State AG Opinions
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When can the AG review an Arkansas custodian's FOIA decision about a public employee's records?
The AG declined to evaluate the City of Rogers custodian's decision because it appeared incomplete. Many of the documents had not been classified as personnel or evaluation records, the disclosure tes…
Can a state agency release a former employee's work emails as personnel records without checking whether they're evaluation records?
Partially. DHS correctly identified most of former employee Leslie Rutledge's emails as personnel records suitable for release. But several emails were employee-evaluation records that needed the four…
Can a juvenile probation officer also serve on or chair the school board that helps fund their department in Texas?
The AG concluded that one person could both work as a juvenile probation officer for the Fisher, Mitchell, and Nolan Counties Juvenile Department and serve as the presiding trustee of the Sweetwater I…
When can the press get records from an Arkansas police officer's internal investigation?
Hearst Television's KHBS got partial relief. The AG sided with the custodian on two internal investigations that did not result in suspension or termination (those records stay closed). But he overrul…
If an Arizona inmate eligible for parole refuses to attend their parole hearing, does the Board still have to hold the hearing and make a decision?
Yes on all three. When an Arizona inmate is certified as parole-eligible, the Board of Executive Clemency must conduct a parole hearing and decide whether to grant or deny parole, even if the inmate w…
Does Virginia's local meals tax exemption for nonprofit fundraisers apply when the nonprofit sells meals continuously, even if members-only or in competition with restaurants?
The opinion concluded that the Virginia local meals tax exemption in § 58.1-3840(A)(b) for meals sold by certain nonprofits 'as a fundraising activity' requires that the meals be sold by the qualifyin…
If an Arkansas teacher resigns mid-appeal of a suspension, are the suspension records still FOIA-disclosable?
Yes. A Springdale teacher's suspension under A.C.A. § 6-17-1508 became 'final' for FOIA purposes when he resigned mid-appeal. Suspension under that statute is disciplinary even if it's with pay. The F…
What does the AG say when an employee objects to release of her personnel file without giving any details?
The AG could not opine on Mona Struble's objection to release of her AHTD personnel file because he had no records, no custodian classification, and no explanation from her about which documents she w…
What did the Arkansas AG say about the first marijuana legalization ballot title submitted in 2014?
Rejected. The text defined hemp as cannabis with less than 1% THC and marijuana as cannabis with greater than 1% THC, leaving cannabis with exactly 1% THC unclassified. The AG also flagged inconsisten…
When an Oregon public university hits a revenue shortfall, does the 'pari passu' clause in ORS 351.379(3) require it to split available cash between state-issued bonds and its own revenue bonds in proportion to amounts due?
No. The AG read the 'pari passu' language as a timing rule, not a lien-parity or pro-rata rule. Universities must time payments to the State Treasurer and revenue bondholders roughly equally within a …
Can a Virginia general registrar hire part-time temporary help during a busy election season without waiting for the county board to approve and fund it?
Yes. The opinion concluded that § 24.2-112 of the Virginia Code authorizes a general registrar, in the registrar's discretion, to hire additional temporary, part-time employees when needed. The hiring…
Is it a felony to shoot Tannerite for fun on private property in Virginia?
No, not by itself. The opinion concluded that Tannerite (a binary explosive sold as a shot indicator for rifle practice) meets the statutory definition of 'explosive material' in Va. Code § 18.2-85, b…
Are Virginia campaign finance regulations exempt from the normal Administrative Process Act notice-and-comment process as part of 'the conduct of elections'?
No. The opinion concluded that regulations implementing the Campaign Finance Disclosure Act (Va. Code Ch. 9.3) and the related campaign-fundraising and political-advertisement chapters (Chs. 9.4 and 9…
Is dog racing legal in Tennessee under the Racing Control Act of 1987, and is the State Racing Commission still in operation?
No to both. The Racing Control Act applied only to horse racing, not dog racing. The Racing Commission was terminated in 1997-98, and its rules expired; reestablishing it requires new legislation. Wag…
Who counts as an 'other spiritual leader' for solemnizing a Tennessee marriage, and does the founder of a religious organization qualify?
