State AG Opinions
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Can a Minnesota county and its bargaining units, in a new collective bargaining agreement, add or raise co-pays on the health insurance plan in a way that also applies to retirees who are continuing under the county plan?
Yes, as long as the same changes apply to active employees. The AG concluded that nothing in Minn. Stat. § 471.61 prevents a county and union from agreeing to add or increase co-pays in a way that rea…
Does Texas' pollution-control property tax exemption cover equipment at a brand-new facility?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Both add-on pollution-control equipment and production equipment that limits pollution by its design qualify for the Tax Code section 11.31 exemption when installed…
Can a Texas school board member also teach as an unpaid volunteer in the same district?
The Attorney General concluded no. The common-law doctrine of incompatibility bars a school district trustee from also serving as a volunteer, part-time teacher in the same district, even without pay.…
After Vermont passed its 2000 fingerprinting law, did liquor control investigators still get access to Criminal Information Center records, or were they suddenly cut off because their division didn't spend half its budget on criminal justice?
Yes, they still got access. AG Sorrell's office concluded that the new statute's term 'criminal justice agency' should not be read so literally as to cut off police agencies that the legislature had l…
Can a Texas county pay deputies for accrued vacation or comp time it didn't allow when the time was earned?
The Attorney General concluded no. Paying for accrued vacation or compensatory time that the county did not permit to be paid out when it accrued would be unconstitutional retroactive extra compensati…
Can a Texas county limit which employee groups qualify for dues payroll deduction?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Because a commissioners court is not required to set up a dues payroll-deduction program at all, it may set one up subject to reasonable standards, such as requirin…
Can a Texas city use its own crews to run utility lines to a new subdivision instead of hiring a contractor?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Local Government Code sections 402.001 and 402.002 give a city express authority to own, construct, and operate utility systems, so a city may extend utility mains …
Can a Texas county make a plat-revision applicant pay for the cost of the required public notice?
The Attorney General concluded no. A county can charge a fee only when a statute or the constitution expressly authorizes it, and no provision lets a commissioners court charge an applicant for the co…
Can a Texas county bail bond board consider an independent appraisal of a bondsman's property?
The Attorney General concluded that a county bail bond board may not require a license applicant to submit an independent appraisal of real property pledged as security, because the board cannot add r…
Who controls the money when a Texas county prosecutor waives part of their state salary supplement?
The Attorney General concluded that funds from a county prosecutor's partial waiver of annual compensation under Government Code chapter 46 are received by the county, not the prosecutor, and are subj…
Can a Texas county with a state mental hospital charge other counties a document-prep fee for commitment hearings?
The Attorney General concluded no. The cost a prosecutor's office spends preparing documents for a mental-health proceeding is part of the statutory prosecutor's fee under Health and Safety Code secti…
Does the New York county clerk have to index Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) as the mortgagee when MERS is just a nominee and has no actual interest in the loan?
No. The AG concluded the Nassau County Clerk has no obligation to record MERS as the mortgagee of record where MERS has no legal interest in the mortgage. Doing so would violate Real Property Law § 31…
Can the same person in Texas be both a city mayor and a director of a hospital district?
The Attorney General concluded no. Under the common-law doctrine of incompatibility, specifically its 'conflicting loyalties' branch, one individual could not at the same time serve as mayor of La Ver…
Can a Texas economic development corporation use 4A sales tax money to fund a nonprofit's job-training or rehabilitation facility?
The Attorney General concluded a 4A development corporation may spend sales-tax proceeds on a rehabilitation and job-training facility only if its board of directors reasonably finds, on the facts, th…
Can Texas district judges raise the county auditor's salary after the budget year has already started?
The Attorney General concluded yes. The district judges who appoint a county auditor and the assistant auditors may amend their salaries even after the county budget is approved and the new budget yea…
Can a Texas community college district lower its property tax rate after it has already set it and mailed the bills?
The Attorney General concluded no. The Tax Code does not expressly let a community college district voluntarily reduce its adopted tax rate in the same tax year, and that authority cannot be implied, …
How must a Texas public funds investment pool like TexPool calculate the maturity it discloses to investors?
The Attorney General concluded that section 2256.016 of the Government Code requires TexPool to calculate the 'maximum average dollar-weighted maturity' of its portfolio using the stated (final) matur…
Which judge is the 'presiding judge' who can appoint a master for a mental-health probable-cause hearing in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that the 'presiding judge' in section 574.025(c), who may decide to have a probable-cause hearing held before a master rather than a magistrate, is the judge of the cour…
Does converting a manufactured-home loan lien into a real-property lien create a valid homestead lien in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded it does not. Article XVI, section 50 of the Texas Constitution allows a 'purchase money' lien on a homestead only to the extent the debt was used to buy the land and its…
Are landscape architects in North Carolina legally allowed to design street and storm water drainage systems for subdivision developments, or is that work limited to licensed professional engineers?
Engineering work, generally. The 2001 NC AG opinion concluded that detailed drawings and accompanying calculations for street design and storm water drainage systems, including subsurface piping and c…
Can a Smart Start local partnership board member vote on a grant to a nonprofit if she also sits on that nonprofit's board?
