State AG Opinions
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Can a New York village set up a 'do not deliver' registry and pass a local law fining anyone who drops unwanted phone books or other unsolicited print materials on registered residents' property?
Yes on home-rule authority, with a First Amendment caveat. Cornwall-on-Hudson's proposed local law, a registry of residents who opt out plus a $250 fine for delivering unsolicited print materials to t…
How must a Texas water district value leased lakefront land it is selling to the tenants?
As encumbered by the existing leases. Senator Kip Averitt asked, about the Brazos River Authority's plan to sell Possum Kingdom Lake property to its long-term residential lessees, whether the land sho…
Can a Texas school district use a 403(b) plan administrator owned by a company that sells investments to its employees?
It depends on the facts. Representative Vicki Truitt asked whether a Texas educational institution (a school district or open-enrollment charter school) violates article 6228a-5, section 9(a)(4)-(7) w…
Can Texas stop a parent convicted of a crime against a child from inheriting from that child?
Probably not, in most cases. Governor Rick Perry asked whether Probate Code section 41(e)(3), which lets a probate court bar a parent from inheriting from a child if the parent was convicted or placed…
Should clerks of court withhold the Peace Officers' Annuity and Benefit Fund contribution from $15 seat-belt fines?
No. Because O.C.G.A. § 40-8-76.1(e)(1) declares that a seat-belt violation is not a criminal or quasi-criminal act, the trigger for the POPTF withholding statute (O.C.G.A. § 47-17-60(a), which only ap…
After Texas consolidated appraisal districts, who handles property tax protests from before 2008?
The old appraisal district keeps that authority. Representative Fred Hill asked how House Bill 1010, which realigned appraisal district boundaries to county lines and ended the practice of a multi-cou…
Who is allowed to sign a protest against a zoning change in Texas?
Only owners whose land is both within 200 feet and listed on the city's tax roll. Representative Kevin Bailey asked, after an Austin zoning change, whether everyone owning land within 200 feet of a pr…
Does a planning commission's meeting notice have to specifically mention that it might waive a code requirement?
No, under the law as it stood in 2008. The AG found that an agenda listing a 'Request for Reconsideration' of a denied subdivision application gave adequate notice that the Rehoboth Beach Planning Com…
Can a city fix a vague meeting agenda by fully re-debating the issue in public at the next meeting?
Under the law as it stood in 2008, yes, according to the AG. Rehoboth Beach's 'committee structure' and term-limits agenda items were both technical FOIA violations, but a later full public debate and…
Can a Georgia teacher who already gets a military pension for reserve service buy back the same active-duty time as TRS service credit?
Yes, but only for active duty performed while serving in a reserve component. Federal law (10 U.S.C. § 12736) overrides Georgia's anti-double-credit statute (O.C.G.A. § 47-3-83(c)) for that narrow cat…
Can a New York regional Off-Track Betting Corporation give its board of directors health insurance, either through the OTB itself, through the county, or by letting directors buy into NYSHIP at their own expense?
No to all three options. The Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law § 502(10) prescribes exactly what OTB directors may receive: per diem fees capped at $2,500 plus $1,500 a year, a $1,000 chai…
Can a Texas charter school's employees get Social Security coverage through the state?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that an open-enrollment charter school is a 'political subdivision' under Chapter 606 of the Government Code and section 218 of the Social Security Act, which means…
Can a Texas county sell road equipment to a private company without competitive bidding?
Generally no. Medina County wanted to end a Caterpillar motor-grader lease by taking title to the grader and passing it to a dealer that paid the county $15,000, treating the move as just a way to exe…
Can a Texas appraisal district hire a firm that employs the chief appraiser's son?
Yes, the contract itself is allowed, but a separate rule can cost the chief appraiser his job. The Liberty County Central Appraisal District wanted to contract with an appraisal company that employs t…
When someone reports a candidate or campaign for making a false statement under Oregon election laws, does the Secretary of State have to investigate?