It depends on the religion's own customs. A Church of Christ elder may solemnize marriages if the particular congregation's custom and practice authorizes it. A founder of a religious organization may…
How can Arkansas verify that an out-of-state towing company qualifies for an Arkansas permit?
The AG suggested the Towing Board require applicants to show the laws of their home state actually permit Arkansas-licensed tow vehicles to operate there. No formal rule existed in 2014, but the Board…
Can an Arkansas county judge take 911 dispatch away from the sheriff without the sheriff's consent?
Yes. The county judge (as chief executive under Amendment 55) has authority to designate, and to undesignate, the operating agency for a county 911 center under A.C.A. § 12-10-303. The sheriff's concu…
Do Tennessee notaries public have to keep a record of every notarization, even when they don't charge a fee, and can it be electronic?
Yes. Starting October 1, 2014, the recordkeeping duty applies to every notarial act regardless of whether the notary charges a fee. The 'well-bound book' may be kept electronically if the record stays…
Can the Arkansas Department of Heritage use the 1/8% conservation tax to build a new headquarters?
Probably yes, with caveats. Amendment 75 doesn't restrict the Department of Arkansas Heritage to spending its 9% Conservation Tax share exclusively on 'natural heritage' through the Natural Heritage C…
Can Virginia voter registrars accept mailed registration forms signed with an electronic signature (e.g., a touchscreen finger swipe) gathered by a third-party voter registration group?
Neither required nor forbidden. The opinion concluded no statute requires general registrars to accept mailed voter registration applications signed by electronic means (cursor, finger, or stylus on a…
Can an Arizona municipality limit the right to petition for or vote on disincorporation to property taxpayers, and require six months' residency before voting?
No. The provisions in A.R.S. §§ 9-212 and 9-215 limiting disincorporation petition signers and voters to property taxpayers, and the 6-month residency requirement to vote on disincorporation, violate …
Is a city advisory committee member a 'public servant' under Florida bribery law?
Probably yes. The AG advised that the 'public servant' definition in section 838.014(6) is broad and does not exclude someone serving in a purely advisory role, so a procurement advisory committee mem…
Does a Texas school board trustee who resigns still have to file a personal financial statement?
The AG concluded that a school district trustee covered by section 11.0641 of the Education Code (which applies to certain border-county districts, such as those in El Paso County) had to file a perso…
Can a local mental health authority take part in the state's vendor selection for behavioral health services in Texas?
The AG concluded that the North Texas Behavioral Health Authority had no legal right to take part in the Texas Department of State Health Services' (DSHS) process for selecting the vendor that deliver…
Do Texas school districts have to pay a city's stormwater drainage fee?
The AG addressed two questions about the Municipal Drainage Utility Systems Act. First, the AG concluded that a school district is not automatically exempt from a city's drainage charge: the statute s…
In Tennessee, can a handgun carry permit holder carry a firearm into a public park athletic field while a school is using the field for sports practice or other activities?
No. The carry-permit exception in the public-parks statute is overridden by the school-property statute, which prohibits firearms on athletic fields or recreation areas being used by a school. The opi…
Is Tennessee's 'guns in parking lots' law for handgun-carry permit holders so vague that it can't be enforced?
No. The statute, read together with the related firearms statutes, gives ordinary people fair notice of what conduct is and is not prohibited.
Who counts as an 'unlawful user' of alcohol or drugs under Tennessee's handgun carry permit law, and how is that requirement enforced?
An 'unlawful user' means someone engaged in regular and repeated unlawful use during a period that reasonably covers the time the permit is sought. The applicant also must not have been in a rehabilit…
Does Tennessee's statute capping intellectual/developmental disability residential facilities at four people, and requiring spacing between facilities, violate equal protection or fair housing law?
Probably not facially, because the state can articulate a rational deinstitutionalization purpose. But the four-person cap and 500-yard spacing rule may be vulnerable to as-applied Fair Housing Amendm…
Can a Florida public agency pay an employee a bonus or extra compensation?
Only in limited ways. The AG advised that section 215.425 generally bars extra compensation for services already rendered, so a bonus to existing employees for past work is prohibited unless it was pa…
If an employee was 'forced to resign' before disciplinary action, can the public still get their employee-evaluation records under Arkansas FOIA?
