State AG Opinions
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When does Tennessee stop the state retirement benefits of an employee convicted of a felony arising from their job?
Benefits stop on a guilty verdict, a finding of guilt in a bench trial, or a guilty or nolo contendere plea, even before sentencing. Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-35-124(b)'s 'initial conviction' language pulls…
Can a part-time police officer in Florida also work as a child protective investigator?
Offering general comments only, the AG noted that a paid police officer (full or part time) is an 'officer' for the constitutional dual office-holding ban, and that a child protective investigator who…
Does Virginia's Attorney General have to recuse himself from investigating election-law violations in an election he is running in?
No, not as a categorical rule. The Constitution allows the Attorney General to run for re-election or for other office, and the 2013 amendments to § 24.2-104 gave the AG independent authority to enfor…
Can someone serve on both the Roane County Election Commission and the Roane County Board of Public Utilities at the same time?
No. Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-1-112(a)(1) bars elected officials and employees of state, county, municipal, or federal government from serving on a county election commission. Members of a county utility bo…
Must Connecticut Fish and Game Constables complete POSTC police-officer training before they can carry firearms or perform their duties?
Yes. The AG declined to reconsider the 1993 opinion, concluding Fish and Game Constables under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 26-6a perform police functions and must complete POSTC training and certification, esp…
Does UConn need approval from Connecticut's Office of Policy and Management and State Properties Review Board before buying or selling real estate?
No. The AG read Conn. Gen. Stat. § 4b-21(a) (as amended by the UConn 2000 Act) to let UConn acquire or dispose of land directly, without OPM or SPRB preapproval, for any real estate transaction, not j…
When does a Florida special district supervisor's seat become vacant for moving out of the district?
The AG could not give a definitive answer, because whether someone resides in the district is a mixed question of law and fact the office cannot resolve. As general guidance: a supervisor must be a qu…
Can an Arkansas public school charge students fees or fines, and can it block enrollment for not paying?
The AG concluded that Arkansas' constitutional guarantee of free public schools bars any fee that would deny a child equal access to education, so tuition and registration fees for the standard curric…
Does an Arkansas volunteer fire department have to fight fires outside its coverage area for a neighboring city?
No. The Attorney General concluded that no Arkansas law requires a volunteer fire department to fight fires outside its coverage area unless it has agreed to. The rule runs both ways: neither a city d…
Can a Virginia housing authority, IDA, or other political subdivision pay an employee's legal defense costs in a civil or criminal case arising from their job?
Yes. Va. Code § 15.2-1520 authorizes a locality 'or political subdivision of such locality' to retain counsel and defend employees, officers, board members, or commissioners in any legal proceeding ar…
Can a Virginia locality require a group home for people with disabilities to have only live-in staff to qualify as a single-family residence for zoning?
No. Va. Code § 15.2-2291 mandates that a facility for up to eight individuals with mental illness, intellectual disability, or developmental disabilities, with one or more resident counselors or other…
Can a Virginia county sign a contract with another state to inspect locally-built modular buildings for that state's building code?
No. Under the Dillon Rule, Virginia counties have only those powers expressly granted by the General Assembly or necessarily implied. No statute authorizes a county to contract with another state to i…
Can a Virginia county require a special use permit to dump off-site excavation soil and rock on a farm, even if the dirt is going to be used for an agricultural purpose?
Yes. The General Assembly amended Va. Code § 15.2-2288 in 2012 (ch. 455) to exempt off-farm-generated excavation material, waste, and debris from the agricultural-activities zoning exemption. Localiti…
Can a Virginia volunteer fire department ban a member from carrying a firearm at the firehouse, even if the member is a retired cop with a statutory exception to the concealed-carry ban?
Yes. The § 18.2-308(B)(7) exception for qualified retired law enforcement officers exempts them from prosecution under the state concealed-carry statute, but it does NOT give them an affirmative right…
Can the Virginia Retirement System claw back pension overpayments when it later finds it miscalculated a cost-of-living increase?
