State AG Opinions
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Could a company legally broadcast a televised bingo game like BingoTV in Texas without a state bingo license?
No, according to this 2004 opinion. BingoTV met the legal definition of bingo, the company wasn't licensed to conduct bingo, and its television-and-online format didn't fit the narrow promotional exem…
Can elected and appointed officials in Maine use their offices and public funds to campaign against a ballot initiative like a property tax cap?
Maine officials and government bodies may inform the public about a ballot initiative and may express views as public officials, but may not expend public funds solely or primarily for partisan advoca…
Can a Delaware town bar someone from a public meeting because it suspects he posted critical comments online?
No, under the law as it stood in 2004. The AG found the Town of Cheswold violated FOIA and the First Amendment by barring a recently terminated employee from a town council meeting based on suspicion …
Could a Texas county auditor approve payment on a contract awarded without following the County Purchasing Act?
A county auditor who determined that a contract violated the County Purchasing Act had to reject payment claims under section 113.065. The contract was not automatically void from inception, but a cou…
Can a Texas municipal fire and police civil service commissioner be reappointed to a second consecutive term?
No, according to this 2004 opinion. A civil service commissioner counts as holding a 'public office,' and the statute bars appointing anyone who has held a public office within the preceding three yea…
Can a Texas district court's courtroom be moved to a different spot within the county seat city, not just the original historic town site?
Yes, according to this 2004 opinion. The Texas Constitution requires district courts to sit at the 'county seat,' but that term isn't frozen to the original founding-era acreage; a 1987 statute confir…
Did the Kerr County judge have to conduct mental-health hearings at the state hospital, and could the county offset the judge’s salary supplement?
Kerr County’s constitutional county court and county court at law had concurrent Mental Health Code jurisdiction, and hearings could—but generally did not have to—occur at Kerrville State Hospital. On…
Can a Texas county's civil service plan give deputy district clerks job protection if a separate state law says they serve at the district clerk's pleasure?
No, according to this 2004 opinion covering Hidalgo, Jefferson, and Nueces counties. A specific Government Code provision making those deputies at-will employees of the district clerk overrides the ge…
Could Wyoming's State Engineer be required during the May–September irrigation season to shut off junior upstream Wyoming irrigators so the Bureau of Reclamation could fill Pathfinder Reservoir?
No. Attorney General Patrick Crank concluded that neither the U.S. Supreme Court's modified decree in Nebraska v. Wyoming nor Wyoming water law required the State Engineer to honor a Bureau of Reclama…
Can a Texas county create an emergency services district and vote on its sales tax at the same election?
No, according to this 2004 opinion. Health and Safety Code chapter 776 requires the district to exist first and appoint its board before that board can call a separate election to adopt a sales and us…
When the Cherokee Boys Club (a nonprofit corporation owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, operating on the Cherokee reservation) buys surplus lines insurance, can NC charge them the 5% premium tax, or does federal Indian law preempt the tax?
NC cannot impose the tax. The NC AG concluded that the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is a federally recognized tribe whose reservation is held in trust by the United States. Federal Indian law pree…
Under the NC Mortgage Lending Act, can a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community development corporation broker mortgage loans without a state license?
Only in a limited way. A qualified 501(c)(3) nonprofit can make mortgage loans for the disadvantaged without a license under G.S. § 53-243.01(8)(h), and can incidentally solicit or broker loans, but o…
If a member of the Georgia Board of Regents owns a company, when (if ever) can that company sell goods or services to a University System institution without violating Georgia's conflict of interest laws?
Almost never without a specific statutory exception. Regents are 'limited powers' public officers under O.C.G.A. § 45-10-22(a)(2), so they (and any business in which they own more than 25%) are barred…
What did Idaho's AG say about a 2004 ballot initiative to repeal Idaho's Right to Work law?
The AG cleared the initiative as raising no significant legal issues. Initiative legislation is on equal footing with bicameral legislation and so can repeal a statute. The substantive policy question…
Does a business that only cashes corporate or commercial checks (not consumer paychecks) need a New York check-cashing license?
Yes. The plain language of Banking Law § 367(1) requires a license for anyone engaged in the business of cashing checks for consideration, with no carve-out for businesses that handle only commercial …
Can the Maine commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife shut down coyote snaring, or is he locked into running the program?
Yes. The Maine AG clarified that the commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has discretion to end coyote snaring. Title 12 sections 10001, 10051, 10053(8) and 10105(3) authorize the commissione…
Can a New York village board sign a multi-year contract with a police chief that runs past the elected term of the board members who signed it?
