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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Does a Texas home warranty company need both a Real Estate Commission license and a state licensing department registration?
The Attorney General concluded that two Texas statutes regulate two different kinds of service contracts and do not overlap. Article 6573b (the Residential Service Company Act) requires a license from…
Can you expunge your arrest record after deferred adjudication probation in a Texas county court?
The Attorney General concluded that a person who pleaded guilty to a class C misdemeanor in a county criminal court, paid a fine, and was placed on deferred adjudication probation is not entitled to e…
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 …
If a city council member automatically resigns by running for another office, must the city hold a special election to replace them?
The Attorney General concluded that when a home-rule city has extended its council terms beyond two years, a vacancy created by a member's automatic resignation must be filled by a special election, n…
Does writing 'signed under duress' on a traffic ticket get you out of going to court?
The Attorney General concluded that writing protest words such as 'forced to sign under threat, duress and coercion' next to your signature on a traffic ticket changes nothing. Traffic law is public l…
Can Texas state agencies buy goods through online reverse auctions?
The Attorney General concluded that a 'reverse auction,' where prequalified vendors watch each other's prices fall and keep underbidding online, is not the sealed-bid competitive bidding Texas law req…
Can a state vendor count purchases from a minority-owned broker toward its HUB goal?
The Attorney General concluded that the Texas Lottery Commission may count a vendor's purchases made through a HUB broker or 'pass-through' entity toward the vendor's good-faith historically underutil…
Who has final say over hiring at a Texas probation (CSCD) department, the judges or the director?
The Attorney General concluded that the district judges who manage a community supervision and corrections department, not the department director, hold the final authority to approve the people the d…
Does a public board's committee meeting become an open meeting if a quorum of the full board shows up?
The Attorney General concluded that a committee of the Edwards Aquifer Authority's board, normally not covered by the Open Meetings Act, becomes subject to the Act once enough other board members atte…
When does an arrested person become the county sheriff's responsibility in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that a person arrested by another law enforcement agency, and hospitalized because of that arrest, becomes the sheriff's responsibility the moment a magistrate issues a …
Is a public hospital district's building tax-exempt if it's leased to private doctors?
The Attorney General concluded that a building the Karnes County Hospital District owns but leases to private physicians for their own medical practice is not exempt from property tax. To qualify, the…
Can Fort Worth police and firefighters retire on pension for a line-of-duty injury under section 143.073?
The Attorney General concluded that Fort Worth's retirement fund, which covers all city employees, is not a 'fire fighter's or police officer's pension fund.' Because Local Government Code section 143…
Can a kid under 14 be hired to sign up newspaper subscribers in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that a child under 14 generally cannot be employed to solicit newspaper subscriptions, because Texas law classifies solicitation as a hazardous occupation closed to work…
Does a Texas state board have to follow the Open Meetings Act when its members attend a legislative hearing?
The Attorney General concluded that when a quorum of a state board attends a legislative committee hearing and one or more members joins in discussing matters within the board's jurisdiction, the gath…
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 …
Who is the 'judicial officer who collected the fees' for Texas time-payment fee funds, the clerk or the judge?
The Attorney General concluded that the 'judicial officer who collected the fees' in Government Code section 51.921(d) is the court clerk who actually receives time-payment fees under subsection (a), …
If a Texas county drops out of the county-court judge salary program midyear, does it still get its share of the money?
The Attorney General answered two questions about a county that stops collecting the section 51.702 court fees in the middle of a program year. First, the Comptroller does not have to keep sending tha…
Can an out-of-state nonprofit be certified as a nonprofit health organization by the Texas Medical Board?
The Attorney General concluded that the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners may certify only nonprofit corporations chartered under the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act, not foreign (out-of-state) …
Do Texas manufactured-home dealers and installers need a license to buy refrigerants?
The Attorney General concluded that manufacturers, retailers, rebuilders, and installers of manufactured homes are exempt from the entire Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractor License Law (art…
Can Texas change how state employees are paid for unused vacation accrued years earlier?
