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 county's delinquent-tax-collection attorney donate money or equipment back to the county?
The Attorney General concluded that an attorney who is paid through the special delinquent-tax penalty under Tax Code section 33.07 may not donate money, personnel, or equipment to the county if the d…
Can a retired teacher return to a full-time job at the same school district when a relative sits on the school board?
The Attorney General concluded no. Texas anti-nepotism law generally bars a school board from hiring someone related to a board member within the prohibited degree. One exception protects an employee …
Can the Texas podiatry board redefine 'foot' by rule so podiatrists may treat the tibia and fibula?
The Attorney General concluded no. Texas law limits podiatry to treating a disease, disorder, injury, deformity, or ailment of the human foot. The Texas State Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners adop…
Can Texas require owners of surface-irrigation septic systems to keep an ongoing maintenance contract?
The Attorney General concluded yes. The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission rule requiring owners of surface-irrigation on-site sewage facilities to keep an ongoing maintenance contract is …
Can a Texas county give public funds to nonprofits that serve abused or at-risk children?
The Attorney General concluded that Kerr County generally had statutory authority to fund the children's nonprofits at issue. Family Code section 264.006 lets a county provide services to and support …
Does a Texas county have to pay assistant prosecutors longevity pay even if the state doesn't reimburse it?
The Attorney General concluded yes on all three points. A 2001 law (subchapter D of Government Code chapter 41, effective January 1, 2002) requires counties to pay assistant prosecutors a longevity su…
Can Texas pay Board for Evaluation of Interpreters members to evaluate interpreter candidates?
The Attorney General concluded no. The Board for Evaluation of Interpreters (BEI) has a statutory responsibility under Human Resources Code section 81.007 to evaluate and certify candidates for interp…
How do two Texas counties divide the taxable value of an oil and gas interest that crosses their shared boundary?
The Attorney General concluded that when a mineral interest is tied to surface land that crosses a county line, each county must separately appraise the market value of the interest only as it pertain…
Can the Texas Ethics Commission give out campaign finance reports on CD before all candidates have filed?
The Attorney General concluded that Election Code section 254.0401(b) keeps the Texas Ethics Commission from posting an electronically filed campaign finance report on the Internet until every candida…
What must a Texas hospital district charge nonindigent residents for medical care, and can it pay a private hospital to provide it?
The Attorney General concluded that a 2001 amendment to the Garza County Hospital District's enabling act now requires it to charge nonindigent residents the 'reasonable and customary cost' of medical…
Can a Texas county commissioner be reimbursed for using his personal vehicle on official county business?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Under Local Government Code section 152.011, the commissioners court sets compensation and travel expenses for county and precinct officers, including the commissio…
Can a Texas county reimburse a city for the cost of gifts the city already gave to legislators?
The Attorney General concluded no. The City of Gilmer bought golf towels inscribed with its logo and gave them to legislators during Upshur County Day, then asked Upshur County to pay back half the co…
Can the Texas A&M University System offer employees a nonqualified 457(f) deferred compensation plan involving a transfer of property?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Article 6228a-5, section 3(a) of the Texas Revised Civil Statutes lets a state agency, a term broad enough to include the Texas A&M University System, allow some or…
Can a Texas state representative also work as an assistant county attorney?
The Attorney General concluded no. Article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution bars a member of the Legislature from holding any other office or position of profit under the state. An assistant …
Can the Texas Commission on Jail Standards review a jail's construction blueprints before it is built?
The Attorney General concluded yes. The Commission's duty to inspect a facility and decide where fire sprinkler heads should not be placed includes examining blueprints for a structure not yet built, …
Can a Texas county bail bond board let an alternate sit in for the licensed bail bond surety member?
The Attorney General concluded no. Chapter 1704 of the Occupations Code lets several county bail bond board members send a designee, but not the licensed bail bond surety member elected by the other s…
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…
Can a Texas state university bank with a bank where one of its regents is an officer?
The Attorney General concluded no. Under the common-law conflict of interest rule, an officer or employee of a bank has a pecuniary interest in it, and when a regent of Texas Woman's University holds …
If land is sold mid-project, do the development rules locked in at the first permit still apply?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Under section 245.002 of the Local Government Code, the development regulations in effect when the original application for the first permit was filed stay with the…
Can a Texas property owner see the data a private firm used to appraise their property for taxes?