A village board cannot bind a successor board to a professional-services employment contract for a governmental function like police protection. But the contract is not void from the start. It remains…
Does the NC Commissioner of Motor Vehicles count as a 'law-enforcement officer' eligible for State 401(k) employer contributions?
Yes, on these facts. The AG concluded that the Commissioner's statutory duties include prevention and detection of crime, and the specific Commissioner at the time (George Tatum) held an active law-en…
Does a Delaware public body have to create new records or compile data just because someone asks for it under FOIA?
No, according to this opinion. The AG found FOIA only requires a public body to give access to records it has actually created and kept, not to generate new summaries, run special computer searches, o…
South Dakota sold the state cement plant in 2001. The voters that year added Article XIII §§ 20 and 21 to the state constitution to protect the proceeds: $238 million was placed in a trust fund, $12 million transfers annually to the general fund, and if the trust's market value grew enough above the original principal, additional money could be appropriated for the support of education. By 2004 the trust had grown, but no one had ever made the additional 'support of education' distribution before. The Bureau of Finance and Management wanted to know: what's the right valuation date, how does the Legislature actually appropriate the money, and what happens if the trust value drops between when we measure it and when the Legislature acts?
AG Lawrence Long approved the Bureau's proposed framework. The June 30 market valuation date was right because Section 21 limits distribution to amounts that maintain the original principal 'in that f…
Is the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife legally required to run a specific coyote snaring program, or can it design its own?
No specific program required. The Maine AG concluded that 12 M.R.S.A. § 10105(3) requires the commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to maintain a coyote control program but leaves the program'…
If a New York city council seat is left vacant after a tie vote at the general election, who fills the seat, the mayor and council or the governor?
A tie vote at a general election creates a vacancy 'by expiration of term.' If the city charter only handles vacancies that arise 'otherwise than by expiration of term,' the governor may proclaim a sp…
Can a Delaware planning commissioner join a public meeting by speakerphone, and can the commission limit who speaks before it votes?
Yes to both, under the law as it stood in 2004. The AG found a Town of Odessa Planning Commissioner could participate by speakerphone in two meetings because a quorum of the commission was physically …
When the New York Legislature enacts a salary increase for state Supreme Court Justices effective January 1, do justices start earning the new salary on January 1 or at the start of the next pay period?
At the start of the next payroll period nearest to the statute's effective date. The 1998 pay raise statute used the standard 'date of entitlement to salary increase' clause, which the Comptroller has…
Can a New York village mayor also serve as a fire commissioner of a joint fire district established by that village?
No. The Town Law and Village Law give the village board (with the town board) substantial authority over a joint fire district, including extending it, dissolving it, approving real-property acquisiti…
Who has authority over harbors and waterways that lie inside a Suffolk County village's boundaries, the town or the village?
For the activities enumerated in Navigation Law § 46-a and Town Law § 130 (vessel speed, anchoring, mooring, motor size, sewage, anchorage areas), a Suffolk County town may regulate inside a village's…
Can a Maryland county create a special taxing district to pay for upgrading county roads that are located inside a town's limits?
The opinion concluded that Talbot County, as a charter county with authority over its own roads under the Express Powers Act, could establish a special taxing area to finance upgrades to county roads …
If a Georgia state-chartered credit union existed before April 1, 1975 (when the Financial Institutions Code of Georgia took effect) and had a broad field of membership in its bylaws, did the 1975 Code shrink that field of membership? And when two state-chartered credit unions merge, does the broad pre-1975 field of membership transfer to the surviving credit union?
Pre-1975 credit unions kept their broad fields of membership. The 1975 Code (O.C.G.A. § 7-1-636) explicitly says 'nothing in this chapter shall be construed to impair the validity of the charter of a …
When the NC General Assembly later passes a general law about school board vacancies, does it override an older local act that set its own rules for one specific district?
Not unless the later general law plainly manifests legislative intent to repeal the local act. For the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Board of Education, the 1967 local act remains controlling: vacancies a…
Can a New York town cut off the right of an adjoining property owner to appeal a building permit to the zoning board of appeals?
No. Town Law § 267-a(4) gives every town zoning board of appeals mandatory appellate jurisdiction. The 'unless otherwise provided by local law' clause allows towns to give the ZBA more (non-appellate …
Can a Delaware town refuse to release a lawsuit settlement agreement because the parties privately agreed to keep it confidential?
No, according to this opinion. The AG found a town violated FOIA by withholding a settlement agreement that ended a civil rights lawsuit against the town, because a private confidentiality agreement b…
After Entergy bought Vermont Yankee in 2002, did Entergy keep the company-specific exemption that let Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. store spent fuel on site without legislative approval?
