State AG Opinions
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Can a New York town extend its supervisor's term from two years to four when that supervisor also sits on the county board of supervisors?
Yes, but only by board resolution subject to a mandatory voter referendum, not by local law. The AG concluded that Town Law § 24-a (added in 1981) permits towns to lengthen the supervisor's term to fo…
Can a city council member be appointed to a separate government board by their own council?
The Attorney General concluded that the common-law doctrine of incompatibility bars an officer who holds appointing power from appointing himself to another office, so a San Antonio city council membe…
How must a Texas school district procure a single 'program manager' for a big building program?
The Attorney General concluded that a school district may not use the Professional Services Procurement Act (Government Code chapter 2254) to contract for bundled 'guaranteed program management' servi…
What makes a newspaper one of 'general circulation' for publishing legal notices in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that a 'newspaper of general circulation' is one with more than a de minimis number of subscribers within a geographic region, a diverse subscribership, and some news of…
Does a county clerk have to bill another county for mental health hearing costs?
The Attorney General concluded that section 571.018(b) of the Health and Safety Code, as amended in 1999, requires the clerk of the court conducting a mental health services proceeding to bill the cou…
When is a payment to a departing school superintendent a 'severance payment'?
The Attorney General concluded that a 'severance payment' under section 11.201(c) of the Education Code is compensation paid to a superintendent beyond wages upon early termination by a school distric…
Can Georgia's Department of Education send Reading Challenge after-school grants to churches and other sectarian institutions?
No. The Georgia AG concluded that Article I, Section II, Paragraph VII of the Georgia Constitution forbids public funds, directly or indirectly, in aid of any sectarian institution. Grants to sectaria…
Can a small New York town let its highway superintendent live outside the town?
Yes. The AG concluded a town may enact a local law broadening the residency requirement for highway superintendent and deputy. Because the Legislature has already given the Towns of New Castle and Pou…
Can a hospital district keep collecting taxes after it closes its hospital?
The Attorney General concluded that closing a hospital does not end a hospital district's constitutional duty to provide and pay for medical care for its needy residents, so the Garza Hospital Distric…
Can cities agree to cut off utility service to people who owe another city?
The Attorney General concluded that the Interlocal Cooperation Act did not authorize local governments that run utilities or landfills to sign a contract where each would collect the others' unpaid fe…
Does a city taxicab ordinance apply to a government-run Medicaid van service?
The Attorney General concluded that if the City of Midland's taxicab ordinance covered the Medicaid transport service the Concho Valley Council of Governments ran under a contract with the Texas Depar…
Can the Governor reappoint Environmental Management Commission members to consecutive terms, and if not, are the Commission's decisions still legally binding?
The AG concluded yes on both questions. The EMC statute § 143B-283(b) is ambiguous on reappointments; it lacks the express prohibition that the General Assembly used in other commission statutes (Sedi…
Can the NC State Education Assistance Authority advance state student loan funds to colleges so the colleges can directly make federal student loans to their graduate students?
Yes. The AG concluded that the State Education Assistance Authority had statutory authority under G.S. §§ 116-201, 116-204(8), and 116-209.3 to advance funds from the NC Student Loan Fund to NC colleg…
Can a Minnesota city pass an ordinance that completely bans smoking in restaurants, or does the state Clean Indoor Air Act preempt local rules?
Yes, a city may ban restaurant smoking. The AG concluded that the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act expressly preserves local government authority to impose stricter smoking limits, so a complete local b…
Can Randall County have fewer than four justice of the peace precincts?
The Attorney General concluded that a 1999 amendment to the Texas Constitution added Randall County (alongside Chambers County) to a clause letting those counties set their justice of the peace and co…
Can an elected college trustee also serve as a city municipal judge?
The Attorney General concluded that an elected junior college trustee may serve at the same time as a city municipal judge. The trustee post is unpaid, so it is not an 'office of emolument' that the c…
Can a judge make a defendant post part personal bond and part surety bail?
The Attorney General concluded that a Texas magistrate may not require a 'split bond,' meaning one bond that is partly a personal bond supervised by a pretrial services office and partly a secured bai…
Who controls a sheriff's budget and vehicles, the sheriff or the commissioners court?
The Attorney General concluded that a commissioners court holds the county's budgetary power and may fund a sheriff's function less than he requests, but it may not cut so deep that it prevents him fr…
Does a school board's advisory committee have to give the public seven days' notice before it meets?
Yes, according to this opinion. The Delaware AG found that a school board's Raider Committee, made up partly of board members, counted as a public body once it discussed a matter it could recommend on…
After Congress passed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, can Georgia still enforce O.C.G.A. § 33-3-23, which barred banks and their affiliates from selling insurance in cities with more than 5,000 people?
No. The Georgia AG concluded that Section 104 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, codifying the Barnett Bank standard, preempts O.C.G.A. § 33-3-23. Georgia's 5,000-population cap significantly interfered w…
Do the Business and Commerce Code's fraudulent-filing penalties apply to transactions excluded from UCC chapter 9?