Generally yes, when the dual-service is institutional rather than personal. Smart Start board members serving on a nonprofit's board because of their county jobs (and gaining no personal financial ben…
Can a public hospital trustee also serve on a nonprofit's board if the public hospital is considering making a grant to that nonprofit?
Generally yes, as long as no individual personally pockets money from the grant. The criminal conflict-of-interest statute (N.C.G.S. § 14-234) is triggered by personal financial benefit to the public …
Does the 406th District Court of Webb County, Texas, have criminal jurisdiction?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Although the statute creating the 406th District Court tells it to 'give preference' to family-violence, Family Code, and Health and Safety Code cases and does not …
Does Texas cemetery law (Chapter 711) apply to old, informal burial grounds on private property?
The Attorney General concluded that the parts of chapter 711 of the Health and Safety Code that refer broadly to 'cemeteries' (as opposed to 'cemetery organizations') apply as a general matter to old …
Can a Texas port navigation district limit how many years a contract can keep automatically renewing?
The Attorney General concluded yes. The Port of Port Arthur Navigation District's express power to adopt rules to manage its affairs implies the power to limit, by policy, the number of times a loadin…
When a NC council of governments dissolves and gives up federally funded equipment bought with Older Americans Act subgrants, who decides what happens to the equipment: the state Division of Aging or the COG?
The state, applying state surplus property rules. The AG concluded that 45 C.F.R. § 92.32(b) controlled because the federal grant from HHS had gone to the State of North Carolina (the Division of Agin…
Can Texas spend state highway money on toll roads without requiring it to be paid back?
The Attorney General concluded no, not without a constitutional amendment. Article III, section 52-b lets TxDOT spend money on the Texas Turnpike Authority's toll roads only if any money taken from th…
Does Maryland's Forest Conservation Act apply to a local government building project in Allegany or Garrett County, even if the project uses state funding, given that those counties are exempt from the Act for having a lot of existing forest cover?
The exemption still applies. The opinion concluded the Forest Conservation Act's exemption for counties with 200,000 or more acres of forest cover (only Allegany and Garrett counties qualified) covers…
Can a NC county board abolish its statutorily-created county police department and roll its duties into the sheriff's office?
No. The AG concluded that the Gaston County Board of Commissioners cannot abolish the Gaston County Police Department or assign its duties to the sheriff's office without a new act of the General Asse…
Are Maine drivers for interstate trucking companies entitled to overtime under state law even when federal rules exempt them?
Chief Deputy Attorney General Linda Pistner withdrew a 1966 internal memorandum that had concluded Maine's overtime wage law (26 M.R.S.A. § 664) did not apply to certain interstate motor carrier emplo…
When a small NC town contracts with a private 'special police' company instead of hiring its own officers, can those private officers enforce traffic laws on town streets?
No. The AG concluded that NC Special Police (NCSP) officers, who hold their authority as company police officers under Chapter 74E, are limited by § 74E-6(c) to law enforcement on their employer's rea…
Can a North Carolina county adopt a local ordinance adding its own late-payment penalty or administrative fee on top of the statewide property tax interest schedule?
No. The AG read the Machinery Act in Subchapter II of Chapter 105 as a comprehensive, integrated statewide scheme that fully occupied the field of delinquent property tax penalties. The Act already im…
When can a Texas commissioners court or governmental body legally meet by telephone conference call?
The Attorney General concluded that section 551.125 allows a telephone conference call meeting only in a genuine emergency or public necessity where convening a quorum in one place is 'difficult or im…
Is the City of Anson, Texas, a home-rule municipality?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Anson adopted a home-rule charter by voter approval on April 6, 1920, and has been a home-rule municipality under article XI, section 5 of the Texas Constitution ev…
Can a Texas state agency spend appropriated funds to promote itself to the public or hire a PR firm?
The Attorney General concluded that a state agency, here the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund Board, may use appropriated funds to make information about its functions available to the public, i…
If a Georgia superior court judge resigns to take a federal judgeship, does he keep his rights to JRS spouses' benefits and to disability retirement benefits?
Half and half. The Georgia AG concluded that a JRS member who has paid spouses'-benefits contributions for at least ten years has a vested right to those benefits even after leaving JRS-covered office…
Can a Georgia public university let a student do an academic-credit internship at a religious organization that hires only people of its own faith, or would the university violate the Constitution by allowing it?
The opposite is true. The Georgia AG concluded there is no legal barrier to the university letting a student satisfy an internship requirement at a sectarian facility that limits hiring to people of i…
Can an out-of-state company use Delaware's public records law to get copies of local police accident reports?
No, according to this opinion. Delaware's FOIA only gives access rights to Delaware citizens, and a company that is not incorporated in Delaware and has no genuine Delaware presence does not count as …
Can a Texas city reappoint a director of its economic development corporation to another term?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Nothing in the Development Corporation Act of 1979 (article 5190.6) or the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act bars reappointing a director of a section 4A economic de…
Can a Texas county tax assessor-collector use escrow account interest to boost her own salary?
