written in plain langua…
Does Arkansas's special-education eligibility statute for 'children with disabilities, between three and twenty-one years of age' cover students until they turn 21, or through the year they are 21?
The AG read the statutory phrase 'between three (3) and twenty-one (21) years of age' as ambiguous, but concluded the Arkansas Department of Education was entitled to continue applying it as '3 to 21'…
Did Tennessee's 2015 law reclassifying high-volume abortion clinics as ambulatory surgical treatment centers force them to get a Certificate of Need before they could be licensed?
No. The AG concluded that the legislature, in shifting these existing practices into the ASTC licensing regime, did not silently impose a multi-month CON pre-requirement that would have made complianc…
What problems did the Idaho Attorney General flag in June 2015 about the League of Women Voters' proposed initiative to lower Idaho's sales tax rate from 6% to 5% while broadening the base to include taxes on services and real-property contracts?
AG Wasden's 2015 review identified a long list of legal and drafting problems: a possible single-subject violation under art. III, § 16 because the initiative reached into personal property tax statut…
Can the Wilson County Commission stop collecting the $2-per-head domestic animal tax authorized by a 1980 private act, even though the voters approved the tax?
Yes. The 1980 private act 'authorized' the commission to impose the tax; it did not require it. The voters approved the act, not the tax itself. The commission has discretion to impose or rescind, and…
Can a Texas service contract provider refund the full price without deducting claims already paid?
The AG concluded a court would likely say no. Section 1304.1581 of the Occupations Code makes the deduction mandatory: when a consumer cancels a service contract, the provider must reduce the refund (…
Can the same person serve on a Texas school board and a hospital district board at the same time?
The AG concluded no, at least where the two districts overlap and both can tax. Because the La Vernia Independent School District and the Wilson County Memorial Hospital District cover overlapping ter…
Can a Texas public funds investment pool create a subsidiary to invest public money?
The AG concluded the Public Funds Investment Act does not prohibit it. An investment pool may create and invest in a wholly-owned subsidiary if the pool's governing body decides that is reasonably nec…
Who maintains county roads that pass through Tennessee state forests, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture or the county?
The county. State forest acquisition does not relieve a county of its maintenance duty for roads that were already county roads. The Department of Agriculture is responsible only for forest roads, not…
Who maintains the one-mile access road to the Narrows of the Harpeth in a Tennessee state park, the state or Cheatham County?
The AG could not say. Maintenance depends on whether the road is a 'county road' (created by county dedication and acceptance), which is highly fact-specific. If the state is responsible, the Departme…
Can a Saline County personnel-records custodian withhold an investigative report on a former Circuit Clerk employee from a FOIA request when the employee was never suspended or terminated based on the report?
Yes. The investigative report was an employee-evaluation record under the Thomas v. Hall definition (created by or at the employer's behest to evaluate an employee, detailing performance). Employee-ev…
Does HIPAA stop Tennessee from releasing legislators' health insurance enrollment and premium data in response to a public records request?
No. Even assuming the data was protected health information disclosed by a HIPAA-covered entity, the Privacy Rule's 'required by law' exception lets a covered entity disclose PHI when a state public r…
Can a Tennessee mayor or judge perform a wedding ceremony in another state using a marriage license from a Tennessee county clerk?
No. Tennessee statute authorizes elected and former elected officials to solemnize marriages 'in any county of this state.' The AG read that as excluding any out-of-state ceremony.
How does Arkansas's bail bondsman licensing law apply to congressional-district residency on the board, who sets continuing-education fees, and whether the Arkansas Professional Bail Association's fee collections are subject to FOIA?
The congressional-district residency rule in Ark. Code Ann. § 17-19-106(b)(3)(B)(i) turns on where the bondsman-owner-member lives, not where the bail bond company is located. With multiple owners, th…
Under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, must the Arkansas Home Inspector Registration Board release complaints filed against home inspectors and supporting documents attached to those complaints?
Yes for complaints, no for supporting documents. Complaints are public records developed by the Board, and neither the home-inspector statute nor the FOIA's 'competitive advantage' exception shields t…
Can an Arkansas city like Maumelle regulate the rates of a public water authority operating within its limits, or otherwise control a PWA's actions?
The AG could not answer the rate question without legislative clarity. The threshold issue was whether a public water authority is a 'public utility' under Ark. Code Ann. § 14-200-101 (the municipal r…
Does Florida law require a county to fund the sheriff's budget at least as much as the previous year?
No. The Attorney General's office advised that section 30.49(4), Florida Statutes, does not set a minimum funding level that carries a sheriff's budget forward at the prior year's amount. The statute …
How does Arkansas FOIA apply to a request for the personnel file of a recently-terminated state employee, split into seven categories of records, including some that the agency wanted to withhold for lack of compelling public interest?