No. AG Sorrell's office concluded that the exemption in 10 V.S.A. § 6505 was tied to Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation specifically, not to the site or facility, and was not assignable to Enter…
How far back must a New York county treasurer search before certifying that a subdivision parcel has no unpaid taxes, and can the county charge for that certificate?
Two answers. The county treasurer is not required to search a fixed number of years for the tax payment certificate that Real Property Law § 334 demands before a subdivision map can be filed, but shou…
Can a New York village exhibit antique switchblades and gravity knives in a local museum without breaking the Penal Law?
Not in working condition. Penal Law § 265.01(1) makes mere possession of a switchblade, gravity knife, pilum ballistic knife, or metal-knuckle knife a class A misdemeanor, with no exemption for museum…
When someone is appointed to fill a vacancy on the Brunswick County (NC) Board of Education, do they serve the rest of the original term or only until the next election?
Only until the next election. The AG traced the legislative history from 1966 through 1981 and concluded that, absent a local act saying otherwise, the General Assembly has always intended appointed s…
Does the Georgia Public Service Commission have authority over wireless/mobile carriers, voice-over-IP telephony providers, and cable-modem internet service providers under the Telecommunications and Competition Development Act of 1995 and the Telecommunications Marketing Act of 1998?
Yes, in part. The Attorney General concluded that the GPSC has authority over (1) mobile and wireless providers to the extent the TCDA and TMA apply to 'telecommunications companies' and do not contai…
Which kinds of supplemental pay (night-shift differential, dive pay, temporary acting-up pay for filling vacant positions, and performance bonuses) count as 'earnable compensation' under O.C.G.A. § 47-2-1(15) for purposes of calculating an Employees' Retirement System member's pension benefit?
Conditional pay supplements tied to a position's regular duties (night shift, dive pay) count as earnable compensation. Temporary supplements for filling some duties of a vacant position should be scr…
If a town council adds items to its meeting agenda without the required notice explanation, does re-posting them at the next meeting fix the FOIA violation?
Yes, under the law as it stood in 2004. The AG found the Town of Milton violated FOIA by adding six items to its March 1, 2004 meeting agenda without explaining why seven days' notice couldn't be give…
When MnDOT or another Minnesota government agency is in the middle of an eminent-domain process and has gathered several appraisals of the same property, which of those appraisals become public records when the agency shares one with the landowner, and which stay confidential?
It depends on which subsection of the Data Practices Act triggers public disclosure. If the agency triggered the public-status rule by exchanging appraisals with the owner under subd. 3(b)(1) or by en…
Can the Maine Legislature cut its own special-session per diem pay by passing a joint order instead of a statute?
Likely not. The Maine AG concluded that a January 2004 joint order purporting to deny legislators' special-session per diem before April 22 was probably unenforceable, because the Maine Constitution r…
What did Idaho's AG say about a 2004 ballot initiative that would have required Idaho's Legislature to call for a federal constitutional convention to define marriage?
The AG concluded the proposal was less a law than a mandate that the Legislature act, and that it was likely unconstitutional because it would limit the Legislature's plenary authority over its own ru…
In 2004, could a North Carolina register of deeds issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple, and what penalties would apply if they did?
No, under the law as it stood in 2004. The NC AG advised that issuing a license to a same-sex couple would violate N.C.G.S. § 51-1.2, which then declared same-gender marriages invalid in NC. A registe…
When the NC Employment Security Commission settles with an employer accused of 'SUTA dumping' (shifting employees to shell companies to dodge unemployment taxes), is that settlement agreement confidential or a public record?
Public. The NC AG concluded that once an employer appeals an unemployment-tax assessment, the matter becomes a 'proceeding before a hearing officer' under § 96-4(t)(5), and the settlement agreement th…
Would a Maine 'Proposition 13' style property tax cap, capping taxes at 1% of full cash value with limited yearly inflation, survive a constitutional challenge?
Likely unconstitutional. The Maine AG concluded that L.D. 1893's acquisition-cost property valuation method probably violates Article IX, § 8 of the Maine Constitution, which requires property taxes t…
When a NC incompetency proceeding starts and the respondent needs a court-appointed lawyer to serve as guardian ad litem, who has the authority to make that appointment, the Clerk of Superior Court or the state's Indigent Defense Services?
Indigent Defense Services (IDS), not the Clerk. § 35A-1107 and § 35A-1130 specifically say guardian ad litem appointments in incompetency and competency-restoration proceedings are made 'in accordance…
Can a Delaware town raise its public-records copying fee without adopting a written fee policy first?