It depends on which statute is alleged. AG Hardy Myers concluded that ORS 246.046 and 260.345 require the Secretary to conduct a reasonable investigation of complaints alleging false statements that w…
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 small Texas general-law city payroll-deduct police union dues under a collective bargaining contract?
Yes. The City of Balcones Heights, a Type A general-law city of about 3,000 people, had a collective bargaining agreement with its police officers' association calling for payroll deduction of dues, b…
Must a Texas county approve LIRAP vehicle-program payments before paying, despite a five-day deadline?
Yes on the approvals, and the five-day deadline does not override them. Williamson County asked about the Low-Income Vehicle Repair Assistance, Retrofit, and Accelerated Vehicle Retirement Program (LI…
Can Texas ban a foreign company from hauling horsemeat through the state for export abroad?
Probably yes. Chapter 149 of the Agriculture Code makes it a crime to sell, possess for sale, or transfer horsemeat as food for human consumption. Representative Warren Chisum asked whether that ban r…
Can people in a needle-exchange program be prosecuted for drug paraphernalia in Texas?
Yes, potentially. In 2007 the Legislature let Bexar County set up a disease-prevention pilot program that could include anonymous exchange of used needles and syringes. But it never wrote any exceptio…
Does a Delaware town's advisory commission have to hold open meetings before its bylaws are formally adopted?
Yes, under the law as it stood in 2008. The AG found the Middletown Action Network became a FOIA public body the day the ordinance creating it took effect, not months later when it formally adopted by…
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…
Must a Texas county give commissioners written notice before cutting their salary in the budget?
Yes. At a Grimes County budget hearing a commissioner proposed cutting each commissioner's salary by about $7,000 with no prior notice, and the cut was adopted. The county auditor asked whether that w…
Those coin-pusher or quarter-pusher machines you sometimes see at bars, fairs, and arcades. The player drops a quarter onto a moving shelf hoping to dislodge other quarters or prizes piled up on the shelf. Are these legal amusement devices in SD (subject to the 4% amusement device tax under SDCL ch. 10-58), or are they illegal slot machines and games of chance prohibited by the SD Constitution and SDCL 22-25-13?
Illegal slot machines. Under SD law, an unconstitutional game of chance is one 'wherein chance predominates over skill' (Bayer v. Johnson). Quarter-pusher machines meet that definition. The player dep…
Can Oregon's Department of Administrative Services force every state agency to use DAS-prescribed indemnity and insurance clauses in the agency's own contracts?
Partially. AG Hardy Myers concluded that DAS may require some, but not all, state agencies to use DAS-prescribed indemnity and insurance clauses. DAS's authority extends to agencies whose contracting …
Can the SD Department of Game, Fish and Parks enter into a Walk-In Area Program hunting-access contract with a state legislator who owns hunting land? Specifically, does SD Constitution Article III, § 12 (which bars legislators from being interested in state contracts authorized by laws passed during their term) block the contract when the underlying funding statute was enacted in 1998 and last substantively amended in 2004, and the legislator was in office during the 2004 amendment?
On the facts presented, no. The AG read Article III, § 12's phrase 'authorized by any law passed during the term for which he shall have been elected' to mean the specific term when the authorizing le…
Can the South Dakota Commissioner of School and Public Lands sell a tract of state-owned school or endowment land to a city or a local economic development corporation, knowing the city or EDC plans to lease the land to a private company for a business project? And does 'economic development' count as a 'public purpose' under the statutes that govern these sales?
Yes to both. The 2008 AG read SDCL 5-9-34 and 5-9-35 as allowing sales of up to 160 acres of common school or endowment land to civil, state, religious, or public organizations for 'public purposes,' …
Does a Texas county have to issue ID cards to unpaid volunteer peace officers?
No. The Brazos County Attorney had appointed some unpaid, part-time peace officers as investigators, all licensed by the state, and asked whether a 2007 law required him to issue them the official ide…
Can a SD city use tax increment financing (TIF) to fund the public infrastructure (streets, curb, gutter, water/sewer mains) in a new residential subdivision, where the city's contribution stops at the infrastructure and individual lot owners pay for their own homes?
