State AG Opinions
Free state attorney general opinions with plain-English summaries, full citations, and the original source on every page.
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Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-085?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-085 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-084?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-084 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-083?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-083 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-082?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-082 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-081?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-081 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-080?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-080 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-079?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-079 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-078?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-078 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-077?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-077 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Did Missouri approve the form of Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-076?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-076 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Why did Missouri reject Zachary Dowdle's initiative petition 2026-075?
The attorney general rejected the petition because it did not correctly identify the number of sections proposed for revision, as required by Section 116.050.
Why did Missouri reject Zachary Dowdle's initiative petition 2026-074?
The attorney general rejected the petition because it did not correctly identify the number of sections proposed for revision, as required by Section 116.050.
Why did Missouri reject Zachary Dowdle's initiative petition 2026-073?
The attorney general rejected the petition because it did not correctly identify the number of sections proposed for revision, as required by Section 116.050.
Why did Missouri reject Zachary Dowdle's initiative petition 2026-072?
The attorney general rejected the petition because it did not correctly identify the number of sections proposed for revision, as required by Section 116.050.
Can a Kansas city or school district still block a tax-incentive housing district after a 2013 disaster exemption expired?
The Attorney General concluded that the disaster-declaration exemption from holding a public hearing to create a Reinvestment Housing Incentive District, found in K.S.A. 12-5252(a), only applied throu…
When a Virginia city or town council appoints school board members and a board seat opens up mid-term, can the council just appoint a successor, or must it first hold a public hearing under § 22.1-29.1?
Public hearing required. The AG concluded that § 22.1-29.1 requires at least one public hearing before any school board appointment, including mid-term vacancy appointments. A school board member appo…
Can someone get an internal-affairs file from a sheriff's office under FOIA, when the investigation didn't result in any discipline?
Mostly no. The investigation memos, interviews, complaint forms, and Garrity notices are evaluation records and stay closed because no employee was suspended or terminated, so the four-part test fails…
When a South Carolina county consolidates fire protection districts, does the new district automatically own the property of the dissolved districts?
Likely yes. When a South Carolina county council consolidates special purpose fire protection districts under Article 3 of Title 6, § 6-11-620 says the new consolidated district 'assumes all propertie…
Can a Louisiana professional nursing corporation convert itself into an LLC and keep practicing nursing?
No. The Secretary of State should not permit a professional nursing corporation to convert to an LLC if the new LLC will keep practicing nursing, since Louisiana law only allows professional nursing c…
Can a Louisiana professional medical corporation convert itself into an LLC and keep practicing medicine?
No. The Secretary of State should not permit a professional medical corporation to convert to an LLC if the new LLC will keep practicing medicine, since Louisiana law only allows professional medical …
Can an elected constable in Louisiana also work as a full-time civil service firefighter for a different parish?
No. Even though the general Dual Officeholding Law would allow it, a specific civil service constitutional and statutory rule bars a classified civil service firefighter from also holding an elective …
Can someone serve on both the parish housing authority board and the hospital district board in Louisiana at the same time?
Yes. Both board seats are part-time appointive offices, and Louisiana's Dual Officeholding Law only bars combining two full-time appointive offices, not two part-time ones.
Can a Louisiana home rule parish council appoint non-council members (regular citizens) to sit on its standing committees?
Yes. Louisiana law does not stop a parish council from putting non-council members on its standing committees, as long as those committees stay advisory and the council itself still has to vote on any…
If a city accidentally includes a defeated Sunday alcohol sales ordinance in a code update, are Sunday sales legal?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Sabetha has not validly authorized Sunday sales of alcoholic liquor and cereal malt beverages. The 2005 ordinance that would have allowed it was defeated by a v…
Did Arkansas Corrections properly redact a warden's personnel file before releasing it to a FOIA requester?
Mostly yes, but with two errors. The custodian forgot to redact the warden's tax withholdings and net pay (those should have been redacted) and incorrectly redacted his race, sex, and salary (those sh…
Is a 2013 suspension letter (with a written reprimand inside) and a birth certificate from a Pine Bluff officer's personnel file releasable under FOIA?
The 2013 suspension letter is releasable as an evaluation record (the four-part test is met because the discipline is over twelve years old). But the written reprimand portion of the letter must be re…
When a sheriff's deputy was investigated for two separate complaints, suspended on one, and exonerated on the other, what gets released under FOIA?