No, under the law as it stood in 2004. The AG found the Town of Odessa could not enforce its increase from 15 cents to $1 per page for copying public records because it never adopted a written rule se…
Can a Delaware county black out its legal bills for defending an employee under federal investigation, or does the public get to see the total cost?
The public gets to see the total cost, according to this opinion, even though the names of other employees who might be grand jury witnesses can stay hidden. The AG found the county could redact infor…
Does New York's Domestic Relations Law authorize same-sex marriages, and must New York recognize same-sex marriages or civil unions performed elsewhere?
The 2004 AG concluded the New York Domestic Relations Law was not intended to authorize same-sex marriage; clerks should not issue licenses or solemnize same-sex marriages pending judicial resolution.…
When a public agency loses a contract dispute and has to pay a contractor with interest, is the interest rate set as of the date payment was first due, or as of the date of the settlement or judgment?
As of the date payment was first due. The Oregon AG concluded that ORS 279.435(9), as rewritten by the Legislature in 1999, calculates interest at twice the discount rate on 90-day commercial paper th…
If a school board's amended agenda skips a required explanation, does re-voting on the same item at a later meeting fix the FOIA violation?
Yes, under the law as it stood in 2004. The AG found Woodbridge School District violated FOIA by not explaining, in an amended agenda, why it added a school board election date item without seven days…
Are the local bar associations, administrators, and volunteer arbitrators in New York's fee-dispute program covered by state defense and indemnification?
Three answers. The bar associations through which the program operates are not 'employees' eligible for Public Officers Law § 17 defense and indemnification, because the State did not appoint them. Th…
Under what circumstances can the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Speaker of the House use state-owned aircraft for personal or political travel, and what role does reimbursement play?
Almost never. The Attorney General concluded that Georgia's gratuities clause (Art. III, Sec. VI, Para. VI) and the statutes authorizing state aircraft (O.C.G.A. § 50-19-22, § 32-2-2(a)(16)) permit st…
Could SUNY make the retirement system option for medical residents and interns effective only from July 1, 2003, ignoring their earlier years of state service?
No. SUNY medical residents and interns are mandatory members of a public retirement system or program from the date they commenced state service. The system options should not have been offered on a p…
Can the consumer member and the dental hygienist member of the Georgia Board of Dentistry vote on all matters before the board, or are they restricted from voting on dentist-licensure examinations under O.C.G.A. § 43-11-2(d)?
The consumer member can now vote on everything without restriction. The hygienist member is still barred from voting on matters that 'directly relate to the practical or scientific examination of dent…
Is a Delaware charter school subject to public records requests for its budgets and financial reports?
Yes, according to this opinion, at least for records the charter school actually keeps in its own files, even if a state agency also holds a copy. The AG found the charter school was a proper FOIA cus…
What licenses can the New York Liquor Authority issue after a town referendum on local option for alcohol sales ends in a tie?
The proposal passes on a tie. ABC Law § 141(3) defeats a referendum question only on a majority of negative votes; a tie does not defeat. So when Spencer's tavern question (§ 64-a sales) split evenly,…
Can a city call an emergency meeting to impose a rental permit moratorium right after a court strikes down its housing ordinance?
Mostly yes, under the law as it stood in 2003. The AG found the City of Newark had genuine exigent circumstances to call a next-day special meeting after a Chancery Court ruling struck down its studen…
Can a zoning board of adjustment refuse to let ordinary citizens speak at a quasi-judicial hearing but let one citizen argue as a party representative?
Mixed, under the law as it stood in 2004. The AG found Rehoboth Beach's Board of Adjustment could lawfully limit its quasi-judicial hearing to legal argument from the parties, but violated FOIA once i…
When Maine's Legislature gets an initiated bill, can it call a special election sooner than the next general election, and can a two-thirds majority be required for any companion measure?
AG Rowe attached two earlier authorities: AG Opinion 86-8 (April 9, 1986) said the Legislature may by joint order require a special election sooner than the general election on an initiated bill, and …
South Dakota conservation officers (the GF&P uniformed wildlife law enforcement officers) routinely walk onto private farms and ranches to check licenses and look for game violations, without first getting a warrant and without the landowner's permission. Is that constitutional? Is it criminal trespass? The GF&P Secretary wanted a definitive answer.
Constitutional, and not trespass. The 2004 AG ruled that conservation officers may enter privately owned open fields without probable cause, reasonable suspicion, consent, or a search warrant in the p…
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