The AG reviewed seven categories and concluded that the custodian's classifications were largely correct, but flagged additional redactions in Categories 1, 2, 4, and 5 (personnel numbers, banking inf…
Would Tennessee's proposed expansion of the highway-obstruction crime, adding 'driveways' and 'public safety' and 'private property rights' language, be unconstitutionally vague?
No. The AG concluded the amendments would not render the statute void for vagueness. 'Public safety' and 'rights of private property' are commonly understood and, even as catch-all phrases, fit within…
When does West Virginia mine-safety law require an underground coal operator to maintain track within 500 (now 1,500) feet of the working face: only when track-mounted personnel carriers are the sole transport method, or whenever any track-mounted carrier is used?
Only when transport is exclusively by rail. The AG read W. Va. Code § 22A-2-37(a) literally: 'exclusively' means 'only' or 'solely' (United Fuel Gas Co. v. Morley Oil & Gas (1926)). When a mine uses a…
When 10% of qualified voters petition the county commission to impose a fire service fee under W. Va. Code § 7-17-12, does the commission have to impose the fee, or can it still say no?
The commission can still say no. W. Va. Code § 7-17-12 grants the commission 'plenary power and authority' to set and collect a fire service fee but conditions any new fee on first receiving a 10% vot…
Did the Arkansas Attorney General certify the popular name and ballot title for the proposed Campaign Finance Act of 2016 covering independent-expenditure disclosure?
No. The AG rejected the ballot title in May 2015 for two specific misleading aspects. First, the title used the undefined word 'sponsors' for the disclosure-subject group, even though the underlying t…
What did Idaho's AG say about the 2015 referendum petition challenging the new transportation funding law (House Bill 312)?
The AG made no recommendations to revise or alter the petition. Sections 6 and 7 of HB 312 (2015 Idaho Session Laws ch. 341) took effect immediately when signed; the remaining sections were suspended …
Is the Arkansas AG's 1979 opinion that the Adjutant General could sell harvested timber from Camp Robinson still valid, and must the Military Department now use the Marketing & Redistribution Section to make those sales?
The 1979 opinion is still valid in part: the Adjutant General remains the custodian of Camp Robinson and has authority to sell timber harvested there. But the procedure has changed. Act 589 of 2001 ma…
Can the board of a consolidated waterworks system like Central Arkansas Water hold a closed executive session to discuss a security vulnerability assessment, and can third parties like police chiefs and Homeland Security consultants attend?
The board and the system's employees may meet in executive session for water-security purposes under the new 2015 exception in § 25-19-106(c)(6) added by Act 186. But outside experts (police chief, co…
Did the Arkansas AG approve the Fifth Restatement of the Pulaski Area GIS interlocal agreement adding Sherwood as a party?
Yes. The AG approved the agreement under the Interlocal Cooperation Act. The Fifth Restatement amended a 1997 interlocal agreement (originally approved by Op. 97-366 and amended in Op. 2005-106) to ad…
Under Arkansas FOIA, can a police department release the names of sworn officers who were 'relieved of duty,' including officers who were later exonerated?
Yes. A list of officers who suffered adverse employment action, with no additional detail about the reason, is a personnel record (not an employee-evaluation record). Under the Young v. Rice balancing…
Did the 2014 Tennessee law that bars local officials from waiving back property taxes apply to property tax bills that were already overdue before the law took effect?
Yes. The AG concluded the statute applied to all existing property tax liabilities as of July 1, 2014. It was a remedial law that did not create new obligations on taxpayers, so applying it forward di…
When a New Jersey state employee fills out the executive-branch financial disclosure form, do they have to list personal gifts from friends and family, or only gifts that are really compensation for some service?
Only gifts that are essentially compensation, such as honoraria-style gratuities tied to services rendered. Birthday presents and personal gifts from family and friends, which are not income, do not h…
Is a Florida municipality a public entity or political subdivision of the state?
Yes. At the FAA's request, the Attorney General certified that the Village of Royal Palm Beach is a political subdivision and public entity of Florida. Section 1.01(8), Florida Statutes, defines 'poli…
When the federal government conveys 32 acres to the Raleigh County Emergency Service Authority, does the Authority actually have legal power to own that real estate?
Yes, with a function-tied caveat. The AG concluded the Authority has implied authority to own real property under two independent sources: (1) the special-law grant in House Bill 2018 (Ch. 135, Acts o…
Can a university board of regents block an individual regent from seeing university records?
