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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If voters reject a hospital district's proposed property tax increase, does the district's taxing law conflict with the Tax Code, and does the county have to take over indigent care?
No conflict, and no county takeover. A hospital district's authority to levy a property tax (up to 75 cents per $100) and the Tax Code's truth-in-taxation rule that lets voters reject a rate increase …
Can a Texas public board use boilerplate agenda language to slip into a closed session, and can it meet privately to discuss hiring a law firm?
Two answers. First, no: generic boilerplate on every agenda saying the board 'reserves the right' to go into executive session is not enough notice, by itself, to alert the public that a particular su…
Can a Texas emergency services district that used to be a rural fire prevention district run a county-wide ambulance service?
Yes, generally. The Johnson County district was created in 1956 as a rural fire prevention district, but in 2003 Health and Safety Code section 775.026 converted every such district into an emergency …
Can a Texas public facility corporation buy property for tax-exempt leases outside its sponsoring district's boundaries?
A court could conclude yes, the AG said, but with caveats. Senator Bettencourt asked whether a public facility corporation (PFC) created under Local Government Code chapter 303 can acquire real proper…
If a Texas city annexes land inside a county assistance district, does the district lose that territory?
No. The AG concluded that a county assistance district's boundary is fixed as of the creation election and does not recede when a city later annexes overlapping land. Senator Charles Perry asked five …
When a Texas water district builds roads for a county to take over, who sets the construction standards and can the county delay acceptance with a warranty period?
The county sets the standard, within statutory limits, and may impose a warranty period that meets those limits, the AG concluded. Senator Eddie Lucio asked, for the Bastrop County Water Control and I…
Can a Texas drainage district levy its own flood-control tax without a voter election?
No, the AG concluded, and the county can't raid those funds either. The Jackson County Criminal District Attorney asked three questions about the split of authority between the Jackson County County-W…
Can the temporary directors of a new Texas groundwater conservation district cancel the election that would confirm the district?
Almost certainly not, the AG concluded. A Texas House committee chair asked about the Southwestern Travis County Groundwater Conservation District, whose seven temporary directors cancelled the May 20…
Can a Texas city remove the board member it appointed to a regional water district before the term ends?
State Representative Jim Keffer asked the AG whether a member city of the North Texas Municipal Water District may remove or replace, at its discretion and with or without cause, a director it appoint…
Can a county attorney's employee serve on a water district board if the attorney represents that district?
The Jim Hogg County Attorney asked the AG whether section 49.052 of the Water Code disqualified one of his office employees, an investigator paid by the county, from serving on the board of a water co…
Can a Texas river authority ban open carry of handguns in its parks?
No. The AG concluded that the broad rulemaking power a river authority has over its water-related parks (Parks and Wildlife Code chapter 25) does not let it ban the open carry of handguns, because Pen…
Can one Texas water district contract away its budget and operating powers to another district?
The AG explained that a governmental entity, including a water district, cannot delegate its legislatively entrusted authority to another entity unless the Legislature has authorized it, and cannot ba…
Can a Texas hospital district board create a vice-chair position its enabling law doesn't mention?
The AG concluded that a court would likely find the vice-chair position on the Maverick County Hospital District board valid. Although chapter 1118 of the Special District Local Laws Code requires onl…
Can Texas create a second emergency services district over the same area to raise more property tax?
A House committee chair asked whether Texas can create a second emergency services district (ESD) covering the same area as an existing one, offering the same services, just to collect more property t…
Can a Texas hospital district sell its hospital and lease it back?
The Attorney General concluded that the Angleton-Danbury Hospital District may sell a hospital facility to a third party and then lease it back to keep providing care for the district's needy resident…
Who prosecutes violations of a Texas water district's criminal rules?
The Attorney General concluded that who prosecutes a violation of a water control and improvement district's criminal regulation under chapter 51 of the Water Code depends on the court where the citat…
Can emails between Texas government board members violate the Open Meetings Act?
It depends on the facts. The Attorney General concluded that electronic communications, including email, among members of a Texas governmental body can amount to a 'deliberation' and a 'meeting' that …
How can a Texas hospital district set a property tax rate again after going years without levying any tax?