No. The Attorney General concluded that because section 9.104 of the Business and Commerce Code excludes thirteen kinds of transactions from all of chapter 9, and the fraudulent-filing provision in se…
Can a Texas home-rule city use tax money to pay for school children's out-of-state trips?
It depends. The Attorney General concluded that a home-rule city may spend public funds on an activity its charter authorizes without separate legislative permission, but every expenditure has to serv…
Who decides whether trimming sideburns counts as cutting hair or a beard under Texas barber law?
The Attorney General concluded that the State Board of Barber Examiners, not the AG's office, holds the power to define where 'hair' ends and 'the beard' begins under section 1601.002(1)(A) of the Occ…
Must a hospital district board member who leads a labor council recuse from prevailing-wage votes?
No. The Attorney General concluded that chapter 171 of the Local Government Code, the local conflict-of-interest law, did not bar a Harris County Hospital District board member from voting on prevaili…
Could the State of NC set up a nonprofit corporation to issue tax-exempt Certificates of Participation to buy prison facilities, where the lease payments back the bonds?
No. The AG concluded the public bidding requirements of Article 8 of Chapter 143 do NOT apply to private construction of the three new close security prisons authorized by S.L. 1999-237 § 18.20(a) / N…
Can a North Carolina county board of elections force a public school, town hall, or other tax-supported building to be used as a polling place against the wishes of the people who run it?
Yes. The AG read G.S. § 163-129 to give county boards of elections clear power to demand and use any school or other tax-supported building, or part of one, as a voting place, even over the objection …
Are officers and directors of a university foundation, athletic foundation, or alumni association protected by the State's Defense of State Employees Act if they're sued?
No. The AG concluded that the officers, directors, and employees of the Foundation of UNC Charlotte, the Athletic Foundation of UNC Charlotte, and the UNC Charlotte Alumni Association are not 'State e…
Can North Carolina prohibit or regulate private prisons that house federal or out-of-state inmates, and what authority do private prison employees have to make arrests?
The AG concluded that NC cannot prohibit a private prison from being built in NC to house federal inmates (the Supremacy Clause forecloses that), but NC can regulate matters like firearms, use of forc…
Can a county juvenile board hire its own lawyer and pay the fees without commissioners court approval?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the Potter County Juvenile Board, a separate statutory entity, had implied authority to hire private counsel to defend itself, including in a suit brought agai…
Can Texas police secretly record or broadcast what suspects say in the back of a patrol car?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a person sitting in a police car has no expectation of privacy that society is prepared to recognize as reasonable, so what they say there is not a protected '…
Can a Texas school district charge tuition for prekindergarten or under-age kindergarten students?
No, not just because of the student's status. The Attorney General concluded that a school district may not charge tuition for a prekindergarten student, or for a kindergarten student who is not betwe…
Does the County Purchasing Act cover a local government corporation a county sets up?
No. The Attorney General concluded that 1999 amendments to the Transportation Code, in section 431.101(e), exempt the contracts of a local government corporation from the competitive-bidding requireme…
Can a North Carolina town accept up to $400,000 in private contributions from some property owners, hold it in escrow, and use it to fund the costs of condemning right-of-way from other (resisting) property owners along a state secondary road that the town wants widened and improved?
Yes, it appears so. AG Mike Easley's office concluded that nothing in North Carolina law prohibits a town from accepting private contributions to fund road-improvement condemnation costs along a state…
Can a New York fire district require volunteer firefighters to have a high school diploma?
Yes. The AG concluded a board of fire commissioners may set membership qualifications including a high school diploma or equivalency requirement under Town Law § 176(11). Alternative path: requiring S…
Do New York charter school construction, renovation, and repair projects have to pay prevailing wages under Labor Law § 220?
Generally yes. Charter schools are public schools serving an essential public purpose, so projects to build, renovate, or repair their facilities are usually 'public works' subject to Labor Law § 220'…
Can a New York town cut timber on town park land to maintain the park and improve it with the proceeds?
Yes, for limited, selective cutting that preserves the park and enhances public use, with proceeds spent on park improvements. The AG concluded this is consistent with State law. Full commercial timbe…
Can a New York city pass a local law making it illegal for a council member to leak what happened in an executive session?
Yes. The AG concluded a municipality may prohibit executive-session disclosure through its code of ethics under General Municipal Law § 806 or by local law under Municipal Home Rule Law § 10. The rest…
If a NC crime victim's claim is under $7,500 but the victim was committing a misdemeanor or engaged in contributory misconduct, who decides whether to pay the claim: the Commission or its Director?
The full Commission. The AG resolved an apparent conflict between two crime-victim-compensation statutes. G.S. § 15B-10(a) gave the Director authority to decide claims of $7,500 or less. G.S. § 15B-11…
Can a Texas junior college buy insurance through a single designated broker of record?