The Attorney General concluded that state employees do not have a vested constitutional right to the particular formula the state once used to value their accrued vacation when they leave. Even assumi…
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…
Could a Texas county grant a tax abatement to a business that leased tax-exempt real property in a reinvestment zone?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Tax Code section 312.206(a) allowed a county to make the derivative tax-abatement agreement only with the owner of taxable real property. A leaseholder of tax-e…
Does claiming a property tax exemption trigger the agricultural rollback tax on Texas open-space land?
The Attorney General concluded that qualifying agricultural open-space land for a youth-development-association tax exemption under Tax Code section 11.19 does not, by itself, count as a change of use…
Can someone employed outside a local workforce board's area serve as its private-sector member?
The Attorney General concluded that a person is not ineligible to serve as a private-sector representative on a local workforce development board just because the person is employed outside the board'…
Can a Texas county pay part of its retirees' health insurance premiums indefinitely?
The Attorney General concluded that COBRA does not require or authorize a county to pay any part of a retiree's health insurance premiums or to keep coverage going indefinitely. And a county may not a…
Can a bingo equipment maker and distributor agree on the price charged to charities in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that a manufacturer and a distributor of bingo equipment may not agree, expressly or by implication, on the price at which the distributor will sell or lease that equipm…
Can a Texas road district borrow against future road fees to repay a loan over several years?
The Attorney General concluded that Bastrop County Water Control and Improvement District No. 2, which holds the powers of a road district under article III, section 52 of the Texas Constitution, had …
Can a Texas city pay legal fees for council members prosecuted for Open Meetings Act violations?
The Attorney General concluded that a city council member is disqualified from voting on a resolution to pay his or her own legal fees, or the fees of another member indicted on the same facts for the…
Does a Texas city incumbent keep the seat after winning only a plurality pending a runoff?
The Attorney General concluded that when a home-rule city requires a majority vote and an incumbent wins only a plurality, the incumbent does not automatically lose the seat. Article XI, section 11 re…
Can a Texas county clerk charge extra to find records on top of the $1 per copy fee?
The Attorney General concluded that for a request for 50 or fewer noncertified pages located in one (non-remote) building, a county clerk may charge only the statutory $1 per page or part of a page. T…
Can a Texas county development district levy property taxes or build subdivision infrastructure?
The Attorney General concluded that a county development district created under chapter 383 of the Local Government Code cannot levy ad valorem (property) taxes. Chapter 383 grants only a voter-approv…
Can a Texas city or county hire a company on commission to find untaxed property?
The Attorney General concluded that a business may legally be organized to locate property omitted from the appraisal rolls, but no taxing unit, including a home-rule city, may contract with such a bu…
Can a Texas judge order police to escort a domestic violence offender back home to get belongings?
The Attorney General concluded that the Family Code and Code of Criminal Procedure neither expressly allow nor forbid a judge to put such an escort in a protective order, so it falls within the judge'…
Can a Texas county repair private gated-community roads if the city asks and the county is reimbursed?
The Attorney General concluded that a commissioners court could not enter an interlocal agreement with a city to repair roads that are private and closed to the public, even with full reimbursement. P…
Which Texas county pays for mental health commitment hearings when another county's hospital holds them?
The Attorney General concluded that the county that initiates emergency detention, or, if none was initiated, the county that accepts the court-ordered mental health application or issues a protective…
Can a Texas heavy equipment dealer get back inventory taxes prepaid in a year they didn't owe?
The Attorney General concluded that the tax assessor-collector had no authority to take or escrow the dealer's payments, since a dealer not in business on January 1 owes no inventory tax and may not r…
Can a Texas board continue a closed executive session to the next day under the Open Meetings Act?
The Attorney General concluded that a governmental body may continue a closed executive session only until the following day, not to a later date. To resume it, the body must first reconvene in open s…
Who collects old unpaid Texas 911 emergency service fees, the Comptroller or the 911 Commission?
The Attorney General concluded that, under House Bill 1983's savings clause, the Comptroller (not the Commission on State Emergency Communications) has authority to collect a telecommunications provid…
Can a Texas city manager or city attorney see confidential police personnel files?
The Attorney General concluded that information made confidential by section 143.089(g) of the Local Government Code, the police or firefighter department personnel file, may be released to the city m…
Is a travel trailer on rented land taxed as real property or personal property in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that section 1.04(3)(B) of the Tax Code does not rule out, as a matter of law, treating a travel trailer on someone else's land as an 'improvement' taxable as real prope…
Does a Texas city have to bid out a contract for temporary garbage collection workers?
