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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Is the Texas Border Health Institute a state agency that has to follow open meetings, public records, and state procurement rules?
This 2004 opinion concluded the Border Health Institute is neither a true state agency nor a local political subdivision, a hybrid entity, but it must still comply with the Open Meetings Act and Publi…
Can a homeowners association or developer foreclose on a Texas home for unpaid HOA fees even though homestead law protects homes from creditors?
Yes, this 2004 opinion concluded that under Inwood North Homeowners' Ass'n v. Harris and its later reaffirmation in Brooks v. Northglen Ass'n, a developer may impose a covenant lien on land before it …
Can Texas Indian tribes legally run casino-style gambling or video lottery terminals on their land?
As of this 2004 opinion, no. The two federally recognized tribes then covered by the special Restoration Act, the Alabama-Coushatta and the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, were barred from operating video lott…
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 home-rule city extend the life of a tax increment financing reinvestment zone past the deadline in its original ordinance?
No, according to this 2004 opinion. Because tax increment financing is a narrow constitutional exception to the equal-and-uniform taxation rule that exists only through legislative authorization, and …
Does a paralegal or legal assistant working under a Texas attorney need a private investigator license to gather evidence or information for a case?
No, according to this 2004 opinion. Because attorneys practicing law are exempt from the Private Security Act, and their employees who investigate on the attorney's behalf are working in connection wi…
If a licensed Texas engineer seals a set of plans but their employer's firm isn't registered with the state engineering board, are the plans still valid?
Yes, according to this 2004 opinion. The Texas Engineering Practice Act ties the validity of a sealed engineering document to the individual engineer's license and seal, not to whether the engineer's …
Can a Texas district attorney also work as a paid part-time teacher at a community college?
Yes, according to this 2004 opinion. Because a community college instructor does not hold a constitutional civil office of emolument, teaching is not the practice of law, and neither the appointment, …
Can the Texas Office of Fire Fighters' Pension Commissioner charge volunteer fire departments a fee to help administer their retirement fund?
No, according to this 2004 opinion. Because the statute governing the Texas Statewide Emergency Services Retirement Act only lets the Commissioner pay administrative expenses from fund investment inco…
Are Texas hospitals protected from lawsuits if a Medicare patient is hurt by a flu or pneumonia vaccine given under a standing hospital order?
No, according to this 2004 opinion. Texas Health and Safety Code section 161.001(a) only shields vaccine administrators when the immunization is required by the Board of Health or by another law or ru…
Can the Texas governor sell part of Republic Square park in Austin to the federal government without a special act of the legislature?
Yes, according to this 2004 opinion, assuming the state still owns Republic Square. Texas Government Code chapter 2204 already lets the Governor sell state land or an easement to the United States for…
Can a Texas home-rule city's charter limit how often residents can petition for an election to adopt a property tax freeze for seniors or disabled homeowners?
Yes, according to this 2004 opinion. A home-rule city charter provision that caps special elections on voter-initiated ordinances at once every six months, and bars a repeat election on a defeated mea…
Can a Texas municipal management district use eminent domain to condemn private property?
It depends on which law created the district, according to this 2004 opinion. A municipal management district created under Local Government Code chapter 375 has no eminent domain power at all, chapte…
Can a Texas city pass a civil-penalty ordinance for any class C misdemeanor under Local Government Code section 54.012(5), or only for health and safety violations?
Only for health and safety matters, according to this 2004 opinion. Section 54.012(5) is not a stand-alone grant letting a municipality impose civil penalties for any conduct classified as a class C m…
If a Texas state agency cancels a request for proposal, can it return a bidder's confidential submission to the company that sent it?
No, according to this 2004 opinion. Materials a business submits in response to a state agency's request for offer are state records under chapter 441 of the Government Code, so the agency must keep t…
Can a Texas economic development corporation spend section 4B sales tax money on a youth football field?
It depends on the exact wording voters approved, according to this 2004 opinion. For Gun Barrel City specifically, the actual ballot proposition voters approved in 1997 authorized 4B sales tax spendin…
Could the Port Arthur Economic Development Corporation pay a $300,000 grant and sales-tax refund promised to a private retailer?
No on the facts presented. The city could not bind or spend money for the separate development corporation, the proposed grant and sales-tax refund were not a project under former law, and the EDC boa…
When does a newly elected Texas sheriff take office if they are replacing someone the Commissioners Court appointed to fill a vacancy?
On January 1 of the year following the election, according to this 2004 opinion. Even though the appointed incumbent's statutory term runs only until the next general election, article XVI, section 17…
Can a Texas city or county put its crime control and prevention district's money into the city's own general revenue fund?
No, according to this 2004 opinion. Local Government Code section 363.208 requires a crime control and prevention district's funds to sit in a special account in the creating city or county's deposito…
Can a Texas county use jail inmate labor to set up and tear down events at fundraisers the county co-hosts with a nonprofit organization?