Yes. VRS may recover overpayments resulting from the 2009 COLA miscalculation. Va. Code § 51.1-124.9(A)(1) authorizes correction of any benefit error and gives VRS flexibility in choosing the recovery…
Can a Virginia locality limit uranium mining to certain zoning districts, set stricter pollution standards, require extra bonds, or hold miners liable for property value loss?
No, on each. Virginia has a statutory moratorium on uranium mining, so localities cannot regulate something that isn't permitted. Even if the moratorium were lifted, federal law preempts nuclear safet…
Can the Tennessee Governor still appoint judges after the Judicial Nominating Commission was 'sunset' and shut down?
Yes. Tenn. Code Ann. § 17-4-113 (added in 2009) is a failsafe: if the JNC doesn't furnish a list of nominees within 60 days of the governor's notice of a vacancy, the governor may appoint any qualifie…
Can a Florida city contract with a neighboring city for police services without a referendum?
The AG concluded that section 166.0495 supplies the general-law authorization the Florida Constitution requires for a city to exercise police powers beyond its own borders, letting a municipality ente…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the Marriage Amendment ballot title over its effect on Amendment 83?
The AG rejected it. Jennifer Pierce's proposed 'Arkansas Marriage Amendment' would have defined marriage as a union of two persons regardless of gender, and its ballot title said the measure repealed …
Why couldn't a 2013 Arkansas ballot measure allowing same-sex marriage get its ballot title certified?
The AG rejected it. He explained he only checks whether a ballot title fairly summarizes a measure, not whether same-sex marriage is good policy. He could neither certify nor fix this title because th…
If someone registers to vote in Arizona using only the federal form and doesn't show proof of citizenship, can they vote in state and local races, get a ballot at all, or sign petitions?
Voters who register using only the federal form without providing evidence of citizenship are eligible to vote only in federal races, not in state or local elections, and cannot sign state or local ca…
Did the Arkansas Attorney General approve the ballot title for the 2013 medical marijuana initiative?
Mostly yes. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel found the popular name, 'The Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act,' sufficient as submitted, but concluded the sponsor's proposed ballot title needed work. Rather…
Why did the Arkansas Attorney General reject the 'Ban Prohibition of Cannabis' ballot title?
The AG rejected it. He explained that under A.C.A. § 7-9-107 he only checks whether a ballot title fairly summarizes a measure, not whether the measure is a good idea. He could not certify this one be…
When did Arkansas's automatic increase in the charter-school cap take effect?
At the beginning of the next application cycle, not during the current cycle. The AG read the annual cap memorandum and the statute's amendment history as fixing the number available for each cycle.
Could the Arkansas Lottery show draw results on retailer monitors and market games as keno or bingo?
Showing draw results on retailer monitors was generally permissible. A game's title alone did not decide whether it was authorized, drawing frequency was for Lottery Commission rules, and a state lott…
If a Florida county official is suspended by the Governor and the charges are later dropped, can the official collect back pay for the suspension?
No. The AG concluded that a county officer suspended by the Governor is not statutorily entitled to back salary or benefits for the suspension period unless the officer is reinstated by the Governor, …
Can a West Virginia state agency include performance incentives in an employee's contract, and can it pay severance under a litigation settlement after the employment ends?
Yes to both. The AG concluded that bargained-for performance incentives included in an employment contract from the outset are not 'extra compensation' under W. Va. Const. art. VI, § 38, because they …
Is an informal advisory group the governor convenes by invitation subject to Delaware's open meetings law?
Yes. The AG concluded that a 24-member charter school reform group the Governor convened by invitation, without any formal charter or bylaws, still counted as a "public body" under FOIA because it was…
Is a state agency exempt from Delaware's open meetings law if it's headed by just one person?
Yes. The AG concluded that DNREC, headed by a single Secretary rather than a multi-member board, qualified as a "body of one" exempt from FOIA's open-meeting requirements, so its choice of hearing ven…
Are unsolicited complaints about Arkansas public employees subject to release under FOIA?
