State AG Opinions
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Is Texas's 'Any Willing Pharmacy' insurance law still blocked by federal ERISA law?
Senator Charles Schwertner and Representative Todd Hunter asked the AG whether article 21.52B of the Texas Insurance Code, the 'Any Willing Pharmacy' law, is enforceable after the U.S. Supreme…
When can a Texas school board hold a special election to fill a trustee vacancy if no date fits the 180-day deadline?
The Val Verde County attorney asked the AG whether a school district board of trustees could fill a vacancy by special election on a uniform election date that fell more than 180 days after the…
When a county commissioner resigns mid-term, can a prospective appointee switch to the resigning commissioner's party; when does the thirty-day clock start; does the appointee have to live in the same magisterial district; and how long does the appointee serve?
Per the AG: (1) yes, party switching for appointment is allowed and there is no cutoff date because the Legislature only restricted party-switching for candidates running for election (W. Va. Code §…
After the Nicholas County emergency services director resigned during a flood emergency, did the County Commission have to repost the job and run a fresh hiring process, or could it just pick from the existing pool of resumes?
State law does not prescribe a hiring process for a local OES director, who serves at the appointing body's will and pleasure. The AG said the Nicholas County Commission may wish to follow any…
Would military deployment make a South Carolina town council member lose the seat?
No. The 2016 AG said deployment created a temporary vacancy, not forfeiture of the council seat. For a municipal seat, the Governor would appoint a temporary replacement on the mayor and council’s…
Could Irmo Town Council order police to remove a disruptive council member from a meeting?
The 2016 AG said a council had limited authority to eject one of its members for disruption, constrained by free speech rights. It doubted that a council in a council-manager town could directly…
Are pay-to-play fantasy sports leagues legal in West Virginia, or do they count as illegal gambling on a 'game of chance'?
Legal under then-current law, as defined in pending Senate Bill 529. The AG read W. Va. Code §§ 61-10-5 and 61-10-11 to prohibit only betting on games where chance predominates. Fantasy sports games…
Can the public get a copy of a state agency employee's job application through an Arkansas FOIA request, and what has to be redacted?
Generally yes. The AG concluded that documents constituting an application for public employment with the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services were subject to public disclosure under FOIA, with…
Can employees of private traffic camera companies in Tennessee preview footage and flag possible red-light violations before sending the clips to a police officer for a final call?
No. The AG read Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-198(b)(1)'s 'only POST-certified or state-commissioned law enforcement officers' clause to bar any substantive violation review by private vendor employees,…
Is a Texas county school equalization tax an unconstitutional state property tax?
Rusk County and District Attorney Micheal Jimerson asked the AG whether the county's school equalization tax was an unconstitutional 'state ad valorem tax' barred by article VIII, section 1-e,…
Can a Florida city enforce its alcohol ordinances on the grounds of a state community college located inside the city?
The AG's office declined to decide whether Melbourne's alcohol ordinances could be enforced on Eastern Florida State College property without a request that included the college. In informal…
When does the 60-day window protecting Arizona political signs from city removal start: 60 days before primary-election day, or 60 days before early ballots are mailed?
60 days before primary election day. The 'period commencing sixty days before a primary election' in A.R.S. § 16-1019(H) is measured from the statutorily defined primary election date in A.R.S. §…
Do public meeting minutes have to include everything a resident said during public comment?
No, according to this opinion. A resident complained that a city council's meeting minutes omitted parts of his critical public comment about a social media policy, distorting the public record. The…
Could a county supervisor spend more on a vehicle than the county council appropriated?
The 2016 AG said spending public money beyond a lawful appropriation exceeded a county supervisor’s authority. It predicted possible personal liability for the excess if the official was at least…
Can a Texas school district keep student information from parents, and can a superintendent set that policy alone?
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick asked the AG two questions about guidelines the Fort Worth Independent School District superintendent adopted in 2016 to address issues facing transgender students.…
Could a South Carolina town give an ordinance its final reading in redline format?
The 2016 AG predicted that redlining alone did not make a proposed ordinance invalid at final reading. It still had to satisfy state reading requirements and the town’s own ordinance form rules.
Can a Texas school board pay a law firm a flat fee for legal services without it being an illegal gift of public funds?
The Commissioner of Education asked the AG whether an independent school district board could lawfully pay a law firm a minimum flat fee for legal services regardless of hours worked, and whether…
Where can a Texas city post a sign to keep guns out of a city council meeting?
A district attorney asked, for the City of Alice, how a city must post notice to keep license holders from carrying handguns at city council meetings. The AG explained that Penal Code section…
Has Florida's Attorney General pressed the FAA over aircraft noise from NextGen flight paths over Florida?
Yes. In a June 2016 letter, Attorney General Pam Bondi urged the FAA to address Tampa-area noise complaints tied to the satellite-based NextGen flight path system, citing impacts on property values…
Does Florida law require day care centers to use booster seats when transporting 4- and 5-year-olds?
