North Carolina Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in North Carolina, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Can members of the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission, their family members, or members of the Commission's advisory committees receive grants from the state Fishery Resource Grants Program that the Commission itself awards?
Commissioners themselves, no. G.S. 14-234(a) prohibits a public officer from contracting with the body on which the officer sits, and recusal does not cure the violation. Family members of Commissione…
If a private drug-and-alcohol treatment center starts treating Department of Corrections inmates under a state contract, does that turn it into a 'penal and correctional facility' for zoning purposes?
No. Zoning classifications turn on the nature of the owner's *use* of the property, not the status of the people being served. Since the Mary Frances Center continued to provide drug-and-alcohol treat…
Can a North Carolina county board hold a closed session to talk about which piece of land to buy for an industrial park?
Generally no. After a 1994 amendment to the Open Meetings Law, public bodies can close a session only to negotiate the price or material terms of a specific real-property contract, or to discuss the s…
If a North Carolina tenant is sued for eviction in small claims court, do they have to post a defense bond before they can fight the case?
No. The G.S. § 1-111 defense bond ('not less than $200') applies only to common-law actions where the defendant is required to plead. Summary-ejectment defendants are not required to plead at all, so …
Do the NC Department of Transportation's regulations that let billboard owners (and business owners) pay to have state-owned trees cut down on highway rights-of-way for visibility violate the NC Constitution's special privileges clause or its environmental common-heritage provision?
No. The 1995 NC AG opinion concluded the DOT regulations (19A NCAC 02E .0600) permitting selective removal of vegetation blocking views of billboards and businesses do not violate Article I § 32 (no s…
Can the legislatively-stacked Advisory Budget Commission require the Governor to consult with it before approving state-agency lease-purchase deals over $100,000?
No. Because the Advisory Budget Commission includes ten legislators, requiring the Governor to consult with it before exercising an executive function would commingle legislative and executive power i…
Can the NC House of Representatives adopt a rule that limits how many bills each individual member may introduce, or does that violate some constitutional right of legislators to introduce as many bills as they want?
The House can adopt such a rule. Members of the NC House do not have a constitutional or inherent right to introduce unlimited bills. Historically, in both the U.S. Congress and the NC House, introduc…
Can a sitting county manager be appointed to the NC Property Tax Commission, and if so, when does the county manager's role create a conflict that requires recusal from particular Commission decisions?
Yes, the appointment is legally permissible. Dual-office holding statutes allow concurrent appointments and the county manager's duties are not 'inherently incompatible' with Property Tax Commission m…
Does the State Controller's statutory duty to 'exercise general coordinating authority for all telecommunications matters relating to the internal management and operations' of state agencies under G.S. 143B-426.35 cover the University of North Carolina system and its constituent campuses, or are the universities outside the State Controller's reach?
Yes, the AG concluded the State Controller's general coordinating authority covers the UNC system and its constituent universities. G.S. 143B-426.35(3) gives the Controller coordinating authority over…
When North Carolina county boards of elections charge the public for copies of voter registration lists, what counts as 'actual cost' under G.S. § 163-82.10(b), and who gets to decide the amount?
Only out-of-pocket reproduction costs. The AG concluded 'actual cost' covered paper, ink, and the price of blank disks or tapes, but not labor, depreciation, electricity, heat, or prorated rent, becau…
Can a North Carolina state senator (or representative) keep an existing appointment to the State Board of Education after being sworn into the legislature, or does the state constitution force the appointee to give one of the seats up?
The legislator must give up the Board seat by operation of law. North Carolina's separation-of-powers clause forbids a legislator from concurrently exercising executive power on a state board or commi…
If a North Carolina patient never signed a living will, is the procedure in the Right to Natural Death Act the only legal way a doctor can withhold life-sustaining treatment?
No. The procedure in N.C.G.S. § 90-322 is optional and nonexclusive. A physician who follows it gets an absolute statutory defense; a physician who acts outside it is not unlawful, but is judged by th…
If a North Carolina school district accidentally overpays a teacher, can the district take the money back? Or does the district have to eat the loss?