The Attorney General had no clean answer, because the Tax Code does not provide one. The Amarillo Hospital District had not levied a property tax since 1996, when it sold its hospital and funded indig…
If two Texas groundwater districts both annex the same land, which one gets to regulate and tax it?
The Attorney General could not definitively answer, calling it an apparent question of first impression. Two groundwater conservation districts had each annexed the same roughly 14,202 acres in Caldwe…
Can a Texas water authority use the Tax Code's effective-rate and rollback procedures to set its tax rate?
No. The Attorney General concluded that under section 49.107(g) of the Water Code, the South Texas Water Authority (STWA) is prohibited from using the procedures in sections 26.04, 26.05, and 26.07 of…
Can a Texas multi-jurisdictional library district levy a property tax without a constitutional amendment?
Probably not. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission asked whether a multi-jurisdictional library district created under Local Government Code chapter 336 can assess and collect ad valorem (p…
Can a Texas airport authority that voters created but never activated still appoint its board years later?
Yes. Kerr County voters approved creation of the Kerr County Airport Authority in 1970, but the city and county never appointed the board, and the airport kept being run by a joint board instead. Thir…
Can a Texas county pay the operating costs of a local water district?
The Mills County Attorney asked whether the county could fund the Fox Crossing Water District, which gets all of its operation and maintenance money from the county instead of levying its own taxes, f…
Can a Texas river authority give over-65 lakefront leaseholders a discounted, frozen lease rate?
The Brazos River Authority, which leases lakefront property around Possum Kingdom Lake to private individuals, asked whether it could give lessees over 65 a 10% discount off current lease rates and fr…
Can a Texas hospital district house and manage a private imaging business inside its own hospital?
Yes, with conditions. The Attorney General concluded that the Angleton-Danbury Hospital District had implied authority under Special District Local Laws Code chapter 1002 to house and manage a private…
Can a Texas water district director who owns a real estate, development, or construction business have a conflict of interest?
The board of the Bandera County River Authority and Groundwater District asked whether directors who own (or whose close relatives own) real estate, property-development, or construction businesses ha…
Who decides whether a Texas navigation district's board members get retirement and medical benefits, the district board or the county commissioners court?
This 2004 opinion concluded the district board itself decides, because the county commissioners court's authority under Water Code section 62.070 covers only monetary pay, while sections 60.011 and 60…
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 city council member or county commissioner also serve on a Texas groundwater conservation district board?
The Attorney General concluded that no, in most cases. A person who already holds a compensated seat on the governing body of another local political subdivision (other than a county) could not also 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…
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…
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 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 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 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 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 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…
Can a Texas hospital district hold an election to raise the maximum tax rate set when it converted?
The Attorney General concluded that a hospital district governed by chapter 286 of the Health and Safety Code has no authority to hold an election to raise the maximum property tax rate its voters app…
Does a water district's resign-to-run rule apply to Edwards Aquifer Authority board members?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Water Code section 49.072 says a director of a district who becomes a candidate for another office is no longer qualified to serve, and chapter 49 applies to the Ed…
Can a Texas city or district that joined a regional 9-1-1 plan pull out of it on its own?
The executive director of the state 9-1-1 advisory commission asked three questions after the City of Corpus Christi tried to drop out of its regional 9-1-1 plan. First, can an emergency communication…
Is it constitutional for Texas to require water-district board members to own land in the district?
Sherry Robinson, the Waller County Criminal District Attorney, asked whether the land-ownership requirement for serving on a fresh-water-supply district board (Water Code section 53.063(2)) and a para…
Who runs the West Brazoria County Drainage District if the board election never happened?
The Attorney General concluded the Brazoria County commissioners court is still the district's governing board. A 1981 law was supposed to replace the commissioners court with a five-member board elec…
Can a Texas hospital district elect all its directors from single-member districts?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Chapter 286 of the Health and Safety Code let a hospital district elect all of its directors 'by place' from single-member districts, and those single-member distri…
Can a Texas commissioners court remove people it appointed to a county district board?