The Attorney General concluded yes, and the access is broad. Under section 25.195(a) of the Tax Code, an owner may inspect appraisal information held by the appraisal district, though that access can …
Can Texas let alcohol sellers scan a driver's license stripe to check age without breaking federal privacy law?
The Attorney General concluded that House Bill 3016, which lets private parties read the magnetic stripe on a driver's license to prevent underage alcohol sales and to comply with Alcoholic Beverage C…
Can the public see a provisional autopsy report held by a Texas justice of the peace?
The Attorney General concluded yes, but not through the Public Information Act. Records of the judiciary, including a justice of the peace's inquest files, fall outside chapter 552. A provisional auto…
Can a Texas veterinarian keep my pet until I pay the bill?
The Attorney General concluded a veterinarian generally cannot. A vet may have an equitable lien on an animal for the care provided, but that lien is not possessory, so the vet must return the animal …
Can a Texas city pay its fire department for emergency first-responder care inside a hospital district?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Article IX, section 9 of the Texas Constitution does not give a hospital district exclusive authority over emergency medical or First Responder services, and althou…
Does a Texas water district's payment to a city for utilities count taxes paid by businesses, not just households?
The Attorney General concluded that while a restaurant is not a 'household user' of water and sewer service, its owner may still be an 'owner of taxable property' under section 43.0761 of the Local Go…
Can the Texas Railroad Commission adopt its own rule requiring commissioners to recuse themselves in contested cases?
The Attorney General concluded the Railroad Commission could not adopt Rule 1.10, which the opinion read as mandatory rather than voluntary. The part requiring a commissioner who declined to recuse to…
Does a church that sells prepaid funeral or burial services need a permit from the Texas Department of Banking?
The Attorney General concluded a court would probably find chapter 154 of the Finance Code applies to the Archdiocese of San Antonio's sale of prepaid funeral benefits, because the Legislature repeale…
Can the Texas Department of Public Safety require licensing for off-road dirt bike rider training courses?
The Attorney General concluded the Department of Public Safety could not regulate off-road dirt-bike training courses. Its motorcycle operator training program under chapter 662 of the Transportation …
Does renting out part of your Texas home cost you the homestead property-tax exemption on that part?
The Attorney General read section 11.13 of the Tax Code to mean that renting part of your home to someone else is a use 'incompatible' with your residential use, so that rented portion loses the homes…
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 constable skip serving process because he has to attend every justice court session?
The Attorney General concluded that the two duties in section 86.021 of the Local Government Code, attending every session of the justice court and serving process, are independent and both must be pe…
Can a Texas nursing home donate unused prescription drugs to foreign countries instead of destroying them?
The Attorney General concluded that federal law does not bar Texas from letting nursing homes ship certain unused prescription drugs overseas, and does not preempt the state statute requiring rules fo…
Can a county health-benefits board meet in closed session to hear a complaint about its outside claims administrator?
The Attorney General concluded that the Open Meetings Act does not let the board meet in executive session to consider a complaint against its third party administrator. The Act's closed-session 'pers…
What can a 9-1-1 emergency communication district in Texas legally spend its money on?
The Attorney General concluded that an emergency communication district can spend money on things beyond the specific items the statute lists as allowable operating expenses, because the law says allo…
Do you need a Social Security number to get a Texas driver's license?
The Attorney General concluded that the Department of Public Safety must require every driver's license applicant who has a Social Security number to provide it, because federal law and the Texas Fami…
Is the Texas Railroad Commission required to run a program to keep electricity fuel costs low?
The Attorney General concluded that section 39.9048 of the Utilities Code does not require the Railroad Commission to start a program to keep the cost of fuel used to generate electricity low. That se…
Can a Texas hospital district appoint its own board members to the board of an HMO it created?
The Attorney General concluded that a hospital district's board of managers could appoint its own members to the board of a health maintenance organization the district had created. The dual-office ba…
How is a fresh water supply district created in Texas, and who can call the election?
The opinion was prompted by doubts about whether the Kaufman County Fresh Water Supply District No. 1 was validly created, but the Attorney General declined to decide that, both because it would requi…
When can a Texas district clerk give the jury list to the lawyers before trial?
The Attorney General concluded that in both civil and criminal trials the jury list must be given to both parties once they have announced ready for trial, the point Rule 224 and article 35.01 fix. Be…
Does a Texas plea taken by video teleconference have to be recorded on video?