Yes, the opinion concluded. Section 316.613, Florida Statutes, applied to public and private child care centers transporting children aged 5 or younger. None of the statute's exemptions (gratuitous…
Does Florida law require child safety seats in a golf cart, and can a city limit who can drive a golf cart on public streets?
No on car seats. A golf cart on the public streets did not have to carry child restraints, and a city could not flatly ban unlicensed drivers from operating a golf cart because state law allowed…
Can a Florida county ban manufacturing firearms at home through a zoning ordinance that also bans other home-based businesses?
The AG said Polk County could apply its home-occupation rule to firearms manufacture to the extent it prohibits all manufacturing at home and does not target firearms manufacture as a means of…
Could a South Carolina HOA prohibit a removable American flag or a stand-alone flagpole?
The 2016 AG said a homeowner could display one portable, removable U.S. flag despite a contrary covenant, subject to lawful time, place, and manner limits. It declined to decide whether Cedar…
Is Arkansas's 'drunken, insane, or disorderly persons' arrest statute (Ark. Code Ann. § 12-11-110) constitutional, and can district courts assess fines or court costs under it?
The AG declined to answer. Pending litigation in Craighead County (Burcham v. Craighead Cty., No. CV-16-401, filed June 10, 2016) was already presenting essentially the same questions, and the AG's…
Does posting 'no trespassing' signs on an Arkansas driveway make it criminal trespass for a door-to-door salesperson to drive up to the house?
Generally no. The AG concluded that Ark. Code Ann. § 18-11-403 only prohibits entry on posted land 'for recreational purposes,' so a salesperson is not violating that statute by entering the…
When a defamation defendant in Tennessee invokes the source of an allegedly defamatory statement as a defense, does the plaintiff have to follow the Shield Law's divestiture-order procedure to get the source disclosed?
No. The Shield Law's divestiture-order procedure in Tenn. Code Ann. § 24-1-208(c)(1) only applies when the information or source is protected under the privilege in subsection (a). Subsection (b)'s…
Could one person serve on both Dorchester County Water Authority and South Carolina’s transportation commission?
The 2016 AG predicted that holding both seats would violate South Carolina’s dual office holding rule. It treated each position as a public office, including the water authority seat because its…
Could an injured worker force a medical care hearing while a South Carolina workers’ compensation appeal was pending?
The 2016 AG did not decide the worker’s entitlement to a hearing. It lacked the Commission order and deferred to the Workers’ Compensation Commission’s interpretation of its own authority during the…
What happens to a Texas charter school's buildings and land when the school closes?
The Commissioner of Education asked whether real property a charter school returns to the State under Education Code section 12.128, when the school stops operating, becomes 'unappropriated public…
How long can a state-appointed board of managers run a Texas school district?
The Commissioner of Education asked how Education Code section 39.112, which sets the appointment period for a board of managers that replaces an elected school board, applies after two 2015 bills…
Can a LOPFI member hold the system to a 2010 service-credit purchase price after a representative verbally said it would not change?
No. The AG said the law has required an actuarial calculation at the time of purchase since 1999. Even if a representative gave the alleged verbal assurance, it could not create a contract contrary…
Can the Arkansas Treasurer sign a $450,000 contract for an online financial-literacy program without specific statutory authority?
No specific statutory grant was automatically required, but the AG did not decide whether this contract was lawful. Its legality turned on whether it properly exercised the Treasurer's authority to…
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…
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…
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…
Who paid for a county firefighter’s respirator medical evaluation under the OSHA rule discussed in 2016?
The 2016 AG said the employer had to provide the required respirator medical evaluation, but could not give one universal answer on who paid for every physical exam. It distinguished an…
Could a Beaufort County council member also work for the county as recycling coordinator?
The 2016 AG did not view the recycling coordinator job as a second public office under the constitutional dual office rule. It nevertheless predicted a possible master-servant conflict because the…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Did a county administrator's bonus and day-off announcements create a public meeting under Delaware FOIA?
No FOIA meeting occurred, according to this opinion. The AG found that the County Administrator made both decisions without Council approval, and that announcing them at employee luncheons did not…
If a state agency misses the FOIA deadline but the records would have been exempt anyway, is there still a remedy?
No remedy was ordered here. DNREC violated FOIA by missing the 15-business-day response deadline, but the requested records were exempt from disclosure because litigation over the same subject…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Could a concealed weapons permit holder carry in the Lexington County treasurer’s office in 2016?
The 2016 AG told the county treasurer that his permit allowed concealed carry in that office on the facts supplied. It relied on the office being outside the courthouse and assumed no listed county…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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's office could not resolve the factual question. If the tweets were public records, a list of accounts blocked in connection with those tweets could well be found by a court to be a public…
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