Texas Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Texas, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Can a Texas county judge let a volunteer consultant see county budget records without the commissioners court's approval?
The Attorney General concluded that a county judge acting as the county budget officer does not need the commissioners court's approval before delegating nondiscretionary, ministerial, and administrat…
Can a Texas county declare a public road across private land to reach a landlocked property?
The Attorney General concluded that section 251.053 of the Transportation Code, which lets a commissioners court declare a public road so a landowner with no public access can reach a public way, is n…
Can a county employee use a county vehicle to drive a spouse or other non-employee around?
The Attorney General did not answer yes or no, because the question turns on facts the opinion process cannot resolve. The Delta County Attorney asked about a county road commissioner who used a count…
If a county boundary resurvey moves part of an existing road into a different county, does that county automatically have to maintain it?
No, not on its own, the Attorney General concluded. Slama Road was established in 1902 as an Ellis County road running to the Navarro County line. A 1931 resurvey of the boundary showed the last 0.432…
Can a county's one-year no-rehire policy block a constable from hiring a deputy who recently left another county job?
No, the Attorney General concluded. San Jacinto County's commissioners court adopted a policy making a former county employee ineligible for rehire for one year after leaving. The opinion held that po…
Must a Texas county approve LIRAP vehicle-program payments before paying, despite a five-day deadline?
Yes on the approvals, and the five-day deadline does not override them. Williamson County asked about the Low-Income Vehicle Repair Assistance, Retrofit, and Accelerated Vehicle Retirement Program (LI…
Must a Texas county give commissioners written notice before cutting their salary in the budget?
Yes. At a Grimes County budget hearing a commissioner proposed cutting each commissioner's salary by about $7,000 with no prior notice, and the cut was adopted. The county auditor asked whether that w…
Does a Texas county have to maintain private subdivision roads it approved on a plat?
The Hood County Attorney asked whether the county had to maintain the roads in the Hill Country Estates subdivision, which were laid out and approved on a plat back in 1983. The Attorney General concl…
Can a Texas county buy a generator and lease it to a local radio station?
The Guadalupe County Attorney asked the Attorney General whether it would violate the Texas Constitution for the county to spend public money on a generator and then lease it to KWED, a local AM radio…
Can a Texas county appoint its county judge as the county budget officer?
The Williamson County Attorney asked the Attorney General whether a county that chooses to operate under subchapter C of chapter 111 of the Local Government Code (the optional method that lets larger …
Who decides what financial software a Texas county auditor's office uses, the auditor or the commissioners court?
Johnson County Attorney Bill Moore asked whether the county auditor, under Local Government Code sections 84.901 and 112.001, can choose the financial software for the auditor's own office, pick betwe…
Can a Texas district attorney accept private donations to pay office staff?
A district attorney asked whether she could set up a nonprofit to take in donations and use them to supplement her employees' pay. The Attorney General said a prosecuting attorney has no general autho…
Can a Texas commissioners court assign extra duties to an elected county official like the treasurer?
The Attorney General concluded that a county commissioners court can delegate duties that the constitution and statutes do not expressly assign to any particular office (such as running a county perso…
Can a Texas deputy sheriff drive a county patrol car for off-duty security jobs?
The Attorney General concluded that a sheriff may let deputies use county patrol vehicles for off-duty security work without reimbursing the county only when the use satisfies the public-purpose doctr…
Can a Texas county hire a road administrator instead of a licensed road engineer?
The Attorney General concluded that under section 252.304 of the Transportation Code, a county commissioners court running a county road department generally must appoint a licensed professional engin…
Can a Texas constable run animal control on his own, without the county commissioners court approving it?
The Attorney General concluded a constable cannot make himself the animal or rabies control authority. If a constable has reason to believe an animal is being cruelly treated, the cruelty statute (cha…
How much can a Texas county court at law judge be paid, and is the salary capped relative to a district judge?
The Attorney General read the two salary statutes together. For Gregg County, the maximum a statutory county court at law judge may be paid is 90 percent of the total annual salary a district judge in…
Who can remove an abandoned mobile home from a Texas county road?
The Attorney General concluded that a county constable could not use Transportation Code section 545.3051, the roadway personal-property removal statute, to remove an abandoned manufactured (mobile) h…
Can a Texas county sheriff send jail inmates to work for a nonprofit, and what approval is needed?
The Attorney General concluded that a county sheriff has no free-standing power to run an inmate work program. The only legal sources for one are article 43.09 or 43.10 of the Code of Criminal Procedu…
When a Texas county distributes county permanent school fund money to its districts, are transfer students counted where they live or where they attend school?
