Virginia Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Virginia, with full citations and the original source on every page.
No Virginia opinions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Can a Virginia city council or board of supervisors block early in-person voting from starting on the 45-day mark?
No. State law makes the 45-day in-person absentee voting window mandatory for every election, and neither registrars, electoral boards, nor local governing bodies have any discretion to delay it. A bo…
Can a Virginia county that doesn't use a county-executive or county-manager form of government make homeowners retrofit existing outdoor lights to protect the night sky?
No for retrofits, yes for new development. Under Dillon's Rule, the only counties with express statutory authority to regulate residential exterior lighting are those operating under the county-execut…
Can the Town of Amherst, after an engineering study, unilaterally change the speed limit on a road within its town limits, even if that road is part of the state highway system?
Only on local roads. The AG concluded that § 46.2-1300(A)(1) and (A)(2) authorize a Virginia town to adjust speed limits only on roads it controls, not on state-system highways passing through town. V…
Can a Virginia city adopt local rules (a resolution or charter provision) that prohibit a council member who also works for the city from voting on the budget or personnel matters?
No. The AG concluded that the State and Local Government Conflict of Interests Act preempts local rules that try to impose their own voting disqualifications. The Act sets a uniform statewide standard…
Can a Virginia locality limit or refuse the property tax exemption for solar power systems?
Localities have no discretion to refuse the solar property-tax exemptions in §§ 58.1-3660 and 58.1-3661(A) or to limit how long those exemptions last. For solar PV projects of 5 MW or less, § 58.1-260…
Can the City of Alexandria ban gas-powered leaf blowers under its noise-control authority?
Yes. Although no Virginia statute expressly authorizes localities to regulate leaf blowers, the City of Alexandria's Charter grants the City the power 'to compel . . . the elimination of unnecessary n…
Can a Virginia city require its employees and elected officials to resign before running for office or seeking city employment?
No. Under Virginia's Dillon Rule, a locality may impose restrictions on who holds elective office only if the General Assembly first authorizes it. Article II, § 5 of the Virginia Constitution sets th…
Can a Virginia city or county pick its own courthouse security provider instead of the sheriff?
No. Under § 53.1-120, each Virginia sheriff is statutorily charged with ensuring 'that the courthouses and courtrooms within his jurisdiction are secure from violence and disruption' and with designat…
If I create a family subdivision in rural Virginia, do VDOT's highway access standards still apply to my new driveway entrance, or am I exempt because the lot is family-only?
VDOT's Access Management Design Standards still apply. A family subdivision is exempt from much of the local subdivision ordinance, but it is not exempt from state law. If the new entrance qualifies a…
When my Virginia general registrar's four-year term ends, does the electoral board have to reappoint the incumbent, or can it pick someone new?
The board does not have to reappoint the incumbent. State law gives the board discretion to pick someone else when the four-year term ends, but the decision must be on legitimate grounds, not politics…
Can my Virginia county or city require a special use permit, or just ban outright, the takeoff and landing of my private drone on my own property?
No. Virginia Code § 15.2-926.3 preempts almost all local regulation of private drone use. Localities can only regulate takeoffs and landings on property the locality itself owns. Counties and cities c…
Can my Virginia county block me from running a farm stay (short-term rental on my working farm) through the local zoning ordinance, or am I protected as an agritourism activity?
If your land is in an agricultural district, your operation meets the statutory definitions of farm and agricultural operation, and your guests are getting access to rural activities (not just a place…
Can a Virginia town ban office-based opioid treatment clinics through zoning, or only regulate where they can be located?
A Virginia town cannot use its zoning powers to completely prohibit office-based opioid treatment (OBOT) clinics anywhere within its boundaries because state law explicitly authorizes such clinics, an…
Can a Virginia public university require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to enroll or attend classes?
No. Absent specific authority conferred by the General Assembly, public institutions of higher education in Virginia may not require COVID-19 vaccination as a general condition of enrollment or in-per…
If a Virginia city or county signs a multi-year collective bargaining agreement that promises annual pay raises, is the locality legally bound to fund those raises every year?
Yes, with a major qualifier. A Virginia local government can sign a multi-year collective bargaining agreement promising employee pay raises across multiple fiscal years. But each year's raise is subj…
Can a Virginia county or city create a tax credit (real estate, personal property, or otherwise) for parents who homeschool or send their kids to private school?