The district can recover the money. N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 115C-302(a)(4) and 115C-316(a)(6) tell the State and the local board which one absorbs the loss as between them (the local board does, when state…
If a NC Coastal Resources Commission member moves outside the coastal area (or even outside North Carolina), does that change of residence automatically vacate their seat, or can they finish their existing term? And could a non-NC resident be reappointed?
The member can finish the existing term even if the residency mix on the Commission becomes inconsistent with § 113A-104(e). The statute's residency caps restrict the Governor's appointment power at t…
Can a North Carolina bank pledge its own assets to secure a customer's deposits above the FDIC limit? When is a customer's money 'public' for that purpose?
Only with express statutory authority. State banks cannot pledge assets to secure private deposits. Public deposits can be secured under statutes like §§ 159-30(b) and 159-31(b), but only if the depos…
Does North Carolina's 1993 'safe and sane' pyrotechnics law override an older Forsyth County local act that defined pyrotechnics differently?
Yes, by implied repeal. When a later statewide statute and an older local act define the same thing in irreconcilable ways, the later statewide law controls if the legislature's intent to apply it eve…
Can North Carolina collect state income tax from visiting NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, and PGA athletes for the games and events they play here? And can the Department of Revenue let private tax-service companies file composite returns on behalf of the teams?
Yes to taxing visiting athletes. The 1994 NC AG opinion concluded NC's existing nonresident income-tax and withholding statutes already reached game wages and prize money earned in NC, though the Secr…
When a person who put up bail for a traffic ticket fails to appear and the court orders the bail forfeited, does the clerk of court have to report the forfeiture to DMV as a conviction, and does the answer depend on what kind of bond was posted?
It depends. The AG concluded that only a forfeiture of a defendant's cash bond, posted in the full amount of bail with the court, qualifies as a conviction under NCGS 20-4.01(4a) and must be reported …
Can a NC county board of commissioners undo a school district merger plan after it has been approved by the State Board of Education?
No. Once the State Board of Education approves a school merger plan adopted by the county board of commissioners under G.S. § 115C-25.1 / § 115C-68.1, the merger 'shall be deemed to have been made by …
Is the State Superintendent of Public Instruction required to comply with the NC Environmental Policy Act (NCEPA) when issuing certificates of approval for new school construction plans under N.C.G.S. § 115C-521, given that local school boards may not invest in any new building without a Superintendent-issued plan approval covering structural and functional soundness, safety, and sanitation?
Yes. The Superintendent's plan-approval certificate is a state 'action' under NCEPA implementing rules (T1 NCAC 25.0108(b)) because, without it, local school boards cannot invest in the new building. …
When North Carolina registers an out-of-state child support order, the statute says the clerk must send the obligor notice by certified or registered mail. If the clerk instead has the sheriff personally serve the obligor, is the registration still valid, and can the court enter an order confirming the registration even when there is no proof the obligor received the mailed notice?
Yes on both. Personal service by the sheriff satisfies the notice purpose of § 52A-29 even though the statute says the clerk should send by certified or registered mail (Silvering v. Vito). For order …
If a state employee is hurt on the job and wants to see a chiropractor, but the state agency's approved-provider list does not include chiropractors, does the general chiropractic free-choice statute (§ 90-157.1) let the employee go to a chiropractor anyway, or does the Workers' Compensation Act's provider rules (§ 97-25) require Industrial Commission approval?
The Workers' Compensation Act controls. Under § 97-25, the employer (or its insurer) provides medical compensation and the Industrial Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over treatment disputes. The…
Can a NC public body go into closed session with its lawyer to discuss a contract negotiation, not just litigation?
Yes. The 1994 rewrite of N.C.G.S. § 143-318.11(a)(3) expressly authorizes a public body to consult with its attorney in closed session to preserve the attorney-client privilege, and this authority is …
Does the NC Department of Correction have to pay the Utilities Commission's quarterly regulatory fee for its inmate pay-phone system?
No. The Department of Correction, as a State agency, is not a 'public utility' under N.C.G.S. § 62-3(23) because the statute's 'person' definition (§ 62-3(21)) does not expressly include the State or …
Can a NC public body keep the location and seller secret in closed session when discussing buying real estate?
Usually no. After the 1994 Open Meetings Law amendments, a public body may close a session to discuss real property only to instruct staff or negotiators about price and other material terms it actual…
When the NC Environmental Management Commission submits a fiscal note for a proposed rule, can the Director of the Budget refuse to certify it just because another affected agency (such as DOT) objects to the cost numbers or to spending funds available in that agency's budget?