The corrective-action form is a personnel record (releasable). The suspension letter that states the grounds is an evaluation record but the four-part test is met for the sustained complaint, so it's …
Can the City of Ward levy 'volunteer fire department' dues under the new 2025 fire-dues law (Act 673)?
No. Act 673 lets county quorum courts levy dues for volunteer fire departments serving unincorporated areas, and lets towns and second-class cities do the same for their volunteer fire departments. Bu…
Can a South Carolina code enforcement officer prosecute ordinance violations in magistrate's court without it being the unauthorized practice of law?
Likely yes. Code enforcement officers, unlike private citizens, are public officers exercising sovereign police power. The AG concludes a court would likely allow them to prosecute ordinance violation…
Can a Louisiana parish registrar of voters also serve on the board of a parish communications district (911 board)?
No. A specific Election Code statute flatly bars registrars of voters from holding any other elective or appointive public office, so the general Dual Officeholding Law's part-time exception does not …
Can the Delaware Governor's Office withhold media-request emails under attorney-client privilege, executive privilege, and the legislative email exemption?
No violation. The Delaware AG ruled the Governor's Office properly withheld and redacted emails responsive to a News Journal FOIA request about Cambridge Analytica, Meta, and Vice Chancellor Laster, a…
What gets released and what gets withheld when someone FOIAs the entire personnel file of a long-serving police officer, including commendations, complaints, investigations, and disciplinary records?
Administrative records and unsolicited third-party commendations and complaints come out (with redactions). Department-generated commendations stay closed. Written reprimands and minor warnings stay c…
Can South Carolina's Hartsville Community Center Building Commission issue general obligation bonds, and what does the constitutional ban on taxation without representation mean for appointed special purpose districts?
No, not on its own. The Hartsville Commission is an appointive body, and SC's no-taxation-without-representation clause prohibits delegating taxing authority (and therefore GO-bond authority) to it. B…
Can a Kansas county put mental health and EMS funding on the ballot as a 'renewal' of an existing public-safety sales tax?
No, according to the Attorney General. Johnson County's ballot resolution exceeded the Board of County Commissioners' authority under K.S.A. 12-187(b)(21) because that statute only lets the county fun…
Can a Maryland police officer still testify about what they saw if a court throws out their body-worn camera recording under the state's wiretap law?
The opinion concluded that Maryland's Wiretap Act applies to a police officer's body-worn camera only when the officer intentionally records a private conversation without fitting an exception, and th…
Did Missouri approve the form of Duane Martin's initiative petition 2026-071?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-071 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
When the Arkansas Department of Corrections releases a current or former employee's personnel file under FOIA, what specific information has to be blacked out before the file goes to the requester?
The custodian was right to release the personnel file with redactions, but missed several items the AG says must also be redacted: text describing separation from employment on the reference-consent f…
Do public library staff in Arkansas have a parent-like duty to children visiting the library, and are they required to report suspected child abuse?
No, library staff do not stand in loco parentis to children during a regular library visit because library attendance is not compulsory and libraries don't educate kids the way schools do. But every a…
Did Missouri approve the form of Spencer Toder's initiative petition 2026-070?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-070 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Did Missouri approve ballot wording guaranteeing 365 days for signatures and requiring 90% to change initiatives?
Yes. The approved statement described at least 365 days to gather signatures, proponent-written ballot summaries with voter challenges, specified court procedures, 90% approval for legislative changes…
Did Missouri approve ballot wording protecting initiative procedures from higher thresholds and delayed court review?
Yes. The approved statement described requiring 80% approval for legislative changes, barring higher signature thresholds, narrower subjects, or delayed judicial review, and preserving current vote an…
Did Missouri approve ballot wording protecting initiatives regardless of when approved and limiting single-measure special elections?
Yes. The approved statement described an 80% referral threshold regardless of when a measure was approved or rejected, limits on restrictions to initiative rights, single-measure special-election rule…
Did Missouri approve ballot wording allowing citizen challenges and protecting citizen-enacted laws?
Yes. The approved statement described an 80% referral threshold for changing citizen-enacted laws, citizen challenges and court rewriting of misleading titles, general-election rules, and retention of…
Did Missouri approve ballot wording protecting past and future initiatives and rejected referendum measures?
Yes. The approved statement described an 80% referral threshold for changing citizen initiatives or enacting laws similar to rejected referendum measures, covering past and future measures and preserv…
Did Missouri approve ballot wording protecting initiatives enacted before the amendment and allowing title challenges?