Dawson County's attorney asked how to split a county permanent school fund reduction among five school districts when many students live in one district but attend another. The Attorney General conclu…
Can a Texas commissioners court pay a vendor on a claim the county auditor rejected?
The Harris County Attorney asked whether a commissioners court could pay a vendor the reasonable value (quantum meruit) of goods or services the county received under an implied contract, when the cou…
Does a Texas commissioners court have to formally decide whether a newspaper is one of 'general circulation' before publishing county notices in it?
The Harrison County Criminal District Attorney asked, with two competing papers each claiming the status, whether the commissioners court had to formally determine which is a 'newspaper of general cir…
Can a Texas county repair a subdivision road or a private road, and does the road become a county road?
The San Jacinto County criminal district attorney asked whether the county could repair three kinds of roads (a public subdivision road, a public neighborhood road, and a private road) and whether rep…
How does a Texas county split funds with a new hospital district that covers only part of the county?
Liberty County asked the Attorney General how to divide county money with the newly created Liberty County Hospital District No. 1, which sits inside the county but does not cover all of it. Under Hea…
Can two neighboring county attorneys appoint each other as assistant county attorneys?
The county attorneys of Jeff Davis and Presidio counties, each a one-lawyer office, asked whether they could appoint each other as unpaid assistant county attorneys so a neighbor could cover criminal …
Can a Texas county take a private subdivision road into its county road system by accepting a gift?
Landowners on a private subdivision road, Lynnwood Lane, offered to give Waller County an easement or deed and the materials to fix the road up if the county would take it into the county road system.…
How must a Texas county account for and spend the excess court-cost contributions the state returns to it under Government Code 26.008?
A county auditor asked whether Government Code section 26.008 requires a separate fund and budget for the excess court-cost contributions the state comptroller returns to the county each year, what th…
Can a Texas county put its criminal-fine collections under the county treasurer instead of the county clerk?
A county attorney asked whether the commissioners court could create a collections department, staffed by the county treasurer's deputies acting as cashiers, to collect criminal fines, costs, and fees…
Can a Texas county official suspend an employee with pay?
A Brooks County official (the sheriff, who also served as tax assessor-collector) suspended a deputy with pay after the deputy was indicted, even though the office had no written policy on paid suspen…
Can a Texas county force a justice of the peace to use the county's collection company for unpaid court fines?
Brazoria County's commissioners court hired a private attorney to collect overdue justice-court fines, fees, and costs (with a 30% collection fee under Code of Criminal Procedure article 103.0031), an…
Can a Texas county cremate a deceased pauper's remains instead of burying them?
Yes, according to this 2005 opinion. Health and Safety Code section 694.002 lets a commissioners court dispose of a deceased pauper's remains by donation, cremation, or burial, and section 691.023(b),…
Can two Texas county road commissioners share one road crew across their precincts?
No, according to this 2005 opinion. Under the ex officio road commissioner system, each commissioner's hiring and supervisory authority is limited to his own precinct, so two commissioners cannot join…
Can a Texas county keep its county clerk out of the commissioners court's closed executive sessions, and who controls the tape recording afterward?
Yes, according to this 2004 opinion, a commissioners court has discretion whether to admit the county clerk to its executive sessions, and the court itself, not the clerk, is the proper custodian of a…
Can a Texas county judge who is also a lawyer get the county to waive the conflict of interest so he can practice law in his county's courts?
No. The Attorney General found no statute that lets the commissioners court consent, on the county's behalf, to a county judge practicing law in the justice, county, or district courts of his own coun…
Can a Texas county pay grand jurors more than petit jurors, or vary juror pay by which court they serve in?
No. The Attorney General concluded that section 61.001 of the Government Code requires a county commissioners court to reimburse all jurors at the same daily rate, with one exception. Under subsection…
When does a Texas commissioners court have to approve a defeated county commissioner's spending?
The Attorney General concluded that section 130.908 of the Local Government Code, which requires commissioners court approval of a defeated incumbent commissioner's expenditures in a county under 50,0…
Can a Texas county commissioners court reject or cut the presiding administrative judge's budget request?
The Attorney General concluded no. Under section 74.043 of the Government Code, the counties that make up one of Texas's nine administrative judicial regions must pay, out of their general funds, the …
If a Texas constable misses the 270-day deadline to show a permanent peace officer license, does he lose his office automatically?
The Attorney General concluded the office is forfeited by operation of law but the constable is not automatically removed. Under Local Government Code section 86.0021(b), a constable who fails to give…
Can a Texas county auditor sit in on a commissioners court's closed-session meeting with its attorney?
The Attorney General concluded a county commissioners court may let the county auditor attend a closed meeting, but only on conditions, and with a real risk attached. For a meeting closed under Govern…
Can a Texas county maintain a road the public uses but that was never officially made public?