No. Under Virginia's Dillon Rule, local governments only have the powers the General Assembly expressly grants them (or those necessarily implied or essential). The General Assembly has not authorized…
When a Virginia locality enacts a collective bargaining ordinance under § 40.1-57.2 for its public employees, can it require that a neutral Labor Relations Administrator be removed only by mutual consent of management and unions? Can the ordinance impose binding arbitration on non-financial bargaining impasses?
Yes to both. Under Va. Code § 40.1-57.2, a Virginia locality enacting a collective bargaining ordinance can require that a neutral Labor Relations Administrator be terminated before contract expiratio…
Can the Williamsburg Tourism Council exercise powers listed in its bylaws when the statute that created it doesn't expressly grant those powers, and can it sit inside the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance?
Yes, the Tourism Council may exercise the powers in its bylaws as long as those powers do not conflict with § 58.1-603.2 (or other state law) and reasonably serve the tourism-promotion purpose the Gen…
Can Prince William County levy a special school tax to build new schools, and what are the procedural rules around it?
Yes. Prince William County may levy a special county school tax under § 22.1-102 for capital expenditures, indebtedness, or rent. The county can choose lump-sum or major-classification appropriation, …
Can a Virginia city negotiate a binding arbitration clause in a collective bargaining agreement with its employees' union?
Yes. Under § 40.1-57.2 (effective May 1, 2021), a Virginia locality that authorizes collective bargaining can include in the agreement a grievance procedure culminating in final, binding arbitration. …
Can a Virginia city extend or pause the 5-day Virginia FOIA records deadline during the COVID-19 emergency?
No. Va. Code § 15.2-1413 (the continuity-of-government statute) does not give a locality power to modify or indefinitely extend the deadlines for responding to records requests under Va. Code § 2.2-37…
Can a Virginia school board adopt a policy that blocks board members from getting records the public could get under VFOIA?
In some cases, yes. A local school board policy that requires full-board endorsement before staff produces records to a board member conflicts with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act if the recor…
Do Virginia 'Second Amendment sanctuary' resolutions adopted by counties have any legal effect?
No. The Virginia AG concluded that local resolutions declaring exemption from anticipated gun violence prevention laws have no legal effect. Under the Virginia Constitution, the Code of Virginia, and …
Can a Virginia sheriff assign deputies to act as full-time security at a private school?
Not while on duty. The Virginia AG concluded a sheriff cannot dedicate on-duty deputies to permanent security for a private school, but the locality may adopt a § 15.2-1712 ordinance letting off-duty …
After Trinity Lutheran, can Virginia localities give grants or contributions to churches and church-affiliated charities, and can a locality be sued for refusing to?
Code § 15.2-953 generally still prohibits Virginia localities from contributing funds, gifts, or donations to charitable institutions controlled in whole or in part by any church or sectarian society,…
Can a Virginia county and town ban motorboats on private lakes used as their public drinking water supply, and impose penalties for violations?
Yes. Both Pittsylvania County and the Town of Chatham have police-power authority to prohibit the use of internal-combustion-engine watercraft on Cherrystone and Roaring Fork Lakes because the lakes s…
Does Virginia's three-fourths-vote rule for selling city property apply when a city grants the state a permanent easement to build a public monument?
No. The supermajority-vote rule and competitive-bid rule in Article VII, Section 9 of the Virginia Constitution and Code § 15.2-2100 did not apply when Richmond proposed to grant the Commonwealth a pe…
Could the Peninsula Airport Commission legally guarantee a private bank loan to People Express Airlines using public airport funds?
No. The Peninsula Airport Commission's guarantee of a $5 million bank loan to People Express Airlines was an extension of public credit covered by the Credit Clause in Article X, Section 10 of the Vir…
Can a Virginia city require pre-ADA commercial buildings to retrofit their doors with manual entry hardware for disability access?
No. The AG concluded a Virginia locality lacks authority to enact an ordinance requiring retrofitting of commercial buildings with manual entry door hardware where the buildings were constructed befor…
Can Augusta County build a new courthouse next door to the current one in Staunton without a new voter referendum, after the 2016 relocation vote failed?
No. The AG concluded that under § 15.2-1644 Augusta County may not build a new courthouse on land contiguous to the current Staunton location without voter approval, because the contiguous-property ex…
Can a Virginia county adopt an enterprise zone tax-reduction program for a zone in a town that used to be an independent city?
