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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Are executive management search consultants regulated by Texas even though they don't need a certificate of authority?
Yes, in part, the Attorney General concluded. Under the Personnel Employment Services Act, a management search consultant is a type of personnel service. Section 2(b) exempts these consultants only fr…
Who counts as a 'team physician' under the Texas athletic trainer licensing law?
Only a medical doctor, the Attorney General concluded. The term 'physician' in section 1(1) of the athletic trainer statute (article 4512d) refers to a person licensed by the State Board of Medical Ex…
Can a Texas chiropractor call themselves a 'chiropractic physician'?
The board can allow it. In this 1990 opinion the Attorney General concluded that the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners has authority to adopt a rule permitting its licensees to use the title 'chir…
Does a nonprofit like AARP need a state license to run a paid driver safety course in Texas?
Yes. In this 1990 opinion the Attorney General concluded that a private, nonprofit organization that charges a fee (here, $8) for a driver safety course falls within the definition of a 'commercial dr…
If a Texas psychologist is exempt from licensing but chooses to get licensed anyway, does the state board have authority over them?
Yes. In this 1990 opinion the Attorney General concluded that a person who voluntarily obtains certification or licensure under the Psychologists' Certification and Licensing Act becomes subject to al…
If a boarding home is registered with a local mental health authority in Texas, does that automatically exempt it from Texas Department of Health licensing as a personal care home?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that merely being registered under the mental health boarding home statute does not, by itself, bring a facility within the Health an…
Can a Texas city require its outside security guard contractors to provide health insurance to their employees as a condition of winning the contract?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded that requiring contractors to provide employee health insurance benefits has no direct relation to the quality of security guard serv…
Can a Texas city require its own license, tax, or bond from an air conditioning contractor who already has a state license?
No, for license taxes, occupation taxes, and bond requirements. The Attorney General concluded that state law (V.T.C.S. art. 8861) makes a state license valid statewide and preempts municipalities fro…
Can a Texas chiropractor advertise that he performs physical therapy if he isn't a licensed physical therapist?
Yes, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded the Physical Therapy Act completely exempts licensees of other state health-care boards, including chiropractors, so a licensed chir…
Does a licensed commercial shrimper in Texas need a separate finfish license to legally sell fish caught while shrimping?
No, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded the captain and paid crew of a licensed commercial shrimp boat only need the general commercial fisherman's license, not an additiona…
Can a Texas state agency make you pay a fine to settle a license case if no statute lets it fine you?
No. In this 1989 opinion the Attorney General concluded that the Commissioner of the Texas Department of Labor and Standards could not require an auctioneer to pay a civil penalty to the state to sett…
Which Texas agency licensed noncommercial applicators using restricted termiticides for structural pest control?
The Structural Pest Control Board. The Attorney General concluded that the Board, not the Department of Agriculture, had authority to license, certify, and regulate noncommercial applicators using res…
In Texas, who controls bail bonds in a county, the sheriff or the county bail bond board, and how far does the board's power reach?
In this 1989 opinion the Attorney General sorted out the roles. The county bail bond board makes the rules and licenses bondsmen, but its authority is limited to the powers the bail bond statute (arti…
In Texas, does a for-profit trade school need state higher-education approval to award associate degrees?
In this 1989 opinion the Attorney General concluded that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) does not have exclusive jurisdiction over proprietary (for-profit) schools that award only so-called non-acade…
Can Texas require out-of-state dental labs that do business in the state to register with the Board of Dental Examiners?
In this 1988 opinion the Attorney General concluded that a 1987 amendment requiring every dental laboratory doing business in Texas, including out-of-state labs, to register annually with the Texas St…
Can a licensed cosmetologist in Texas trim beards and mustaches, or is that reserved to barbers?
In this 1988 opinion the Attorney General concluded that a licensed cosmetologist has no statutory authority to shave and trim beards. The barbering statute (article 8407a) expressly includes shaving,…
Can the Texas Racing Commission limit how many horse racing track licenses it hands out, or issue a track license without wagering rights?