The Attorney General concluded that the 'recording of the communication' that article 27.18 of the Code of Criminal Procedure requires when a court accepts a plea or waiver by closed circuit video tel…
Does a Texas city commissioner automatically resign by running for school board?
The Attorney General concluded that the office of trustee of a consolidated school district board is an 'office of profit or trust' under article XI, section 11 of the Texas Constitution. So a home-ru…
Did the 1999 amendments fix Texas's unconstitutional water quality protection zone law?
The Attorney General concluded that the 1999 amendments to section 26.179 of the Water Code did not save the statute. In FM Properties Operating Co. v. City of Austin (2000), the Texas Supreme Court h…
Can a Texas homeowner opt out of HOA deed restrictions changed under chapter 204?
The Attorney General concluded that a property owner cannot use the chapter 201 'exclusion statement' procedure to keep his property out of deed restrictions that a property owners' association added …
Can a Texas economic development corporation spend sales-tax money on a park voters didn't list?
The Attorney General concluded that the Industrial Development Corporation of the City of Sonora was not barred, as a matter of law, from using its section 4B sales and use tax proceeds for a proposed…
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 …
Do excused medical absences count toward the 90% attendance a Texas student needs to get class credit?
The Attorney General concluded that the 90 percent attendance requirement for class credit in section 25.092 of the Education Code applies to every student, even one who is exempt from compulsory scho…
Can a Texas county pay the employer payroll tax on a county judge's state salary supplement out of the state supplement itself?
The Attorney General concluded that a county could not use a county judge's $10,000 state salary supplement under section 26.006 of the Government Code to pay the employer's share of Social Security a…
Could a Texas felon who received a full pardon legally possess a firearm?
The Attorney General concluded that a felon who received a full, unconditional pardon was not subject to section 46.04 of the Penal Code, the statute that bars a convicted felon from possessing a fire…
Can a Texas district attorney sign a multiyear equipment lease that binds county funds?
The Attorney General concluded that a district attorney had no authority to sign a contract committing county funds, so a 51-month postal-meter lease that the prior DA had signed was void as a matter …
Could a Texas county hospital district give free or discounted health care to residents regardless of immigration status?
The Attorney General concluded that the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), specifically 8 U.S.C. 1621, barred the Harris County Hospital District…
If you can't pay the fines on several Texas Class C tickets, does the jail time run together or stack up?
The Attorney General answered three questions about people convicted of multiple Class C misdemeanors who could not pay their fines and court costs. First, if a person is already confined for defaulti…
If a Texas emergency services district overlaps a rural fire district, is its property tax capped at two cents?
The Attorney General concluded that when a proposed emergency services district in a smaller county would overlap with an existing rural fire prevention district, the commissioners court may only orde…
Can an employee of a private company that lives off a state contract still be paid as a Texas MUD board director?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution lets people who get all or part of their pay from state funds serve on local governing bodies like a municipal uti…
Do engineers working on federal defense contracts in Texas need a Texas state engineering license?
The Attorney General concluded that to the extent engineers practice engineering under contracts the federal government procured under its own procurement laws and regulations, which already let the g…
Can a Texas county pay its constables different salaries, and can it pay one almost nothing?
The Attorney General concluded that a commissioners court does not have to pay every constable the same. Salaries can vary between precincts when one constable has more extensive duties, for example b…
Does a senator filling in as Texas lieutenant governor have to serve on the redistricting board?
The Attorney General concluded yes. When the lieutenant governor's office is vacant, article III, section 9 of the Texas Constitution lets the Senate elect one of its own members to perform the lieute…
Can city police, not just the county sheriff, serve a mental-health emergency detention warrant in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that a municipal peace officer, as well as a county peace officer, may execute an emergency-detention warrant under section 573.012 of the Health and Safety Code and tra…
Can a Texas city force-sell my homestead if I don't pay a public improvement district assessment?
The Attorney General concluded that a city may collect delinquent public improvement district assessments using the same procedures it uses to enforce an ad valorem tax lien on real property, but not …
Can a Texas county commissioner also serve as a volunteer firefighter?
The Attorney General concluded yes, a county commissioner may serve as a volunteer firefighter for an unincorporated town in his county. Article XVI, section 40 of the Texas Constitution, which bars h…
If a Texas county grows past 8,000, does the combined district-and-county clerk lose office right away?
The Attorney General concluded that the offices do not split mid-term. Under the constitution and the Government Code, a county under 8,000 people elects a single 'joint clerk' to do both the district…
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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.