No. The AG concluded that G.S. 150B-21.4 puts the certification decision in the Director of the Budget's own hands. The Director may seek input from any source, including the potentially affected agen…
When the Commercial Fishing License Moratorium Appeals Panel reviews tax forms submitted by license applicants, must the Panel keep the meeting open or can it (or must it) go into closed session to discuss state tax information?
The Panel must go into closed session to discuss anything found only on the state tax form. NC state tax information stays confidential and disclosing it is a crime under G.S. 105-259. Federal tax inf…
Is a private nonprofit arts council that takes some state grant money required to hold its board meetings open to the public under North Carolina's Open Meetings Law?
No, in this case. The AG concluded the Franklin County Arts Council, Inc., a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit that was not created by statute or local government and was not subject to government supervisi…
Is an NC state employee using a privately owned vehicle on official state business entitled to mileage reimbursement at the statutory IRS-business-standard rate (29 cents per mile in 1994) for every mile traveled regardless of distance, as the 1975 AG opinion concluded? Or does the Department of Administration have authority to cap that statutory rate for longer trips by requiring use of a state vehicle?
The 1975 'reimburse at the statutory rate regardless of distance' opinion has been superseded by Department of Administration rules. Under those rules in 1 NCAC 38 .0500 et seq., statutory IRS-based r…
Did the NC Environmental Management Commission have legal authority to use funds from the High Unit Cost Wastewater Account to address failures of low-pressure pipe (LPP) sewer systems, given the 1994 budget bill's 'low wealth areas' language?
Yes. The AG concluded that the 1994 budget bill's 'low wealth areas' phrase did not exclude grants based on county wealth criteria. The phrase simply re-affirmed the existing sliding-scale eligibility…
Can a NC regional transit authority sign a labor-protection agreement with a union as a condition of getting federal transit money?
Probably not as a contract. G.S. § 95-98 voids agreements between NC government units and labor unions, and NC federal courts have read that statute broadly enough to reach agreements protecting union…
Can a North Carolina state-chartered bank invest in a 'banker's bank', a depository institution chartered to do business with other banks and majority-owned by banks, by treating the banker's bank as a 'central reserve bank' under one of the exceptions to G.S. 53-47's bar on a bank investing in another bank? And does the answer change if the investment is in a holding company that owns the banker's bank?
No to both. The AG concluded a banker's bank is not a 'central reserve bank' under G.S. 53-47, so the exception does not apply and a state-chartered NC bank may not invest in a banker's bank. A centra…
Can the State Board of Education adopt a rule that lets a local school board reduce the 180-day school term for just one school (when an emergency closes that one school) on different terms than the rule that applies when emergency closures affect a whole school district?
No. G.S. 115C-84(c) sets a single statutory method for reducing the 180-day term: build in make-up days, exhaust them, then petition the State Board for relief. That method governs whether the closure…
When I request a state agency's draft report or its investigation file under the NC Public Records Act, can the agency refuse to give it to me until the document is finished or the investigation is closed?
Probably not on a blanket basis. Under News & Observer v. Poole (1992), even draft reports already in the review pipeline are subject to disclosure. Civil investigative files generally are also public…
Can a county board of commissioners take physical possession of the county DSS's child protective services records, putting them in a safety deposit box that the DSS director cannot access?
No. The AG concluded that NC confidentiality laws are violated when CPS files are removed from DSS custody without the DSS director's consent or a court order. G.S. 7A-544 puts the burden on the DSS d…
Can the clerk of superior court, or local landowners, dissolve a NC drainage district that has served its purpose, or does dissolution require action by the General Assembly?
Dissolution requires legislative action. The AG concluded that Chapter 156 does not give the clerk or landowners statutory authority to dissolve a drainage district once it has been created. A drainag…
Can a North Carolina state-chartered credit union adopt by-laws that close nominations 45 days before the annual meeting, mail ballots to members, and then conduct the entire director election by absentee ballot, leaving no opportunity for a member to vote in person at the annual meeting?