It depends on the dollar amount. The Attorney General concluded that a junior college district may not use a designated broker of record to buy insurance when the premiums total $10,000 or more in a t…
Can a Texas state licensing board inspect a polygraph examiner's office without a search warrant?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the Polygraph Examiners Board had no power to inspect a polygraph examiner's work product at the examiner's place of business without a warrant. A routine on-si…
Does the Open Meetings Act apply when a quorum of a Texas public board committee attends an outside speech?
It depends on what gets discussed. The Attorney General concluded that when a quorum of a public board's standing committee attends a speech or meeting run by someone else and a member takes part in d…
Did Wyoming's constitution require the legislature to send a proposed constitutional amendment to the governor for signature before putting it on the ballot?
Yes. Article 3, § 41 of the Wyoming Constitution requires every joint resolution to be presented to the governor for approval or veto, and the AG concluded a 2000 legislative rule that bypassed the go…
When a NC town leases private land for public parking and beach access, can the town claim the property is tax-exempt as 'municipal property'?
No. The AG concluded that Ocean Isle Beach's leasehold interest in privately-owned land did not qualify for the § 105-278.1(b) municipal property tax exemption. The words 'belonging to' in that exempt…
Could Idaho voters require cities to hold an election within a proposed annexation area before annexing it, with the city paying for the vote?
The proposed initiative would have repealed Idaho Code 50-222 and replaced it with new sections requiring cities to hold a hearing and an election in the unincorporated area before annexation, with th…
If NC adopts the new Uniform Commercial Code Article 9 revisions, will the Department of the Secretary of State and its employees face new tort liability exposure?
Yes. The AG concluded that the General Statutes Commission's pending Article 9 revisions would substantially increase the liability exposure of the Secretary of State's filing office and its employees…
When a North Carolina farm or forestland loses its present-use property tax break, how many years of back taxes does the county collect?
Three years, plus the current fiscal year. The AG concluded that G.S. § 105-277.4(c) operated in two sequential steps. First, the current fiscal year's taxes were computed as if the property had never…
Can a Texas navigation district accept easements from the Army Corps just to hand them back to landowners?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the Port of Bay City Authority of Matagorda County, a special purpose district with only the powers the Legislature gave it or that are clearly implied, had no …
Can a Texas agency require an HIV test to get a professional boxing license?
No, not by rule. The Attorney General concluded that the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation could not require professional boxing applicants to take an HIV test as a condition of licensure, …
Does Texas's religious freedom law let a faith-based school grant degrees without state approval?
No. The Attorney General concluded that chapter 110 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Texas's religious freedom statute, does not exempt a religious degree-granting university from state regula…
Can a volunteer firefighter also serve on the city council in Texas?
Not in Gilmer's case. The Attorney General concluded that a member of the Gilmer Volunteer Fire Department could not also serve on the city council, because the city charter put the fire department un…
Can New York police arrest someone without a warrant for being in the country illegally?
Only if the person is suspected of criminally violating the Immigration and Nationality Act, not just being civilly out of status. The AG concluded New York officers can make warrantless arrests for c…
Can the Texas Ethics Commission release campaign donors' street addresses on a computer diskette?
No. The Attorney General read section 254.0401(e) of the Election Code to bar the Texas Ethics Commission from releasing a campaign contributor's street or P.O. box address by any electronic means, no…
Can a Texas water district set up a retirement system for its elected directors?
No, for a retirement system. The Attorney General concluded that section 49.069(b) of the Water Code does not let a water district establish a public retirement system for district directors who hold …
Can a Texas county quit the county court judge salary supplement program in the middle of the year?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a county participating in the salary supplementation program for statutory county court judges, funded by the extra court costs and fees collected under section…
What happens to a defendant's cash bail money in Texas when the DA never files charges?
When no criminal case is filed, the sheriff does not send the defendant's cash bail bond to the court clerk, because the statutes that require that step assume a pending case. The Attorney General con…
Can the Vermont State House restrict the display of a publication with sexually explicit cartoons in its public cafeteria?
The State House cafeteria was a designated public forum, so any restriction on speech had to be narrowly drawn. Vermont could limit minors' access to material depicting intimate sexual activity, but a…
When NC created a Board of Massage and Bodywork Therapy in 1998, did the new board take over school licensing from the State Board of Community Colleges?
Yes, but with a wrinkle. The 1998 NC Massage and Bodywork Therapy Practice Act created a Massage Board with authority to approve (not license) massage and bodywork schools. The AG concluded that the a…
Can a Texas county move police training funds into its general fund?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the money allocated to local law enforcement agencies under section 1701.157 of the Occupations Code, which funds continuing education for local peace officers,…
Can a Texas university board let regents join a regular meeting by phone?
Not by telephone. The Attorney General concluded that a governing board of a higher-education institution cannot hold a regular meeting with absent members participating from remote locations by phone…
Can a Texas police chief approve a job transfer for his own son or nephew?
Not if the approval involves any discretion. The Attorney General concluded that section 573.062(b) of the Government Code bars a public official from participating in any employment action affecting …
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