The Attorney General concluded that section 23.122 of the Tax Code does not forbid it, but the use is tightly conditioned. The tax assessor-collector must first determine that supplementing her salary…
Who appoints members of a Texas fire and police civil service commission when a term expires?
The Attorney General concluded that under section 143.006 of the Local Government Code, the expiration of a member's term is not a 'vacancy,' so the mid-term vacancy-appointment rules do not apply at …
Can Texas garnish wages to collect attorney's fees in a child-support case?
The Attorney General drew a line based on article XVI, section 28 of the Texas Constitution, which bars wage garnishment except to enforce court-ordered child support. A statute may let a court includ…
Do Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation board members need Senate confirmation?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Even though the corporation is a nonprofit doing work usually associated with the private sector, its board members hold state offices under article IV, section 12 …
Can a Texas physical therapist license applicant pay the exam fee directly to the exam company?
The Attorney General concluded no. Section 453.202 of the Occupations Code requires an applicant for a physical therapist or physical therapist assistant license to submit the examination fee to the B…
Can a loaded concrete truck drive on any Texas road regardless of posted weight limits?
The Attorney General concluded no. A ready-mixed concrete truck carrying a gross load up to 69,000 pounds may operate on Texas public highways if its owner has filed the required surety bond, but not …
Can Texas ban doctors from using patient testimonials in their advertising?
The Attorney General concluded that the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners is authorized to bar all testimonials in physician advertising. Although section 153.002 of the Occupations Code lets the…
Can a North Carolina state senator take a marketing job with a nonprofit institute and earn commissions on sales it makes to local governments, other states, and private parties without violating the state's public-contracting conflict-of-interest law?
Yes, likely. The NC AG concluded in 2001 that Senator Stephen Metcalf could probably accept a Director of Development position with Mars Hill Institute and receive compensation tied to sales of the In…
Can a Delaware school board go into closed session to discuss collective bargaining, and does it have to say so on the agenda?
The board can hold the closed session, since collective bargaining records are exempt from FOIA's public records requirements, but the AG found the board violated the law by labeling those closed sess…
After Oregon voters approved Measure 7 in 2000 to require the government to pay landowners for regulations that reduce property value, how do property owners file a claim, what counts as a regulation, and which property owners qualify?
The AG concluded that DAS could prescribe procedural rules for Measure 7 claims (forms, where to file, adjudication process) but could not interpret the substance; that a 'regulation' under Measure 7 …
Can the Texas pharmacy board satisfy a duty to list narrow therapeutic index drugs with an empty list?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Section 562.014 of the Occupations Code directs the Texas State Board of Pharmacy, in consultation with the medical board, to establish by rule a list of 'narrow th…
Which police officers are eligible to take the sergeant promotional exam in San Benito, Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that police officers in San Benito with at least two years of continuous service as either Police Officer II or Police Officer III are eligible to take the civil service…
Can one person serve as both a municipal utility district director and a city zoning commission member in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that one person could not hold both offices. A director of a municipal utility district and a member of a city planning and zoning commission are both public officers, a…
Can a Texas economic development corporation board approve funding for a business owned by one of its own members?
The Attorney General concluded it depended on the kind of transaction. The board of an economic development corporation may not approve a loan to one of its directors, because the Texas Non-Profit Cor…
Who is allowed to scan the magnetic stripe on the back of a Texas driver's license?
The Attorney General concluded that the electronically readable magnetic stripe information on a Texas driver's license or identification card may be used only by law enforcement and other governmenta…
Can a Texas police chief promote his nephew to lieutenant when the chief makes the final selection?
The Attorney General concluded that the chief could not. Under the state nepotism statute, a public official who has final authority to select someone for a position paid from public funds may not pic…
When does a business in North Carolina need to have an air-pollution permit in hand: when it finishes building a new pollution source, or when it starts construction?
Start of construction. The 2001 NC AG opinion interpreted N.C.G.S. § 143-215.108(a)(2) to require an air-permit before any on-site assembling of materials that will constitute a 'source' of air contam…
Can a North Carolina town hire a private company police agency, by contract, to act as the town's police force on public streets and inside private businesses, or are those officers limited to their employer's own property?
No. AG Mike Easley's office concluded that company police officers, as defined in N.C.G.S. § 74E-6(c), have law enforcement authority only on the real property of their employer (or property the emplo…
When Oregon guarantees school district bonds, does the constitutional cap of one-half of one percent of property value limit the amount of bonds Oregon can guarantee, or just the amount Oregon would have to pay if a district defaults?
The AG concluded that the Article XI-K limit of one-half of one percent of the true cash value of all taxable property in Oregon applies only to the amount of debt the state may incur in honoring its …
Can a North Carolina county require carbon monoxide alarms in new homes if the State Building Code does not, or does state law preempt that?
Only partly. The NC AG concluded in 2001 that Mecklenburg County's ordinance requiring carbon monoxide alarms was likely unenforceable as applied to new construction because the State Building Code fr…
What can a state attorney general do when a cemetery is mismanaged and its perpetual care fund is drained?
The Delaware Attorney General's Consumer Protection Unit filed a civil enforcement suit in the Court of Chancery against Riverview Cemetery Corp. and several fraternal organizations, alleging years of…
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