No. G.S. § 54-109.35(a) plainly says directors are 'elected at the annual members' meeting by and from the members,' and § 54-109.31(b) authorizes by-laws to allow absentee voting but does not authori…
After 1994 amendments to the insurance code, can North Carolina consumer finance companies (consumer loan licensees) sell single-interest or dual-interest automobile physical damage insurance (VSI) along with their loans, without separately applying to the Commissioner of Banks for 'other business authority' under G.S. 53-172(b)?
Yes. The AG had previously concluded in November 1993 that VSI was not in the consumer-finance authorization list in G.S. § 53-189(a), so licensees needed other-business authority to sell it. SB 1719,…
Are non-resident military servicemembers stationed in North Carolina exempt from the state's highway use tax when they register a vehicle here?
No. The AG corrected an earlier DMV Bulletin No. 136 that wrongly claimed an exemption. The Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940 exempts only annually recurring property taxes on a non-resi…
If a savings bank applies to convert from mutual to stock form and then withdraws the application, is the withdrawn application still a public record the state agency has to show to the public?
Yes, but only as long as the agency keeps it. The AG concluded that the public-information portion of a conversion application becomes a public record the moment the Savings Institutions Division (SID…
Are vendor payments to providers of medical, psychological, therapeutic, and remedial services for adopted special needs children a form of public assistance, and can the state pay them retroactively?
Yes, vendor payments are a category of adoption assistance and thus a form of public assistance. Whether the payment goes directly to adoptive parents (monthly cash) or to the service provider (vendor…
Can a North Carolina bank organized under Chapter 53 own the shares of a nondepository trust company, on the theory that a nondepository trust company is not a 'bank' under G.S. 53-47's prohibition on a bank owning another bank?
No. The AG confirmed a 1992 conclusion that a bank may not own a nondepository trust company. The 1945 General Assembly removed the prior carve-out for nondepository trust companies from the statutory…
Can the NC State Treasurer (who is by statute ex officio chairman of the State Banking Commission) authorize the Assistant State Treasurer to preside over Banking Commission meetings when the Treasurer is absent?
Yes. Under G.S. 147-75 the Treasurer may authorize a deputy to perform any duties of the Treasurer's office, and the AG's 1986 formal opinion held that Council of State members may delegate their ex o…
Does NC's Soil Conservation Districts Law require that appointed members of a Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors live within the district they are appointed to represent?
Yes. The AG concluded that the 1979 statutory phrase 'from the district' in G.S. § 139-7 means appointed supervisors must be residents of the district. Read together with NC constitutional provisions …
When a North Carolina law enforcement agency seizes cash or property from a drug suspect, can the agency release it directly to the NC Department of Revenue to satisfy controlled-substance excise taxes without first getting a court order, and what happens if the agency does that with property that was supposed to be held for forfeiture?
Evidence-only property can be released to Revenue without a court order if the prosecutor agrees the property is no longer needed for trial. Property actually seized under § 90-112 forfeiture authorit…
Can Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) agents bring a drug-sniffing dog along on a routine ABC permit inspection? Do local officers need a mutual aid agreement to help? Can ALE force entry if the business owner refuses?
Yes, mostly no, and probably no. The AG concluded ALE may use a borrowed narcotics dog during a G.S. 18B-502 administrative inspection because the permittee waives Fourth Amendment objections to inspe…
Could a North Carolina state-chartered savings bank become a regular commercial bank in the mid-1990s and then merge with another commercial bank?
Yes. The AG concluded that while no statute authorized a savings bank to merge directly with a commercial bank, a two-step path worked: a Chapter 54C state savings bank could convert into a Chapter 53…
After the NC Savings Institutions Division Administrator approved a mutual savings institution's plan to convert from mutual to stock form and merge into a bank holding company (and the conversions were consummated), can the Administrator now order the former directors to refund the benefits they received from the transactions and distribute those benefits to depositors?
No. NC statutory law does not give the Administrator (or Deputy Administrator) of the Savings Institutions Division the power to reverse a final agency conversion approval, absent a specific grant of …
Can a North Carolina municipal hospital put physicians on salary, give them office space and supplies, and collect the fees those physicians earn from treating patients?
Yes. The AG read the public-hospital contracting statute (G.S. 131E-7(b)) literally: a municipal hospital may contract with any person for the provision of health care and pay for that contract out of…
Are the two 'at-large' members on the Coastal Resources Advisory Council legally seated, when the statute lists specific seats and caps total membership at 47?