Yes. The approved statement described an 80% referral threshold for changing citizen-enacted laws, including measures enacted before adoption, plus citizen ballot-title challenges and preservation of …
Did Missouri approve ballot wording protecting citizen laws and rejected referendums from legislative changes?
Yes. The approved statement described an 80% referral threshold for changing citizen-initiated laws or enacting laws similar to rejected referendum measures, covering past and future measures and pres…
Did Missouri approve ballot wording allowing citizens to challenge misleading titles and protecting prior initiatives?
Yes. The approved statement described an 80% referral threshold for changing prior citizen-enacted measures, citizen challenges and court rewriting of misleading titles, general-election rules, and pr…
Did Missouri approve ballot wording protecting past and future initiatives and referendum results?
Yes. The approved statement described an 80% referral threshold for changes to citizen initiatives or laws similar to those rejected by referendum, covering past and future measures, plus general-elec…
Did Missouri approve ballot wording protecting past initiatives and allowing citizens to challenge ballot titles?
Yes. The approved statement described an 80% referral threshold for changes to past and future initiatives, limits on laws restricting initiative powers, court correction and citizen challenges of bal…
Did Missouri approve ballot wording requiring 80% legislative referral before changing citizen initiatives?
Yes. The approved statement described requiring 80% of legislators to refer initiative changes to voters, general-election placement unless a special election was approved, court rewriting of misleadi…
Can a Mississippi school district hire a retired superintendent part-time without messing up his PERS retirement benefits?
Yes, twice. There is no statutory requirement that a Mississippi school district superintendent work full time. A PERS retiree may serve as a part-time superintendent and keep drawing retirement benef…
Can a Mississippi alderman tell city employees not to follow the mayor's instructions or sign up contractors without board approval?
No. In a code charter Mississippi municipality, executive power is vested in the mayor. Section 21-3-15(2)(a) explicitly says no member of the board of aldermen shall give orders to any employee or su…
If a Mississippi grandmother takes in her grandchild without going through CPS, can she get state supportive services payments under Section 43-15-17?
No. Section 43-15-17 supportive services payments are only available when CPS places the child in the relative's home. A relative who takes a child through chancery court guardianship outside CPS is n…
Can a Mississippi school district accept a donation, or a fee waiver, from a vendor or contractor who currently does business with the district?
Yes, with caution. There is no statutory prohibition on a school district accepting a donation, or a fee/interest waiver, from a vendor or contractor currently under contract with the district. The bo…
Can a South Carolina school board set its own compensation under a policy adopted by majority vote, and does failing to reaffirm the policy in a later year invalidate it?
Yes in most cases. South Carolina § 59-1-350 uses permissive language, school boards 'may' set their own compensation, per diem, mileage, and reimbursement policies absent a local law to the contrary.…
After Senate Bill 941 (2025), do West Virginia local conservation districts still have any oversight role over dams they own or sponsor, or is that authority now exclusively the Department of Environmental Protection's?
The Department of Environmental Protection has sole authority. The 2025 amendment to West Virginia Code § 19-21A-8(a) says any 'alteration, improvement, or agreement' related to a dam owned or sponsor…
In Arkansas, can a county judge sign a contract for the county without going back to the quorum court for approval, and what limits apply?
Yes. Under Amendment 55 and A.C.A. § 14-14-1102, the quorum court decides what services and goods to fund and appropriates the money, but the county judge alone picks the vendor and signs the contract…
Can a North Dakota city council ask employees to leave the room during an open meeting when their salaries are being discussed?
No. The AG concluded that the New Town City Council violated North Dakota's open meetings law when it asked four employees, attending after hours in their personal capacity, to leave during a salary d…
Does a public body violate Delaware FOIA when its meeting agenda lists 'open forum' instead of 'public comment,' or when it lacks a FOIA coordinator and online request portal?
Yes on most counts. The Delaware AG ruled that the Center for the Inland Bays violated FOIA by failing to put 'public comment' on its meeting agendas, by skipping comment at a virtual meeting, by not …
If a North Little Rock police officer was recommended for termination but resigned first, then was decertified by the state and later recertified, can the public see the internal affairs investigation records under FOIA?
The records are employee-evaluation records, so they can only be released if the four-part test is met. The first prong (suspension or termination) is the threshold question. Resignation in the face o…
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