Maryland Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Maryland, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Can a state agency adopt a technical handbook as a regulation without printing the whole document in the Maryland Register?
In a 1988 opinion, Maryland's Attorney General concluded that a technical handbook adopted to set soil-erosion and sediment-control standards was itself a 'regulation' under the Administrative Procedu…
Can a Maryland Class D liquor license holder run the bar in one building and a package goods store in a separate building on the same property?
In a 1988 opinion, Maryland's Attorney General concluded that a Class D beer, wine, and liquor license authorized package goods sales only in the same building as the licensed bar or restaurant, so a …
Who has the power to postpone an election if a snowstorm keeps the polls from opening?
In a 1988 opinion, Maryland's Attorney General concluded that no election official could move an election date because of bad weather, but the Governor could declare a weather emergency and suspend th…
Does Maryland's Domestic Violence Act still protect a victim if the abuser has since moved out of the house?
In a 1988 opinion, Maryland's Attorney General concluded that a spouse, parent, stepparent, child, stepchild, or blood relative who abused another such relative while living together qualified as a 'h…
How much discretion did Maryland's Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission have to interpret its own local program criteria?
In a 1988 opinion, Maryland's Attorney General concluded that the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission had no discretion to vary from criteria written in mandatory terms like "shall" or "may not," …
Can a Maryland town remove part of its own territory through a charter amendment?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a Maryland municipality most likely has authority under the Municipal Home Rule Amendment to detach part of its own territory by amending its …
Can a public library charge fees for things like computer searches, video rentals, or overdue books?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland public libraries generally had to provide free access to their information resources no matter the format (books, videocassettes, rec…
Was Maryland's long-running Homeowner's Tax Credit, capping assessment jumps above 15%, actually unconstitutional?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General reaffirmed a decade-long position that Maryland's Homeowner's Tax Credit, which capped property tax assessment increases above 15% each year, violates Articl…
Can a Maryland state prosecutor also serve as a special assistant state's attorney for a different county without giving up their regular job?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Assistant and Deputy State's Attorneys, Assistant and Deputy Attorneys General, and Assistant and Deputy State Prosecutors are not public offi…
Can a mortgage lender force a borrower to use the lender's own attorney for the title exam?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a Maryland mortgage lender could require a borrower to pay for legal services connected to the loan, including a title examination performed b…
Can a Maryland county use its own licensing rules or zoning restrictions to control where state-licensed child care homes can operate?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded Maryland's Juvenile Services Agency licensing scheme had fully preempted county authority to license or use zoning to control where state-licensed …
In Maryland child support cases, can a non-lawyer caseworker sign the court paperwork to withhold a parent's wages, or does the circuit court clerk have to handle the paperwork instead?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a support enforcement agency's motion or request for an earnings withholding order must be signed by an attorney representing the agency, not …
Can a state ethics board investigate and discipline a police officer, or does the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights take over instead?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's State Ethics Commission could investigate State law enforcement officers for violations of the Public Ethics Law, but that any inte…
Can a state require someone to live there for a year before letting them become a notary public?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's one-year residency requirement for notaries public was constitutional, holding that it survived rational-basis review under the Equ…
Did Maryland need a new law to start letting the state pay, or 'pick up,' employees' pension contributions tax-free in the 1980s?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a 1986 law required the General Assembly, not just the Board of Trustees, to enact implementing legislation before Maryland's employer pension…
Who counts as a qualified voter for signing a Maryland town's annexation referendum petition: someone registered before the vote, or anyone who registers in time?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that under Article 23A, §19(g), a person who meets a municipality's voter qualifications at the time a referendum petition is presented for signatu…
Does Maryland's crime victims compensation fund pay for disfigurement or scarring alone?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded Maryland's Criminal Injuries Compensation Board could award compensation for disfigurement alone if it caused serious financial hardship, could pay…
Does charging sales tax on the paper and ink used to print a free community newspaper violate freedom of the press?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's retail sales tax, which taxes the materials used to produce free publications while taxing the final sale price of publications sol…
Did Maryland's prepaid dental plans have to follow the general Insurance Code, or just their own special dental-plan law?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that prepaid dental plans licensed under Subtitle 42 of Article 48A were insurers generally subject to the rest of Maryland's Insurance Code, excep…