Yes. The AG concluded that § 58.1-3245.8(A) expressly empowered Bedford County to adopt an enterprise zone development taxation program for the zone in the Town of Bedford. The town's earlier status a…
Does VDOT have to repair a historic brick retaining wall along U.S. Route 50, and if it does, must it follow federal historic-preservation standards?
The AG concluded VDOT has sole administrative discretion over whether to repair and maintain a historic brick retaining wall within its right-of-way along U.S. Route 50 in Aldie. If VDOT chose to do t…
Must a Virginia county with a county-administrator form of government create a citizen-appointed library board to qualify for state library aid?
Yes. The AG concluded that Va. Code § 42.1-35, which requires a local library board appointed by the governing body, applied to Roanoke County. The county-administrator charter did not create an exemp…
Can a Virginia county tax boats by charging a license fee instead of personal property tax?
No. The AG concluded that counties had no authority under Virginia law to impose a license fee on boats in lieu of personal property taxes. The General Assembly had expressly authorized local license …
Can a Virginia circuit court clerk refuse to forward a court-appointed lawyer's pay request for missing a 'detailed accounting' of time?
The authority to decide whether a court-appointed attorney provided a 'detailed accounting' of time belongs to the presiding judge (or, where additional waivers are sought, the chief judge). The circu…
If a Virginia school bus stop-arm video camera captures a driver illegally passing, can the locality just mail the driver a summons, or does it have to be served in person?
It has to be served in person. AG Herring concluded that Va. Code § 46.2-844 (illegal passing of a stopped school bus) doesn't authorize service by mail, in contrast to § 15.2-968.1 ('photo red' viola…
Can a Virginia locality require that environmental mitigation for impacts to wetlands or streams within the locality be performed inside the locality's boundaries?
No. AG Herring concluded that Va. Code § 62.1-44.15:20(E) prohibits localities from instituting any policy, plan, or ordinance, including accepting voluntary proffers, that dictates where wetlands or …
What expenses are Virginia localities legally required to pay for their sheriff's offices, and can they net those obligations against revenue from prisoner processing fees and courthouse security fees?
AG Herring concluded each funding statute must be analyzed separately ('may' is permissive, 'shall' is mandatory). No Virginia statute lets a locality use prisoner processing fees (§ 15.2-1613.1) or c…
Can a Virginia sheriff assign deputies to work full-time security at a private hospital if the hospital pays the county for the cost?
No. AG Herring concluded a Virginia sheriff cannot dedicate deputies to provide full-time security at a private hospital, and the county cannot accept hospital funds to pay for it, because that's a pr…
Can a Virginia county or city ban fracking inside its borders, or does state law take that authority away?
Yes. AG Herring overruled a 2013 opinion and concluded that Virginia counties and cities can use their zoning power to prohibit fracking, because the Virginia Gas and Oil Act contains an unusual savin…
Can a Virginia school board add 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' to its nondiscrimination policy, or does the Dillon Rule block it?
Yes. AG Herring overruled a 2002 opinion and concluded that Virginia school boards' constitutional supervisory power over their schools fairly implies authority to prohibit sexual-orientation and gend…
Can a Virginia Industrial Development Authority run an airport, hire contractors to operate it, and rely on its lawyer's certification of authority?
No, with multiple layers. The opinion concluded that (1) the Louisa County Industrial Development Authority (IDA) lacks legal authority under the Industrial Development and Revenue Bond Act (Va. Code …
Can a Virginia city use its zoning ordinance to ban advertising signs on bicycles or bike trailers ridden on public streets?
No, not through zoning. The opinion concluded that the City of Virginia Beach does not have zoning authority to prohibit or regulate advertising signs on bicycles or bicycle trailers ridden on public …
Can Arlington County put the proposed Columbia Pike streetcar on the ballot as a non-binding advisory referendum?
No. The opinion concluded that Arlington County does not have authority to conduct an advisory referendum regarding the proposed 7.4-mile streetcar system (Columbia Pike and Crystal City segments). Un…
Can a Virginia city refuse a building permit until the landowner dedicates land for street widening and rebuilds the drainage ditch?