The AG concluded a court would likely say no, at least for records a regent needs to do his job. The opinion arose when University of Texas System regent Wallace Hall was denied records he sought in h…
Can a Florida county pass an ethics ordinance barring former commissioners from working for county-funded organizations?
The Attorney General's office declined to rule on the specific Brevard County ordinance because it does not comment on local legislation, but it raised serious doubts. A charter county has home rule p…
Can a Texas governmental body hold an open meeting at a place that requires photo ID to get in?
The AG concluded a court is unlikely to hold, as a matter of law, that the Open Meetings Act bars a governmental body from meeting at a location that requires government-issued photo identification fo…
Does criminal restitution collected by a Texas county clerk have to go into the county treasury?
The AG concluded a court would likely say no. Restitution a defendant is ordered to pay a crime victim, and that a statutory county court directs the county clerk to collect under article 42.037 of th…
Which private colleges qualify for the Texas B-On-Time student loan program?
The AG concluded only private or independent colleges accredited by one of three specific bodies, the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the Liaison Com…
Was the 2001 ballot language for the Texas Mobility Fund amendment legally sufficient?
The AG concluded a court would likely say yes. Proposition 15 on the November 2001 ballot added article III, section 49-k to the Texas Constitution, creating the Texas Mobility Fund to finance state h…
Can a Texas county pay legal fees for a commissioner investigated but never charged?
The AG concluded yes, a county can, subject to a public-interest test, but the investigated members cannot vote on it. Several Waller County commissioners were criminally investigated for possible Ope…
Does the passage of 13 years dissipate the 'compelling public interest' element of the FOIA employee-evaluation test, so that internal-affairs records of a former Sherwood police officer can be withheld?
Maybe. The passage of time can dissipate a compelling public interest, but it is not alone determinative. The age of the records and the fact that the person is no longer an employee both factor into …
Can the Tennessee Department of Revenue share tax information with a city or county about taxpayers located outside that city or county's borders?
Generally no. The disclosure exception only authorizes sharing tax data for taxpayers inside the requesting local government's jurisdiction, because outside-jurisdiction data does not help that govern…
Can a Virginia county or city ban fracking inside its borders, or does state law take that authority away?
Yes. AG Herring overruled a 2013 opinion and concluded that Virginia counties and cities can use their zoning power to prohibit fracking, because the Virginia Gas and Oil Act contains an unusual savin…
Did the AG certify the popular name and ballot title for an earlier version of the Campaign Finance Act of 2016 covering independent-expenditure disclosure?
No. The AG rejected this version (an earlier submission from Op. 2015-052) for three reasons: (1) the ballot title hid the central change, a redefinition of 'independent expenditure' to absorb the fed…
Could the Virginia Board of Health force already-built abortion clinics to retrofit themselves to meet new hospital-grade design and construction standards?
No. AG Herring concluded the Board of Health lacked statutory authority to apply design and construction standards retroactively to abortion facilities built before the standards were promulgated. Sta…
Did the AG certify the popular name and ballot title for the Arkansas Industrial Hemp and Medical Cannabis Amendment?
No. The AG rejected the proposal because the modifiers 'industrial' (hemp) and 'medical' (cannabis) introduced ambiguity that the underlying text did not resolve. The text proposed to legalize the cul…
Are the City of Russellville's payments to Arkansas Valley Alliance for Economic Development, which outsources work to the Chamber of Commerce, a legal use of dedicated sales-tax revenues?
The AG declined to answer the specific questions because they required fact-finding (interpreting a city resolution, a ballot, a written contract, and possibly oral contracts), and because the AG cann…
Can a city industrial development board route farm-rent income into local school workforce training programs?
Yes, by one of two routes. The IDB can donate the rents directly to a local board of education if doing so furthers its purposes, or it can pay net earnings to its organizing city, which can then appr…
When the Arkansas 90th General Assembly adjourned sine die on April 22, 2015, when did legislation that had no emergency clause and no specified effective date become effective?
July 22, 2015. Acts of the Arkansas General Assembly with no emergency clause or specified effective date become effective ninety days after sine die adjournment of the session, under the rule traced …
Has Washington County Ordinance 2013-12 expired at the end of the biennium, and does Act 985 of 2013 apply to it?
The AG referred Senator Woods to the same-day Op. 2015-023 to Senator Lindsey, which addressed the same Washington County dispute. The short answer from Op. 2015-023: Act 985 of 2013 applies to pre-ex…
Does Arkansas's Act 985 of 2013 limit on quorum court committees larger than a quorum apply to a Washington County committee of the whole that existed before the Act?
Yes. Ark. Code Ann. § 14-14-904(d)(2)(B) prohibits regular or special quorum court committees larger than a quorum without the county judge's consent. Washington County Ordinance 2013-12 had establish…
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