Yes. SDCL 11-9-42 says 'No tax increments shall be used for the construction of residential structures.' Reading the words plainly, that statute prohibits using TIF money to actually construct residen…
Could DC's CFO release $191 million in supplemental FY 2008 funds for schools and early childhood programs, where the Mayor had submitted reprogramming requests but the Council had not yet approved them?
Yes. The 2008 Temporary Act, as amended by the Clarification Emergency Act, made fund release contingent on the Council's receipt of three specific reprogramming requests, not on Council approval of t…
Can Georgia's Department of Revenue share motor vehicle registration data with other state agencies (or with private third parties working with those agencies)?
Only in the narrow circumstances the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act and three Georgia statutes specifically allow. The default rule is that motor vehicle registration and title information is…
Can a New York county move part of the Board of Elections (voting-machine storage, training, staff) to a building outside the city where the Board sits, without holding a referendum under County Law § 216?
Partly. The county can open an additional Board of Elections location outside its existing city office and house equipment, voting machines, training facilities, and back-office work there. What requi…
Can a Texas county auditor block a county hospital payment they believe is unconstitutional?
Yes, within limits. A county-owned hospital's administrator wanted to pay a former employee for some continuing obligations and had a legal opinion saying the payment satisfied the Texas Constitution'…
Can Texas move permanent school fund land-sale money into the available school fund?
Probably not. The chair of the State Board of Education asked three questions about Texas's permanent school fund (PSF). First, the Attorney General concluded the three labels used in article VII of t…
If three of five seats on a New York fire-commissioner board become vacant at once, can the two remaining commissioners fill those vacancies by appointment, or do they fall below quorum?
Yes. Town Law § 176(3) lets a majority of the fire commissioners 'in office' fill vacancies, which is read as an explicit departure from the General Construction Law § 41 quorum rule. The two sitting …
Can a Texas county and its school districts jointly develop minerals on county school land?
No. The Webb County Attorney asked whether a county and the school districts in it could team up to develop or sell the oil, gas, and mineral rights on county school lands, splitting the costs and the…
Can a Texas city cap the earnings used to calculate vested employees' pensions?
Probably not, to the extent it lowers their benefits. To shore up its underfunded pension after the 2001 market crash, the City of Fort Worth put a 12% cap on how much the earnings used to calculate a…
Can Texas add to the list of crimes that disqualify teachers from certification?
Yes. The State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) wanted to amend its rule listing the crimes that can cost an educator a teaching certificate, including offenses on school property and felony DW…
Can a Texas DA use asset forfeiture funds to buy a juvenile detention center?
No to the forfeiture funds, yes to the county buying or leasing the facility. Because Harris County had a shortage of residential treatment beds for juvenile offenders, the District Attorney asked whe…
Does a Texas city have to pay a firefighter or police officer for testifying at a civil service hearing?
No. A state representative asked whether Local Government Code section 142.009 makes a city pay a firefighter or police officer who is subpoenaed, in that capacity, to testify on time off before an in…
Do members of a Texas advisory committee have to file personal financial disclosure statements?
No. A state representative asked whether chapter 572 of the Government Code, which requires certain state officers to file personal financial statements, applied to board members of the Tobacco Settle…
If a school board adds a bid decision to its meeting agenda late, does it have to explain exactly why in detail?
No, the AG found. FOIA only requires a brief reason for adding an item to an agenda less than seven days before a meeting, not a detailed factual justification, and a Delaware school district's one-se…
Could Maine counties spend property tax revenues from unorganized-territory TIF districts on county-wide economic development that would benefit organized areas, without violating Article IX, Section 8 of the Maine Constitution?
Likely problematic. The AG concluded that L.D. 2229 satisfied Article IX, Section 8 only if the spending produced a 'special benefit' to the unorganized territory. To the extent it allowed unorganized…
When does a Texas state agency qualify for the natural gas utility assessment exemption?