The Attorney General concluded a county may spend public funds to build, improve, or maintain only a "public road," and may not maintain a private road, except for the narrow constitutional exception …
Can a Texas county commissioners court create its own courthouse police force?
Not on its own authority. The Attorney General concluded that article 102.017 of the Code of Criminal Procedure lets a commissioners court spend the courthouse security fund to pay for security servic…
Can a Texas county fax an elected officer the written notice of their proposed salary?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that section 152.013 of the Local Government Code requires only that the commissioners court give each elected county and precinct officer 'written notice' of the s…
Can a Texas county pay for a new groundwater conservation district's confirmation election?
The Attorney General concluded no. When the Legislature created the Kinney County Groundwater Conservation District, it set up a scheme in which the district's temporary board calls the confirmation e…
When a Texas county employee donates sick leave to a county pool, does its dollar value move with it?
The Attorney General concluded that under chapter 157, subchapter E of the Local Government Code, a value transfers along with sick-leave time as it moves from a contributing employee into the pool an…
Does a Texas county have to provide health insurance to an elected constable?
The Attorney General concluded that a county may provide health insurance to a constable but is not required to. The commissioners court has discretion to set reasonable eligibility rules, such as cov…
Can a Texas county hand its school-land duties to the local school district?
The Attorney General concluded that the Llano County Commissioners Court could not delegate to the Llano Independent School District its authority to sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of the county's …
Can a Texas county pay deputies for accrued vacation or comp time it didn't allow when the time was earned?
The Attorney General concluded no. Paying for accrued vacation or compensatory time that the county did not permit to be paid out when it accrued would be unconstitutional retroactive extra compensati…
Can a Texas county limit which employee groups qualify for dues payroll deduction?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Because a commissioners court is not required to set up a dues payroll-deduction program at all, it may set one up subject to reasonable standards, such as requirin…
Can a Texas county make a plat-revision applicant pay for the cost of the required public notice?
The Attorney General concluded no. A county can charge a fee only when a statute or the constitution expressly authorizes it, and no provision lets a commissioners court charge an applicant for the co…
Who controls the money when a Texas county prosecutor waives part of their state salary supplement?
The Attorney General concluded that funds from a county prosecutor's partial waiver of annual compensation under Government Code chapter 46 are received by the county, not the prosecutor, and are subj…
Can Texas district judges raise the county auditor's salary after the budget year has already started?
The Attorney General concluded yes. The district judges who appoint a county auditor and the assistant auditors may amend their salaries even after the county budget is approved and the new budget yea…
When can a Texas commissioners court or governmental body legally meet by telephone conference call?
The Attorney General concluded that section 551.125 allows a telephone conference call meeting only in a genuine emergency or public necessity where convening a quorum in one place is 'difficult or im…
Can a Texas county commissioner use county equipment to dig graves in a private cemetery?
The Attorney General concluded that an individual county commissioner may not use county labor and equipment to open and close graves in a private cemetery, even free of charge, because public labor a…
Can a Texas county require bidders to attend a mandatory prebid conference for a public works contract?
The Attorney General concluded that a county commissioners court could not condition acceptance of public-works bids on attendance at a mandatory prebid conference. The County Purchasing Act (chapter …
Can a private citizen be charged under the Open Meetings Act for lobbying county commissioners one at a time?
The Attorney General concluded that a private citizen who, on their own initiative, goes to county commissioners one by one to urge them to put an item on the agenda or to vote a certain way does not …
Can a Texas county change the name of a county road that already has a name?
The Attorney General concluded that a county commissioners court's power under Transportation Code section 251.013 to name public roads in unincorporated areas includes the power to rename a road that…
Can a Texas county treasurer appoint a deputy who can do everything the treasurer can?
The Attorney General concluded yes. A county treasurer may appoint a deputy treasurer under chapter 151 of the Local Government Code, provided the appointment follows that chapter's process, which run…
Can a Texas county commissioners court handle purchasing, or hire staff for it, when no county purchasing agent has been appointed?
The Attorney General reached several conclusions for Parker County. A commissioners court may employ people to conduct county business even without specific statutory authority, as long as those emplo…
Can a Texas sheriff join a multi-county tactical response team and send deputies to help other counties without the commissioners court's approval?
The Attorney General concluded that, as described, the Midland County Sheriff had no authority to organize or join the STAR mutual-aid tactical team. The general power to make contracts binding a coun…
Can a Texas county quietly raise elected officials' salaries by more than the amount in the public notice?
The Attorney General concluded that section 152.013(b) of the Local Government Code requires a commissioners court to publish notice of the maximum proposed salary increases for elected county and pre…
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Attorney general opinions in Texas are written by the Texas 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.