In this 1988 opinion the Attorney General told the Racing Commission no on all three counts. The Commission cannot set a numerical cap on how many class 2 or class 3 horse racing track licenses it wil…
Could Texas barber-board members or inspectors take board exams, attend barber school, or work as part-time barber teachers?
A board member could not take a licensing or certification exam administered by the board, and a barber inspector could not work for pay as a barber-school teacher. An inspector's enrollment in a barb…
Did a licensed Texas air-conditioning contractor need a professional engineer's seal for system design work authorized by the contractor licensing law?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the Air Conditioning Contractor License Law created a specific exception to the broader Engineering Practice Act for design work that licensed air-conditioning …
Could a registered Texas fire-sprinkler contractor subcontract system work to an unregistered contractor or unlicensed individual?
The subcontractor had to satisfy article 5.43-3's registration requirements unless a narrow exemption applied. The State Board of Insurance could also adopt rules barring registered contractors from s…
Could Texas deny a chiropractor a reciprocal license solely because the chiropractor's home state used basic-science exams instead of required college courses?
Not automatically. Texas could consider its college-course requirements when evaluating reciprocity, but the other state's standards needed to be substantially equivalent rather than identical, and th…
Could Texas health officials regulate a self-employed massage instructor as a massage school and require registration details in every advertisement?
No to both blanket rules. JM-609 said the statute allowed instruction by independent instructors and did not authorize the proposed all-advertising disclosure, although the department could reasonably…
Does the Texas insurance regulator have to act when a workers' compensation insurer fails to provide required workplace accident-prevention services?
Yes, on the licensing side. JM-561 concluded that section (c) of article 5.76-1 is mandatory: if the State Board of Insurance determines, after a hearing, that an insurer is not maintaining or providi…
Can Texas regulate out-of-state mail-order pharmacies that ship prescriptions to Texas residents, and does that violate the Commerce Clause?
Partly, and no. JM-555 concluded that the Texas State Board of Pharmacy cannot license pharmacies physically located outside Texas, because it cannot inspect out-of-state facilities. But under section…
Could a Texas city opt out of the state vehicle-storage licensing law, and could the state agency set storage fees?
JM-483 said no to both. It found the city opt-out provision unconstitutional because it let a city suspend a general state law, and it found no statutory authority for the agency to regulate vehicle-s…
Could the Texas labor commissioner set a mandatory pay scale for boxing referees, judges, and other ring officials?
No. JM-465 concluded that the commissioner's power to license and regulate boxing officials did not include authority to set their pay without a specific legislative grant.
Could a nurse licensed as both an RN and an LVN serve on the Texas Board of Vocational Nurse Examiners?
No. The Attorney General concluded that article 4528c barred an LVN member from also being a registered nurse and barred the registered-nurse member from also being an LVN. A person holding both licen…
Could the Texas accountancy board require CPA applicants to provide character references from people who lived in Texas?
Not without a substantial justification closely related to the discrimination. JM-348 said the facially neutral Texas-resident reference rule burdened nonresidents and could not survive the Privileges…
Could a Texas city-county public health district issue licenses, charge fees, and fine people for violating district rules?
Only in part. JM-336 found that a public health district could charge fees for public health services within section 4.08's limits, but lacked specific authority to issue licenses or impose fines for …
Could the Texas highway department require every motor vehicle dealer to use a corporate surety bond for licensing?
No. JM-215 concluded that the 1984 law required a good and sufficient $25,000 bond but did not authorize the department to accept only corporate surety bonds. The department could still decide whether…
Could a Texas city charge plumbers a registration fee before they worked in the city?
It depended on what the ordinance regulated. JM-210 concluded that a city could require registration of a plumbing business, but could not use an ordinance to regulate the plumbing occupation or indiv…
Could the Tarrant County Bail Bond Board cap the number of bail bond licenses issued in the county?
No. JM-206 concluded that article 2372p-3 required licenses for qualified applicants and did not authorize the board to set a numerical ceiling. The board could administer statutory qualifications but…
Were Texas Medical Board rules limiting where and how acupuncturists could practice constitutional?
JM-125 concluded that four rules were facially invalid because their office-location, one-supervisor, billing, and name-tag restrictions lacked a rational relationship to protecting public health.
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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.