Not automatically. Coerced resignation can in principle equal a constructive termination that opens the records to disclosure, but the custodian, not the AG, decides as a factual matter whether the re…
Can a Tennessee probate court appoint a guardian for an undocumented immigrant minor?
Yes, if the minor (or the minor's parents or custodial parent) has established domicile in a Tennessee county. Immigration status alone does not bar an undocumented person from becoming a Tennessee do…
Do Tennessee's residency rules for retail liquor licenses (two years of state residency, or ten years at any time) violate the dormant Commerce Clause?
Yes. The two-year and ten-year residency rules discriminate against out-of-state retailers and the legislature's stated interest in 'higher degree of oversight' for liquor sales does not justify the d…
Can a Tennessee industrial loan and thrift company roll the upfront 'acquisition charge' into the principal when calculating loan charges under § 45-5-403(b)?
No. The statute's definition of principal incorporates only the subsection (a) loan charges, not the alternative subsection (b) charges added in 2000. Treating the acquisition charge as part of princi…
Can a Texas charter school board meet by video call, with members joining from out of state?
The AG answered several questions about how an open-enrollment charter school's governing board may meet under the Open Meetings Act. On in-person meetings, the AG could not say as a matter of law tha…
Does a hospital licensing inspector who finds out from a chart that a 14-year-old was pregnant have to report it as child abuse?
Only if the abuser is a parent or caretaker. The opinion concluded that a VDH licensing inspector who is a nurse and learns from a hospital chart that a 14-year-old received pregnancy-related services…
Can an Arkansas city impose a flat monthly water-account charge dedicated to sewer maintenance by ordinance, or does it have to go to a vote of the people?
If the charge truly behaves like a fee (fair, reasonable, and tied to the service the payer receives), the city council can impose it by ordinance and it is not an illegal exaction. If it functions mo…
Are internal investigation records, including witness statements, accessible under Arkansas FOIA when the employee resigned without being suspended or terminated?
No. Records created by or at the employer's behest to investigate a complaint are employee-evaluation records, and FOIA requires they be withheld unless the employee was suspended or terminated. Resig…
Can a New York town pass a local law authorizing its animal shelter to spay or neuter dogs and cats once the redemption period passes, even before a specific adoption is lined up?
Yes. AG Schneiderman's office concluded that the town has home-rule authority to pass such a law for both dogs and cats; for dogs, the area is reachable through the Agriculture & Markets Law's authori…
Would a Tennessee bill letting HOAs sue to ban repeat criminal offenders from a neighborhood survive constitutional challenge?
The AG concluded the bill was defensible against a facial constitutional challenge. It would likely survive non-delegation, rational-basis equal-protection, procedural due process, and double-jeopardy…
Can the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA (and its three commuter councils) raise its own funds, get IRS 501(c)(3) status, take public donations, or apply for grants from state agencies?
No to all three. AG Schneiderman concluded that PCAC and the LIRR, Metro-North, and NYCTA councils are statutory creatures with only the powers expressly granted (study, investigate, monitor, recommen…
Can a New York industrial development agency (IDA) create a subsidiary corporation (often a § 1411 local development corporation) or hand out grants or loans from its own revenue to other public or private interests?
No, on both counts. AG Schneiderman concluded that IDAs are creatures of statute with only the powers expressly granted or necessarily implied; the IDA enabling statute (Article 18-A) does not authori…
Did this 2014 New Jersey AG directive ever take effect, and what does it mean for legal sports betting in New Jersey today?
It was issued on September 8, 2014, but became moot just five weeks later when Senate Bill 2460 (signed October 17, 2014) repealed the Sports Wagering Act in its entirety. The strategy embodied here, …
Can the spouse of a Tennessee deputy sheriff legally write bail bonds in the same county?
Yes, but only if the spouses keep their finances strictly separate. If they commingle funds, share expenses, or jointly accumulate assets, the deputy sheriff is treated as receiving an indirect benefi…
In Tennessee, what farm buildings escape county zoning, does a family garden count as a farm, and what happens to the adequate-facilities tax when a county can't require a building permit?
A building 'incidental to the agricultural enterprise' (including residences for farmers and farm workers after the 2014 amendment) is exempt from county zoning. A 'farm' usually means at least 15 acr…
Can a sheriff's office withhold internal-affairs interview records when the deputy was placed on paid administrative leave during the probe and then resigned before the investigation closed?