Only when the need is generated by the proposed development. The opinion concluded that a Virginia local governing body may require dedication of land for street widening and construction of drainage …
Can a Virginia city or county refund years of over-paid real estate taxes administratively, going back more than three years?
No. Va. Code § 58.1-3990 lets localities adopt an administrative-refund procedure but caps refunds at three years from the last day of the tax year. The City of Suffolk had refunded nine years of doub…
Can a Virginia county create a countywide service district to raise tax money for its share of a regional jail's operating costs?
No. The opinion concluded that Prince Edward County could not create a county-wide service district under Va. Code §§ 15.2-2400 through 15.2-2413 just to raise revenue for its share of an existing reg…
Can a Virginia county collect attorney fees from a property owner who paid off delinquent taxes before the property went to judicial sale, if no court order set the fees?
No. The judicial-sale collection statutes (Va. Code §§ 58.1-3965 and 58.1-3974) only allow recovery of attorney's fees that are 'set by the court.' If the suit was dismissed without an order setting t…
Can a Virginia county sign a contract with another state to inspect locally-built modular buildings for that state's building code?
No. Under the Dillon Rule, Virginia counties have only those powers expressly granted by the General Assembly or necessarily implied. No statute authorizes a county to contract with another state to i…
Can a Virginia county require a special use permit to dump off-site excavation soil and rock on a farm, even if the dirt is going to be used for an agricultural purpose?
Yes. The General Assembly amended Va. Code § 15.2-2288 in 2012 (ch. 455) to exempt off-farm-generated excavation material, waste, and debris from the agricultural-activities zoning exemption. Localiti…
Can a Virginia locality limit uranium mining to certain zoning districts, set stricter pollution standards, require extra bonds, or hold miners liable for property value loss?
No, on each. Virginia has a statutory moratorium on uranium mining, so localities cannot regulate something that isn't permitted. Even if the moratorium were lifted, federal law preempts nuclear safet…
Can a Virginia county's zoning ordinance treat the same zoning district differently based on which electoral district the parcel sits in?
No. Va. Code § 15.2-2282 requires all zoning regulations to 'be uniform for each class or kind of buildings and uses throughout each district.' Spotsylvania's February 2013 amendment authorizing layin…
Can Albemarle County ban all junk cars from residential yards unless they're inside a garage or hidden from view?
Yes. Va. Code § 15.2-905(A) gives Albemarle County (and other specified localities) two options for regulating inoperable vehicles on residential, commercial, or agricultural land: a total ban with an…
Can a Virginia county pay for school resource officers in private schools, including religious schools, alongside its public schools?
Yes. A county board of supervisors has broad police powers under Va. Code § 15.2-1200 to promote the safety of all county inhabitants, including children attending private schools. The county can lega…
Does Fauquier County's zoning ordinance for farm wineries go beyond what Virginia law lets a county regulate?
Yes, in part. The ordinance regulates by-right winery activities (production, on-premises tasting, sale, shipment, storage) that §§ 15.2-2288.3 and 4.1-128 expressly bar localities from regulating. Th…
Can a Virginia county cap or require approval of water rates that a town inside the county charges to county residents?
No. The AG concluded that Fairfax County had no authority to cap, review, or require approval of the water rates the Town of Vienna set for its water customers, including the roughly 40% of Vienna's u…
Can a Virginia town or county legally run a Trap-Neuter-Release program for feral cats?
A Virginia locality may humanely trap feral cats and have them sterilized by a licensed veterinarian. The locality may NOT release sterilized cats back to where they were captured or anywhere in the w…
Can a Virginia city's police department run an undercover business to catch cigarette traffickers, and what happens to the money the operation generates?
Yes, Hampton's police department can run a churning operation (an undercover business that 'churns' its own revenue to fund continuing investigation) under the city's general police powers in Va. Code…
Can a Virginia city require contractors to hire local residents for city construction projects?
No. The AG concluded that under Dillon Rule principles and the Virginia Public Procurement Act, the City of Hampton lacked authority either to give bid preference to contractors who would hire Hampton…
Can two or more Virginia counties or cities pool their cash into a single investment fund, and can that pool be organized as a trust fund?
Yes to both. Two or more Virginia political subdivisions may exercise their statutory investment powers jointly through a pooled investment program, and they may organize the pool as a trust fund. The…
Browse Virginia opinions by topic
Attorney general opinions in Virginia are written by the Virginia 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.