No. The AG concluded the statute names a fixed roster (45 designated seats with no at-large category) and caps the council at 47, so there is no authority for at-large appointments. The two at-large m…
Could the NCDOT Employee Insurance Committee execute a contract with American Franklin Life Insurance Company to offer variable life insurance to NCDOT employees, given that Statewide Benefits, Inc. claimed an exclusive marketing right for 'universal' life insurance products?
Yes. The AG found no legal impediment. The NC Department of Insurance treated 'variable' life insurance and 'universal' life insurance as two distinct products, and American Franklin had been approved…
Are members of the Boards of Trustees of NC's two main public-employee retirement systems prohibited under G.S. § 150B-35 from having ex parte communications with the Director of the Retirement Systems Division or with petitioners about issues of fact or law in pending contested cases, and what sanctions follow a violation?
Yes, the prohibition reaches both directions. G.S. § 150B-35 forbids the administrative law judge assigned to the case AND any member or employee of the agency making the final decision from communica…
Can a local school board demand that the driver-education instructors it hires under contract hold a state teaching certificate, even though state law says contract instructors are not required to be certified teachers?
Yes. The AG concluded that the General Assembly's 1991 amendments to NCGS 20-88.1 and 115C-215 were intended to limit the State Board of Education's regulatory authority (the State Board cannot requir…
When Alexander County Schools adopted a differentiated pay plan under the 1989 School Improvement and Accountability Act, did that decision trigger the 'hold harmless' provision in G.S. 115C-363.11(c) for teachers who had earned Career I or Career II status under the discontinued Career Development Pilot Program?
Yes, but the protection was narrower than it might first appear. Only teachers who had earned Career I or Career II status before the 1989-90 school year (the year Alexander County converted to a diff…
Does the North Carolina General Assembly have the constitutional authority to enact Senate Bill 883, which would create a new Professional Teaching Standards Board that operates independently of the State Board of Education and would, by plan, take over from the State Board the responsibility of setting standards for and issuing, renewing, and revoking teacher licenses?
Probably not, as drafted. The AG concluded that SB 883 as written may be unconstitutional because it completely removes the State Board of Education from one of the most critical areas of public educa…
If a North Carolina city expands its corporate limits through annexation (or satellite annexation), does the city school district automatically expand to cover the new area, or does the city school district's boundary stay where it was originally set?
The school district's boundary stays where it was. A city school system has no inherent power to unilaterally expand and remove students and taxable property from the surrounding county school system.…
Currituck County is considering setting up a water and sewer district or authority under Chapter 162A so that its water lines on US 168 right-of-way will qualify for the G.S. 136-27.1 exemption that requires the NC Department of Transportation to pay relocation costs (instead of the county paying $1.2 to $2 million). When must the new district or authority actually be in existence to qualify? And does the 1987 encroachment agreement (which said the County pays relocation costs) override the statutory exemption?
The district or authority must exist on the date the Department of Transportation lets the contract for the highway improvement project. The phrase 'let to contract' is the trigger the General Assembl…
Does the NC Wildlife Resources Commission have authority to adopt a rule designating 'critical habitat' for endangered, threatened, and special concern species, even though the statute does not specifically use that term?
Yes. The AG concluded that Article 25 of Chapter 113, read as a whole, gives the WRC both express and implied authority to designate critical habitat as part of developing conservation programs. The e…
Can my city pass an ordinance making it illegal to have an open beer or wine in a car on a street or highway in town, or does state law block that?
Partly. A city can prohibit consumption of malt beverages and unfortified wine on property the city owns or occupies, including the right of way of its own municipal streets. The city cannot, however,…
If the General Assembly abolishes the NC Ports Railway Commission (PRC) and transfers its assets to the State Ports Authority (SPA), will that hurt the ongoing federal labor litigation between SPA, PRC, and the longshoremen's union over whether SPA is a Railway Labor Act 'carrier'?
Probably yes, enough that the AG recommended against abolishing PRC at this time. The 1970 ILA certification of SPA as a Railway Labor Act bargaining representative for terminal railroad employees was…
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Attorney general opinions in North Carolina are written by the North Carolina 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.