They may be. The AG treated unsolicited complaints as personnel records and said the custodian had to balance any more-than-minimal privacy interest against the public interest, with disclosure favore…
If a Washington fire district renews its EMS levy at a higher rate, does it still need a 60% supermajority, or just a simple majority?
It still needed 60%. The AG concluded that the 'uninterrupted continuation' simple-majority option in RCW 84.52.069(2) only applied when the rate stayed the same. Any increase was a new initial levy a…
If a Virginia county supervisor emails a newsletter to constituents, is the email list a public record under FOIA?
It depends on the newsletter. The Virginia FOIA covers records 'prepared or owned' in the 'transaction of public business.' Whether a newsletter sent by a Board of Supervisors member is public busines…
Can Virginia's environmental agency hand $80,000 to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for educational field studies?
No, not as a direct gift. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization not owned or controlled by the Commonwealth. Article IV, § 16 of the Virginia Constitution prohibit…
Did Tennessee's 2013 appropriations bill unconstitutionally try to transfer the Alvin C. York Institute from the state Board of Education to Fentress County?
No, because the provision only expresses 'legislative intent' that the Commissioner of Education develop a transition plan. It doesn't actually transfer authority. To actually transfer the York Instit…
Can the city of Tucson require gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms within 48 hours, or require alcohol tests of people who negligently discharge firearms, when state law preempts city firearm ordinances?
Yes, A.R.S. § 13-3108 preempts both Tucson ordinances. Ordinance 11080 (alcohol-test request after negligent firearm discharge) directly conflicts with § 13-3108(A) because it relates to firearm disch…
Does sitting on a Florida city planning board count as holding an office under the state's dual office-holding ban?
Not in this case. The AG concluded that a member of the Fort Pierce Planning Board was not an 'officer' under Florida's dual office-holding prohibition because the board only made recommendations to t…
Can Connecticut hospitals report voluntary psychiatric admissions to the state without violating the psychiatrist-patient privilege or HIPAA, so the state can flag people who shouldn't have firearms?
Yes. The Connecticut AG concluded that Public Act 13-03 sections 10 and 11 are legislatively enacted exceptions to the psychiatrist-patient privilege in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-146e and that the resulti…
What did Idaho's AG flag about the 2013 ballot initiative to overhaul state sales tax?
The petition was drafted against an outdated version of the sales tax statutes and missed 2011-2013 amendments. Other concerns included the irrelevance of a personal-property-tax change, definitional …
Does Florida's special court-funding approval process apply to a county's $30 traffic surcharge for court facilities, or only to 'local requirements'?
The AG read section 29.008(2)(c)'s special expenditure-approval process as limited by its own terms to the 'local requirements' described in section 29.008(2)(a)2, not to other budget items like the $…
When is Virginia's regional congestion relief fee triggered: by the date a deed is signed, or by the date it's recorded?
By the date of recordation. After conflicting June 2013 guidance from the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia, the AG settled the question: § 58.1-802.2's regional conge…
Can a Virginia county's zoning ordinance treat the same zoning district differently based on which electoral district the parcel sits in?
No. Va. Code § 15.2-2282 requires all zoning regulations to 'be uniform for each class or kind of buildings and uses throughout each district.' Spotsylvania's February 2013 amendment authorizing layin…
If a county fails to maintain a historic building on land deeded from the state, can the state take the land back?
The deed obligated Isle of Wight County to maintain and preserve the dwelling in good condition, and the county apparently breached that obligation through years of disrepair. But the deed's reverter …
When a Virginia landowner puts a conservation easement on property, must it meet the local minimum-acreage rule, and what if the easement allows lot splits later?
Conservation easement land must meet the local minimum acreage rule of § 58.1-3233 at the time the easement is dedicated, unless the easement predated the local land use ordinance. Once qualified, lat…
Did the Arkansas AG approve the ballot title to repeal the state's marriage amendment?
Yes, with revisions. The AG approved the popular name as submitted and rewrote the ballot title to explain Amendment 83, the continued statutory ban then in place, and the legislature's restored autho…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the corporate election-spending ballot measure?