Yes, if the paid leave was routine (not disciplinary) and the resignation was voluntary. Without a suspension or termination, the records fail the threshold prong of Arkansas FOIA's evaluation-records…
Does a New York land bank have to give buyers of residential property a Real Property Disclosure Statement, or is it exempt as a 'governmental entity'?
The Greater Syracuse Property Development Corporation (a land bank) was exempt from the disclosure-statement requirement because it qualified as a 'governmental entity' under Real Property Law § 463(1…
Can a person serve as both a battalion chief in a village fire department and as village mayor or village trustee in New York?
No. Village Law § 10-1012 bars one person from holding both an office of mayor or trustee and the office of village fire chief or assistant chief. The AG concluded that a battalion chief is the functi…
If a New York county's legislators serve staggered four-year terms (with elections every two years), how long is the county attorney appointed for?
Two years. AG Schneiderman's office concluded that the county attorney's term runs only as long as the term of the county legislature 'as a board.' After every regularly-scheduled election, the legisl…
Can a New York county pass a local law requiring small residential landlords (fewer than six units) to put tenant security deposits in interest-bearing accounts, even though state law only requires that of larger landlords?
No. AG Schneiderman's office concluded that a county-level rule reaching small landlords would be inconsistent with the state Legislature's deliberate choice (in 1970) to draw the line at six units. S…
Are city plastic bag bans legal in Texas?
The AG addressed whether Texas cities may ban single-use plastic bags or charge fees on replacement bags, in light of section 361.0961 of the Health and Safety Code (part of the Solid Waste Disposal A…
When a Tennessee state senate seat opens up after the primary but more than 45 days before the November general election, who picks the party nominee, and can a sitting House nominee jump to the open Senate race?
The party's county executive committee members representing the precincts in the Senate district nominate the candidate; the general election fills the seat. A House nominee can switch only by withdra…
If a retired Arizona police officer goes back to work in another public job, does receiving their PSPRS pension count as 'participating' in PSPRS, exempting them from joining ASRS?
No. A retired PSPRS member (Public Safety Personnel Retirement System) who returns to work for an employer participating in ASRS (Arizona State Retirement System) must join ASRS if they meet ASRS memb…
Can I get records about individual special-education students through a Delaware public records request?
Not when disclosure could still identify individual students, according to this opinion. The AG found that Individual Educational Plans and related documents for a small group of special-education stu…
Do juvenile-court clerks collect the $350 Tennessee expunction fee, can records be expunged by agreed order with no petition or fee, and can a judge waive the fee?
Juvenile-court clerks collect the $350 fee when the statute requires it. Records can only be expunged without a petition in two narrow scenarios (acquittal-at-trial and § 38-3-109 bond release), neith…
Can one person serve as labor relations administrator for two different Maryland counties or agencies at the same time?
The opinion concluded that the Labor Relations Administrator positions for Montgomery County and for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission are each an 'office of profit' under Article 35 of the …
Can a West Virginia county ambulance authority delegate ambulance-allocation decisions to a subcommittee of its board, and can the squads use private companies to bill patients?
The AG concluded the answer was no on the subcommittee question and yes on the billing question. The Emergency Ambulance Service Act lodges management of an authority in the full board (each member ha…
Can an Arkansas records custodian refuse to release a public employee's personnel file when the requester is clearly using FOIA to harass the employee?
No. Custodians cannot weigh a requester's motive or identity under the personnel-records test, even where there is strong evidence of harassment. The remedy lies with a court ('No Contact' order or ha…
Under Virginia's 2014 Sunday hunting law, does the exception for landowner-permitted hunting apply when the land is owned by a corporation or LLC, and does it cover public land?
The word 'landowner' in the 2014 Sunday hunting exception (Chapter 482 of the 2014 Acts of Assembly, amending § 29.1-521) is not limited to natural persons. It includes corporations, LLCs, and other n…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the popular name and ballot title for the 'Cultivate Hemp and Regulate Marijuana Amendment'?
The proposal had multiple internal ambiguities and misleading tendencies, including imperative-mood phrasing in the popular name, contradictory regulatory-authority language in the text, and silence i…
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