No, according to this 2004 opinion. Code of Criminal Procedure article 43.10(4) only authorizes county inmate labor on the county's own public works and maintenance projects, and a nonprofit's fundrai…
Is the Texas grandparent visitation law constitutional after the Supreme Court's Troxel v. Granville decision?
Yes, according to this 2004 opinion. Family Code section 153.433 is constitutional on its face, but a court applying it must require the grandparent to overcome a presumption that a fit parent is acti…
Can a Texas district attorney's office keep forfeited property, like seized vehicles or cash, for its own use?
Yes, according to this 2004 opinion. A district attorney's office qualifies as a "law enforcement agency" under Code of Criminal Procedure article 59.01(5) because it employs peace officers, so an att…
Does a Texas licensing board have to offer online license renewal even when state law requires applicants to physically submit a paper document, like a health certificate?
Yes, according to this 2004 opinion. The State Board of Barber Examiners must participate in the TexasOnline electronic licensing system because the law requiring participation and the law requiring a…
Does Texas's Public Funds Investment Act limit how a municipal utility can invest nuclear plant decommissioning trust money?
No, according to this 2004 opinion, as long as the municipal utility holds the decommissioning trust funds only as a custodian to pay decommissioning costs on behalf of the selling utility's customers…
Can a Texas police officer take an off-duty job as a private security guard without breaking the law against public officials accepting honoraria?
Yes, according to this 2004 opinion. A commissioned peace officer's typical off-duty security work does not violate the Penal Code's honorarium ban, because employers hire the officer for training and…
Can someone with a sealed criminal record in Texas voluntarily let a federal background check see it anyway?
Not by waiving the order themselves, according to this 2004 opinion, since Texas law gives no one the power to waive a section 411.081(d) nondisclosure order. But the record can still legally reach an…
Can a Texas sheriff's civil service commission restrict who a sheriff is allowed to hire as a deputy?
Yes, according to this 2004 opinion. Unlike a county commissioners court, which cannot tell a sheriff whom to select, a civil service commission created under Local Government Code chapter 158, subcha…
Can the Texas board that licenses real estate appraisers add its own classroom-hour requirements for appraiser trainees?
No, according to this 2004 opinion. Occupations Code chapter 1103 lets the Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board set qualifications for certificate and license categories, but a trainee ho…
Could Weatherford College lease campus land on favorable terms to a Methodist-affiliated nonprofit for a student center and chapel?
Potentially. The college district had implied authority to lease land to a private nonprofit, including a religiously affiliated one, but the lease could not impair college use or surrender board cont…
Can a Texas school district discipline its own police officers without giving them a copy of a signed written complaint first?
No, according to this 2004 opinion. The Education Code rules on school district peace officers don't override the Government Code's complaint procedure, so a school district police department still ha…
Can a Texas county clerk also serve as a director of a river authority at the same time?
Yes, according to this 2004 opinion. Both jobs would normally count as a paid 'civil office of emolument,' which the Texas Constitution bars one person from holding two of at once, but Government Code…
Do neighborhood deed restrictions apply to land a Texas public university acquired by purchase or condemnation?
No, according to this 2004 opinion. Under Texas case law, deed restrictions and restrictive covenants don't bind a governmental entity, particularly one with condemnation power, on property it acquire…
Could a company legally broadcast a televised bingo game like BingoTV in Texas without a state bingo license?
No, according to this 2004 opinion. BingoTV met the legal definition of bingo, the company wasn't licensed to conduct bingo, and its television-and-online format didn't fit the narrow promotional exem…
Could a Texas county auditor approve payment on a contract awarded without following the County Purchasing Act?
A county auditor who determined that a contract violated the County Purchasing Act had to reject payment claims under section 113.065. The contract was not automatically void from inception, but a cou…
Can a Texas municipal fire and police civil service commissioner be reappointed to a second consecutive term?
No, according to this 2004 opinion. A civil service commissioner counts as holding a 'public office,' and the statute bars appointing anyone who has held a public office within the preceding three yea…
Can a Texas district court's courtroom be moved to a different spot within the county seat city, not just the original historic town site?
Yes, according to this 2004 opinion. The Texas Constitution requires district courts to sit at the 'county seat,' but that term isn't frozen to the original founding-era acreage; a 1987 statute confir…
Did the Kerr County judge have to conduct mental-health hearings at the state hospital, and could the county offset the judge’s salary supplement?
Kerr County’s constitutional county court and county court at law had concurrent Mental Health Code jurisdiction, and hearings could—but generally did not have to—occur at Kerrville State Hospital. On…
Can a Texas county's civil service plan give deputy district clerks job protection if a separate state law says they serve at the district clerk's pleasure?