Could Maryland's Racing Commission let a track hold Arabian horse races with betting in 1987, and did it need to write new regulations first?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's Racing Commission had authority under its original 1920 licensing statute to permit Arabian horse racing with wagering at a thoroug…
Can a Maryland hospital association publish reports on doctors' practice patterns using ID numbers instead of names?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded a hospital association's report analyzing physician practice patterns across hospitals, using confidential ID numbers rather than names, did not vi…
When Maryland expunges a driver's record, can the MVA still keep a hidden copy on file, and can a hearing officer look at someone's alcohol-related probation before judgment?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a driving record the MVA is required to expunge must be completely removed from inspection by anyone, including the MVA and other government a…
Can Maryland's legislature fix a town's mistaken boundary description from decades ago, or does the town have to do it itself?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded the Maryland General Assembly could not amend Highland Beach's 1922 act of incorporation to correct its boundary description, because the Home Rule…
Can a Maryland savings bank develop real estate through a limited partnership?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded a Maryland-chartered mutual savings bank could engage in real estate development activities to the same extent as a federal savings bank, but only …
When does a Maryland home seller have to give homeowners association fee and rule disclosures to a buyer, and can a buyer waive that right?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded a home seller had to obtain and disclose known HOA fee and rule information to the buyer before the contract was formed, not later, that a buyer's …
Could Maryland's Racing Commission let one track take telephone bets on a race running at a different track in 1987?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's telephone-betting statute authorized the Racing Commission's proposed regulation letting one licensed track accept and wire bets on…
Can a court-appointed standing examiner in Maryland also serve on a Judicial Nominating Commission?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a standing examiner appointed by a Maryland circuit court does not hold a public office, so the person could serve on a Judicial Nominating Co…
Can a Maryland court hold a hearing before releasing someone committed after an insanity finding?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a Maryland court could hold a hearing on the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's application to conditionally release someone committed …
Does a state agency have to go through formal rulemaking to adopt a workplace smoking policy?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the smoking policy guidelines each Maryland executive agency was required to adopt under a gubernatorial executive order fell within the Admin…
If I pay off my credit card balance within the grace period, can the issuer still charge me a finance charge for the previous billing period?
Yes, according to this 1987 opinion. The Attorney General concluded Maryland's open-end credit statute lets a credit grantor assess a finance charge on a balance carried over from an earlier billing p…
Could Maryland's Motor Vehicle Administration let someone keep driving to work instead of fully suspending their license in 1987?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the Motor Vehicle Administration has authority under §§16-205 and 16-206 of the Transportation Article, together with its general restriction …
If a state employee gets a credit card through a state-arranged travel program, is the state liable for the employee's charges?
No, according to this 1987 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that because the credit card would be issued in the individual employee's name, with the employee alone applying for and being liable…
Could Maryland voters force a referendum to block the Camden Yards stadium financing legislation?
No, according to this 1987 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that the Camden Yards stadium legislative package, including its financing chapter, was an "appropriation for maintaining the State G…
Can Maryland recover school-construction debt-service payments it made to a county by mistake?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded Maryland's Department of Education had properly stopped paying local school-construction debt service for contracts let after June 30, 1967 and for…
After Maryland's 1986 constitutional amendment, must a circuit court clerk's office payroll go through the state Central Payroll Bureau?
Yes, according to this 1987 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that once the 1986 constitutional amendment converted circuit court clerks' offices from fee-funded to State-budget-funded offices, …
Can a Maryland governor pull back a recess appointee's nomination before the Senate votes on it?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a Maryland governor may withdraw the Senate nomination of a recess appointee at any time before the Senate acts on it, including a nomination …
Can a nonprofit that receives Maryland state grant money publish a report rating legislators' votes on an unrelated policy issue?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Planned Parenthood of Maryland's publication of a report rating legislators' votes on Medicaid abortion funding did not misuse its state famil…
Could Maryland's old Board of Medical Examiners refuse to renew a doctor's license just because it thought the doctor had violated a disciplinary rule?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded the Board of Medical Examiners could not deny a physician's license renewal or reinstatement based on its own finding that the physician violated a…
Can Maryland's Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission rewrite its own program development criteria on its own authority?
Only in a limited way, according to this 1987 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission could adopt minor, non-substantive amendments to its program deve…
Can a Maryland regional planning council keep unspent local government contributions as its own reserve fund?
