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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Was it legal for NC legislative leaders to direct how millions of dollars in 'Reserve Fund' grants got distributed by executive branch agencies, after the regular appropriations process was over?
The NC AG concluded that the Reserve Fund process described by the State Auditor did not clearly violate the state Constitution or N.C.G.S. § 143-16.3, but flagged that the practice contravened legisl…
When the NC General Assembly changed the appointing authority for public members of the State Board of Mortuary Science from the Governor to a mix of Governor, Speaker, and President Pro Tempore, can the legislature also use a specific appointment to displace an existing Governor's appointee mid-term, even if the new appointee is a licensee whom the general statute would otherwise bar?
Yes on all counts. George Parrott was validly appointed by the General Assembly under S.L. 2001-486 for a term that runs through Dec. 31, 2003, and his appointment displaces the existing Governor-appo…
Can a NC Chief District Court Judge issue a standing order forbidding juvenile court counselors from diverting any juvenile case that came out of the public schools?
No. Person County DA Joel Brewer asked the AG to evaluate a local administrative order by the Chief District Court Judge that flatly prohibited diversion of any juvenile case originating in the public…
Can NC state legislators serve on the Board of Directors of the NC Partnership for Children, the private nonprofit that administers Smart Start, given the state constitutional separation of powers?
No. The NC Partnership for Children is a 'special instrumentality of government' created by the General Assembly to administer the Early Childhood Initiatives program (Smart Start). The legislature ap…
Is North Carolina's attorney discipline statute (Chapter 84) an unconstitutional delegation of judicial power, and can an NC attorney be disciplined here based on discipline in another state?
No to both halves. NC Chapter 84 is not an impermissible delegation of legislative power; the courts have repeatedly upheld the State Bar's role. Chapter 84 does not violate separation of powers becau…
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 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…
Could the North Carolina General Assembly give a legislative oversight commission the power to indefinitely delay the effective date of any agency rule it considered to exceed statutory authority?
No. The President Pro Tempore asked the AG to review two draft bills that would have given the Administrative Rules Review Commission (a body appointed by the General Assembly) authority to indefinite…
Can North Carolina's Governor use an executive order to require financial disclosure and ethical-conduct compliance from people appointed to state boards by other Council of State officers?
No. Seven Council of State officers asked whether they (and their appointees) had to follow Executive Order No. 1 after Governor Jim Martin amended it in October 1990 to cover appointees of any execut…
Does the Governor of North Carolina have authority to declare a moratorium on issuing permits for new hazardous waste facilities?
No. The General Assembly's elaborate hazardous waste scheme directs the Department of Human Resources, the Commission for Health Services, the Governor's Waste Management Board, and the Hazardous Wast…
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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.