No, according to this 2004 opinion covering Hidalgo, Jefferson, and Nueces counties. A specific Government Code provision making those deputies at-will employees of the district clerk overrides the ge…
Can a Texas county create an emergency services district and vote on its sales tax at the same election?
No, according to this 2004 opinion. Health and Safety Code chapter 776 requires the district to exist first and appoint its board before that board can call a separate election to adopt a sales and us…
Does a water district board member lose their seat if a relative works for the private company that runs the district's water system?
No, under the facts presented. The Attorney General concluded that the word 'person' in Water Code section 49.052(a)(1), which disqualifies a board member related to a 'person providing professional s…
Who controls a body donated to a specific Texas medical school, and can the state Anatomical Board reassign it or ship it out of state?
It depends on which law the gift is made under. The Attorney General concluded that a body donated to an institution named in chapter 691 of the Health and Safety Code is 'received under' that chapter…
Can a Texas county lease a building to a private museum for $1 and agree to pay the upkeep and utilities for decades?
Partly. The Attorney General concluded that Midland County had authority under chapter 319 of the Local Government Code to acquire property for a museum and to lease it to the private Museum of the So…
Does a Breeders' Cup-style horse race qualify for the Texas Racing Act's special tax reimbursement meant for the Breeders' Cup?
No. The Attorney General concluded that 'the Great State Challenge,' an event modeled on the Breeders' Cup and held at Sam Houston Race Park, did not qualify as the 'Breeders' Cup races' under section…
Does a nonvoting member of a Texas appraisal district board count toward a quorum and can they serve as an officer?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a county assessor-collector who serves as a nonvoting member of an appraisal district board under Tax Code sections 6.03 and 6.04 is still counted in determini…
Does a Texas grand jury have to use a licensed court interpreter for a deaf or non-English-speaking witness?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a grand jury hearing is a 'criminal proceeding' for purposes of Government Code section 57.002, so when a witness who is deaf, hearing-impaired, or does not sp…
Can a budget rider redirect Texas historic-courthouse preservation money to restore a church or other non-courthouse building?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Rider 20 of the Texas Historical Commission's 2002-03 appropriation did not, by its terms, authorize spending Historic Courthouse Preservation Program funds on …
Can a state university professor be paid for serving on a school board, city council, or water district board in Texas?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a professor or instructor at a state university is not a 'schoolteacher' under the 2001 amendment to article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution. That ame…
Does a Texas community housing nonprofit automatically get a property tax exemption on the low-income rental housing it owns?
Not automatically. The Attorney General answered only in general terms because whether a particular organization qualifies is a question of fact the AG cannot decide. To be exempt under Tax Code secti…
In Texas, which officials have to file their signed anti-bribery statement with the Secretary of State?
Only state-level officers. The Attorney General concluded that the term 'state officer' in article XVI, section 1(c) of the Texas Constitution means officers whose jurisdiction covers the whole state …
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…
Does the Texas Court Reporters Certification Board have to certify real-time captioning specialists?
No. The Attorney General concluded that section 57.021(d) of the Government Code, which lets the Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing keep a list of people 'certified by the Court Reporte…
Can a Texas insurance carrier's attorney send workers' comp claim letters directly to a claimant who already has a lawyer?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a Texas Workers' Compensation Commission rule (28 Tex. Admin. Code 102.4(b)) requiring carriers, employers, and health care providers to send copies of all wri…
If a Texas municipal hospital authority leases part of its building to a private company, does the building stay exempt from property tax?
Not automatically. The Attorney General concluded that a hospital authority's building has to meet the 'exclusive public use' requirement to be exempt under article VIII, section 2 of the Texas Consti…
Can Texas's Rural Foundation use its money to fund rural programs that aren't health-related?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the Rural Foundation, the nonprofit corporation the Legislature created in chapter 110 of the Health and Safety Code, may only raise and spend money to finance …
What happens to a Texas groundwater conservation district when voters reject the election to confirm it?
The Attorney General worked through nine questions about the Southeast Trinity Groundwater Conservation District after voters in November 2001 rejected confirming it (and rejected a tax). The main con…
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…
Can a Texas business that already maxed out its enterprise project tax benefits get a second concurrent designation in the same zone?
No. The Attorney General concluded that under the Texas Enterprise Zone Act and Tax Code section 151.429, an 'enterprise project' is the discrete business entity located in a particular enterprise zon…
Can Texas require foreign-trained teachers to provide a 'Letter of Good Standing' from their home country to get certified?
Partly. The Attorney General concluded that the State Board for Educator Certification has authority to verify that a foreign educator's credential is in good standing, and may ask for a 'Letter of Go…
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 city council ban its own members from serving on the volunteer fire department?
The Attorney General concluded that a type A general-law city (Cockrell Hill) had no authority to adopt a resolution barring its mayor or council members from also serving in the city's volunteer fire…
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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.