The Attorney General concluded that a city's contract with a temporary day labor agency for garbage collection workers can be exempt from competitive bidding under Local Government Code section 252.02…
Can a state licensing board withhold confidential records from a federal EEOC discrimination investigation?
The Attorney General concluded that it could not. Section 164.007 of the Occupations Code makes the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners' investigative files on license applicants confidential, but …
Can the funeral arrangements in a prepaid funeral contract be changed after the person dies?
The Attorney General concluded that section 711.002(g) of the Health and Safety Code lets a person give written directions for the disposition of their remains in a signed prepaid funeral contract, an…
Can a Texas water district charge you a sewer fee if you refuse to connect to its system?
The Attorney General concluded that the Lower Valley Water District could assess a necessary fee on property owners who were able to connect to its sewer system but chose not to. Under Water Code sect…
Can a defense attorney post a client's bail bond in municipal court on their bar card alone?
The Attorney General concluded no. A bar card only shows State Bar membership, so a municipal court must require an attorney who acts as a surety on a client's bail bond to show evidence of the suffic…
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 emergency services district adopt its own fire code, and what happens if a city or county code conflicts?
The Attorney General concluded that an emergency services district may adopt a fire code under Health and Safety Code section 775.036(b), but it must not conflict with the fire code of any overlapping…
Can a state licensing board inspect a podiatrist's office without a warrant?
The Attorney General concluded no. The Texas State Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners had adopted a rule letting it inspect podiatric practices on an unannounced basis, but the opinion found that ru…
Does a Texas county tax assessor-collector who collects the motor vehicle inventory tax still have to register with the state tax board?
The Attorney General concluded that taking the monthly reports and prepayments for the motor vehicle inventory tax is collecting taxes. An interlocal contract under Tax Code section 6.24(b) must requi…
Did the manufactured housing law give the state housing department power over unlicensed real estate brokers?
The Attorney General concluded that it did not. Section 6A of the Manufactured Housing Standards Act, added by House Bill 1193, does not give the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs new …
Can a Texas real estate appraiser fill out the FHA Valuation Conditions form without an inspector license?
The Attorney General concluded yes. A state licensed or certified real estate appraiser who has voluntarily qualified with HUD to perform FHA mortgage insurance appraisals is authorized to complete th…
Can someone serve as an elected constable and a city firefighter at the same time in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that the common-law doctrine of incompatibility does not bar one person from simultaneously serving as an elected constable and a municipal firefighter. The constitution…
Can a Texas sheriff keep drug-seizure reimbursement fees in a separate account and spend them at his own discretion?
The Attorney General concluded no. Money a sheriff collects when a judge orders a defendant to reimburse a law enforcement agency for analyzing, storing, or disposing of seized drug materials (Code of…
Can a dissolving Texas hospital district donate its tobacco settlement money to a city, and does dissolution require an election?
The Attorney General concluded two things. First, the Ranger Hospital District could not, as part of dissolving, transfer its tobacco settlement funds to the City of Ranger to buy an ambulance unless …
Can three members of a nine-member Texas state board pass or block a resolution, or does it take a majority of the whole board?
The Attorney General concluded that the 'affirmative vote of at least three directors' language in Agriculture Code section 58.014(b) does not let a three-member minority overrule a majority of the Te…
Who enforces Texas's rule against awarding architect and other professional-services contracts by competitive bid?
The Attorney General concluded that enforcement of the Professional Services Procurement Act is split among several officials. At the state level the Comptroller (and, as a backstop, the State Auditor…
Can a Texas Air National Guard officer be discharged for lacking professional qualifications based on a unit commander's policy letter?
The Attorney General concluded it was not illegal to discharge a member of the Texas Air National Guard under TANG Regulation 36-05 for 'lacking in professional qualifications or status,' even where t…
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 an area break away from a Texas community college district to form its own district, and how?
The Attorney General concluded that disannexing part of a junior (community) college district is possible only when a statute specifically authorizes it and only by the method the Legislature set. Non…
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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.