The proposal both tried to prohibit corporate election spending and called for a federal amendment authorizing such a ban, creating an internal conflict. Other wording also misstated court holdings an…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the 2013 Marriage Equality Amendment ballot title?
The AG rejected it because the ballot title did not explain how the proposal would change existing law and the amendment's own text contained ambiguities that prevented an accurate summary.
If a Tennessee county pays for school resource officers in only one school district from its general fund, does the city school district get a proportional share of those funds?
No. SROs are law enforcement, not school operations. Their cost comes from the county general fund, not from school taxes. So a county paying for SROs in county schools doesn't owe a matching apportio…
Can a Memphis bar on a street that crosses Beale Street (north or south) qualify for the same 5 a.m. alcohol-sales window that Beale Street businesses get?
No. The 5 a.m. extended-hours rule for Beale Street under Tenn. Code Ann. § 57-4-203(d)(4) only covers establishments inside the Beale Street Historic District (Beale Street from Main to Fourth) or wi…
Can a Florida deputy sheriff keep his job if his spouse owns part of a wine bar that holds a liquor license?
Likely yes, on these facts. The AG explained that section 561.25 bars an officer from owning an interest in or being employed by a liquor-licensed business and from engaging in alcohol sales, but it d…
If a lobbyist anonymously contributes to a legal defense fund for an Arizona legislator, does that count as a 'gift' under the lobbyist gift restrictions, and is it reportable?
A lobbyist's anonymous contribution to a legal defense fund for an Arizona legislator falls within the broad definition of 'gift' under A.R.S. § 41-1231(9). However, under the rule of lenity (because …
Why did the Arkansas AG reject a 2013 marriage-equality amendment ballot title?
The ballot title did not explain how the amendment would change existing law, and its religious-organization provision used unclear language about refusals and civil claims.
Can an Arkansas county library board use a sick-leave policy different from the quorum court's countywide policy?
No. The AG concluded that county library employees were covered by the quorum court's general, uniform sick-leave policy, so the library board could not adopt a conflicting policy for them.
Is a Texas district court reporter a state or county employee, and who can fire one?
Kerr County's attorney asked whether the official court reporter for a multi-county judicial district is a state or county employee. The Attorney General said there is no single answer: a court report…
Can Albemarle County ban all junk cars from residential yards unless they're inside a garage or hidden from view?
Yes. Va. Code § 15.2-905(A) gives Albemarle County (and other specified localities) two options for regulating inoperable vehicles on residential, commercial, or agricultural land: a total ban with an…
Did the Arkansas AG approve the ballot title for four-year terms for county officials?
Yes, but with revised language. The AG substituted a fuller popular name and ballot title identifying the affected offices, the change from two-year to four-year terms, and the proposed start date.
Does an Illinois state employee lose his pension if he is convicted of a felony committed against someone in his agency's custody?
Yes. Attorney General Lisa Madigan concluded that a former Department of Human Services forensic psychologist forfeited his State Employees' Retirement System pension after pleading guilty to sexual m…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the 2013 Ban Prohibition of Cannabis ballot measure?
The AG rejected it because the amendment text stated goals but contained no operative repeal language, overstated what state-law repeal could accomplish under federal law, and was unclear about which …
Can a Florida city release transcripts of closed attorney-client 'shade' meetings before the lawsuit ends?
Yes. The AG concluded that a governing body may release the transcripts of section 286.011(8) attorney-client litigation meetings before the conclusion of litigation. Doing so is not a Sunshine Law vi…
Can a Florida county charge school impact fees in only part of the county instead of countywide?
Yes, with conditions. The AG concluded a county may levy school impact fees in only one portion of the county, so long as the ordinance satisfies the 'dual rational nexus test' and is drafted so it do…
Are public employees' drug-test results from a Florida drug-free workplace program open to a public records request?
No. The AG concluded that drug-test results obtained under a Chapter 440 drug-free workplace program are confidential and exempt from Florida's Public Records Law, so a city cannot release them in res…
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