No, according to this 1987 opinion. The Attorney General concluded the Regional Planning Council could not carry over unspent local government contributions from one fiscal year to the next as a reser…
Can a government agency require bidders to attend a pre-bid conference or lose their bid?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that even if a State solicitation labeled attendance at a pre-bid or pre-proposal conference as mandatory, a bidder's failure to attend could not b…
Does Maryland's 15-day limit on domestic violence protective orders apply to custody or counseling relief too?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded Maryland's durational limit on domestic violence protective orders, 15 days for an order to vacate the family home, 25 days if the alleged abuser w…
Can an unlicensed employee of a Maryland funeral home sell pre-need funeral contracts?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded Maryland's Morticians Act barred anyone who was not a licensed mortician, funeral director, or surviving-spouse licensee from soliciting, offering,…
Does a child's parent charged in juvenile court with violating Maryland's compulsory school attendance law have a right to a jury trial?
No, according to this 1987 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that a defendant charged in juvenile court with inducing or harboring a truant child under ED §7-301(e)(1) has no constitutional righ…
Does Maryland's cap on state land purchases in Garrett County also block the state from buying a conservation easement there?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's statutory ceiling on the Department of Natural Resources acquiring "land" in Garrett County applied only to purchases of ownership …
Can a state withhold part of an employee's paycheck to collect a debt the employee owes the state?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland could withhold part of a State employee's wages to offset a debt the employee owed the State, but only after giving the employee noti…
Does Maryland's legislature have to hold a joint session to elect the State Treasurer?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's Constitution required the House and Senate to combine their votes into one tally to appoint the State Treasurer, that a simple majo…
Can someone serve in Maryland's House of Delegates while also working as a state university police officer?
In this 1987 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a University of Maryland police officer holds an 'office of profit' under Article 35 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights, so a newly elected…
Did the 1986 elimination of mandatory retirement ages under federal age discrimination law mean Maryland judges no longer had to retire at 70?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the newly amended federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which eliminated the upper age limit for most employees, freed Maryland's Dist…
Does Maryland's Public Information Act require a county ethics commission to release officials' complete financial disclosure statements, including home addresses and gift information?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that all of the information Calvert County officials and employees were required to submit on the county's ethics financial disclosure form, includ…
Could Maryland's elevator safety regulator write rules that were looser than the national ANSI elevator safety code, to ease the cost burden on building owners?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's Commissioner of Labor and Industry could adopt regulations supplementing the ANSI elevator safety code and could grant individualiz…
Can a Maryland state agency agree to unconditionally indemnify another state for liability arising from a product's manufacture, like a vaccine, without legislative approval?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the Department of Agriculture lacked authority to agree to a proposed contract clause requiring it to unconditionally indemnify another state …
Could a Maryland car insurance company just declare a policy void and walk away if it believed the driver lied on the application, or did it have to follow a formal cancellation process?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that an auto insurer suspecting a policyholder of material misrepresentation had to either cancel or refuse to renew the policy through the Insuran…
After Tennessee v. Garner, when can a sheriff's deputy or corrections officer use deadly force to stop someone from fleeing arrest or escaping custody?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that deadly force to make an arrest or stop a pre-trial detainee's escape was constitutional only where an officer had probable cause to believe th…
Who is legally allowed to administer the oath of office to a newly elected Maryland State's Attorney: a judge, the clerk of court, or the Governor?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the Governor, a circuit court judge, or a circuit court clerk could each administer the oath of office to a Maryland State's Attorney, that a …
Are donations and grants held by a state-created nonprofit like the Chesapeake Bay Trust subject to Maryland's regular treasury and budget rules?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General reversed an earlier 1985 opinion and concluded that the Chesapeake Bay Trust was an autonomous activity for fiscal purposes, so its funds were not "moneys of…
Could Maryland require state employees and job applicants to take drug tests?
In 1986, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland could not impose indiscriminate urine testing on most state employees and generally needed particularized probable cause. The opinion allowed a lo…
Can the public find out what's in a Maryland business's tax registration application, or is that information confidential?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that most information on Maryland's Combined Registration Application, including a taxpayer's identity and finances, was confidential tax return in…
Can Maryland reuse land it bought for a canceled highway project to build a different government building instead?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that land the State originally acquired for a highway project it later abandoned could be used instead to build a Motor Vehicle Administration fiel…
Can the public find out how many complaints have been filed against a specific mortgage company in Maryland?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the number and status of consumer complaints filed against a company licensed as a mortgage banker or mortgage broker were disclosable to the …
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Attorney general opinions in Maryland are written by the Maryland Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.