The Attorney General concluded that members of the governing boards of a county emergency services district, a rural fire prevention district, and the Comal County Water Oriented Recreation District a…
Can the Texas low-level radioactive waste authority base its impact-assistance fund on planning and implementation fees?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the board of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority cannot adopt a rule designating a percentage of its planning and implementation fees for i…
Can a Texas navigation district grant a tax abatement on land the county already abated, and for how long?
Only for a limited window. The Attorney General concluded that under chapter 312 of the Tax Code, the Property Redevelopment and Tax Abatement Act, only a county or a municipality can start a tax abat…
Can a Texas hospital district pay dues to join a chamber of commerce or nonprofit, or reimburse an official's membership?
No, the Attorney General concluded. The Dallas County Hospital District is a creature of limited authority, and nothing in chapter 281 of the Health and Safety Code authorizes its board to spend distr…
Can a Texas water district board member also be hired and paid as the district's manager?
The Attorney General concluded yes, in this case. The Duval County Conservation and Reclamation District ran on the powers of a water control and improvement district, and Water Code section 51.084 le…
Does a nonprofit that serves senior citizens have to follow the Open Meetings Act?
The Attorney General concluded no. The Parker County Committee on Aging was an ordinary nonprofit corporation formed under the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act, run by a board not chosen by city or co…
Can a Texas municipal utility district pay for park land with revenue notes instead of bonds?
Yes. In this 1990 opinion the Attorney General concluded that a municipal utility district created under article XVI, section 59 of the Texas Constitution and operating under chapter 54 of the Water C…
Can a city council remove the person it appointed to a regional water district's board of directors?
In this 1990 opinion the Attorney General concluded that the Garland city council could not remove its appointed representative on the board of directors of the North Texas Municipal Water District un…
Which groundwater district could tax severed mineral interests when surface owners annexed their land into a neighboring district?
The Santa Rita district retained taxing authority over separately owned severed mineral interests when only the surface owners petitioned to annex their land into the Glasscock County district. A mine…
Can a Texas county pay a rural fire prevention district or a volunteer fire department to provide fire protection, and does creating a fire district take away the county's own fire protection power?
Yes, according to this 1990 opinion. The Attorney General concluded a county keeps its authority to provide fire protection even after a rural fire prevention district is created covering the same are…
Two different 1989 Texas laws changed the required wording for a special-district real estate disclosure notice. Which version do sellers have to use?
According to this 1990 opinion, a seller who uses the notice wording required by Senate Bill 1207 satisfies both bills, because Senate Bill 1207's changes already include the standby-fee language Hous…
Does a Texas emergency services district have to provide fire and ambulance service to tax-exempt property, like a port or public school, inside its boundaries?
Yes. In this 1989 opinion the Attorney General concluded that an emergency services district organized under article 2351a-8, V.T.C.S., may not deny its services to tax-exempt entities located within …
Can a Texas rural fire prevention district take out a bank loan repaid from property taxes without holding an election?
No. In this 1989 opinion the Attorney General concluded that a rural fire prevention district cannot borrow money repayable from ad valorem taxes to be collected in future years unless the district's …
Can a Texas seawall commission use its tax funds to build a public beach?
Generally no. In this 1989 opinion the Attorney General concluded that the Matagorda County-Palacios Seawall Commission has no authority to spend its funds to construct or create a public beach unless…
Can a Texas 9-1-1 emergency communication district raise its service fee above the rate stated on its ballot without holding another election?
Not safely. In this 1989 opinion the Attorney General concluded that because the Denton County district's 1987 confirmation ballot promised a fee 'not to exceed three percent' of the base rate, an att…
When a Texas water control district dissolves, can the county take over its dams and keep the leftover tax money?
Yes, by contract. In this 1989 opinion the Attorney General concluded that Brazos County could contract with a water control and improvement district that was dissolving to continue carrying out the d…
In Texas, can a county commissioners court create a single-county underground water conservation district, or only the state water agency?
Only the state agency. In this 1989 opinion the Attorney General concluded that the Texas Water Commission is the only governmental body with jurisdiction to create an underground water conservation d…
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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.