A state representative asked what triggers the exemption in Utilities Code section 104.202, which bars a gas utility from charging a state agency for a gross receipts assessment, regulatory assessment…
Does Texas's school religious-expression law override a federal court injunction against a school district?
The Commissioner of Education asked whether the 2007 Schoolchildren's Religious Liberties Act controls over, or is limited by, a 1970 federal permanent injunction (the Guild order) that bars Houston I…
Did Maine's mandatory reporting law require professionals to report all underage sexual activity that could constitute a crime, even consensual conduct between near-age minors with no sign of harm?
No. The AG concluded that 22 M.R.S.A. § 4011-A required a report only when the mandated reporter had reasonable cause to suspect a threat to a child's health or welfare. Mere knowledge that minor sexu…
Do U.S. Postal Service inspectors have arrest powers under Texas law?
Yes, for both kinds of postal inspectors. The Bexar County District Attorney asked whether article 2.122(a)(6) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which gives certain state felony law enforcement power…
How long does a Texas school district have to file a truancy complaint?
A district attorney asked whether two 2007 bills that each amended Education Code section 25.0951(a) could both take effect, since one changed the filing window from seven to ten days and the other ch…
Can someone be charged with criminal trespass at an RV park in Texas?
A state senator asked whether the criminal trespass statute (Penal Code section 30.05) applies to recreational vehicle parks and how police can enforce it there. The Attorney General concluded that la…
Which court must a Texas sheriff bring a person held on an out-of-county warrant and a parole warrant before?
A county attorney asked what the 'proper magistrate' or 'proper court' is in article 15.20(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, after a 2007 law (Senate Bill 909) addressed prisoners held on both an …
Can a Texas county split a project into phases to avoid competitive bidding?
A county attorney asked whether a project could be split into 'phases' each under $25,000 to escape the County Purchasing Act when the whole project exceeded $25,000, and whether the county auditor ha…
Is a private nonprofit that gets public utility money subject to Texas open records law?
A legislator asked whether a private nonprofit economic development foundation that gets part of its funding from 'quasi-public' utilities (CPS Energy and San Antonio Water System) is subject to the T…
Which 2007 Georgia misdemeanors did the Attorney General designate as fingerprintable offenses?
The AG designated only the two notary-fraud offenses (O.C.G.A. § 45-17-20(a) and (b)) as fingerprintable. Four other new 2007 misdemeanors (CASA confidentiality breaches, used-vehicle parking restrict…
Can you use Delaware's public records law to force a town to explain how it calculated an employee bonus?
No, the AG found. FOIA only requires a town to hand over records that already exist; it doesn't require the town to create an explanation, answer questions about its methodology, or defend the accurac…
Did a Delaware public university's board violate open meetings law by holding an entire board meeting over the phone?
Mostly no, the AG found. Delaware State University's board meeting was open as FOIA required because the public could still attend in person and listen over a speakerphone in the board room, even thou…
Can county officials avoid Delaware's open meetings law by holding a string of one-on-one briefings instead of one group meeting?
No, the AG found. Even though no single briefing included a quorum of Kent County's Levy Court, a coordinated series of five private sessions designed to build a majority consensus on a Comprehensive …
Did Maine's Constitution require the Legislature to pass LD 203, which would have barred college students living in college-owned housing from establishing voting residency in Maine?
No. The AG concluded that Article II, Section 1 did not require LD 203, and that the bill, if enacted, would likely have been struck down on Equal Protection grounds because it singled out college stu…
How can a Texas county borrow money to build a voter-approved venue project?
The Terrell County Attorney asked whether the county could borrow money to build a voter-approved convention center venue project and repay the loan from the venue project sales-tax fund. The Attorney…
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…
Are NC public employee retirement benefits part of the public salary information that must be open to inspection, or are they confidential personnel data?
Public. The AG concluded Session Law 2007-508 expanded the definition of public 'salary' to include benefits and all other compensation. A literal reading would have excluded retirement benefits becau…
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