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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Can a Virginia school board, by majority vote, remove its chairman or vice-chairman from that position partway through their one-year term?
No. The AG concluded that § 22.1-76 fixes the chairman's and vice-chairman's term at one year and does not give the board any authority to remove either officer mid-term. Replacements are selected at …
Did Missouri approve the summary statement for initiative petition 2026-014?
Yes. The attorney general approved the proposed summary statement's legal content and form; it addressed initiative protections, an 80 percent legislative threshold, election timing, and ballot-summar…
Can a Delaware agency refuse to release records about offshore wind development just because there's an Environmental Appeals Board hearing pending?
Yes, when the records and the hearing are both about the same subject. DNREC properly invoked the pending-litigation exemption to withhold records about US Wind, the Indian River Bay, and offshore win…
Who has fire code authority over a Mississippi community college building, the State Fire Marshal or the local fire marshal?
Default to local. Mississippi community college buildings are not state-owned, so the State Fire Marshal's MS Fire Prevention Code does not automatically apply. Local fire code and local fire marshal …
Why did Missouri reject Damien Johnson's initiative petition 2026-025?
The attorney general rejected petition 2026-025 because it did not underline all new matter as required by Sec. 116.050, RSMo. The opinion did not review whether other deficiencies existed.
Why did Missouri reject Damien Johnson's initiative petition 2026-024?
The attorney general rejected petition 2026-024 because it did not underline all new matter as required by Sec. 116.050, RSMo. The opinion did not review whether other deficiencies existed.
Why did Missouri reject Damien Johnson's initiative petition 2026-023?
The attorney general rejected petition 2026-023 because it did not underline all new matter as required by Sec. 116.050, RSMo. The opinion did not review whether other deficiencies existed.
Did Missouri approve the form of Damien Johnson's initiative petition 2026-022?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-022 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 Damien Johnson's initiative petition 2026-021?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-021 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Can a Mississippi city use municipal labor and equipment to install a private individual's commemorative banners on city utility poles for free?
Generally no. A Mississippi city cannot donate municipal labor, equipment, or pole space to a private, for-profit individual for free, even for a commemorative banner project. But Section 17-3-1 lets …
Can the City of Fayetteville cap the application and background-check fees that landlords charge prospective tenants, or does Arkansas state law preempt that kind of price regulation?
No. A city cannot cap landlord rental application fees or background check fees. A.C.A. § 14-43-608(a) preempts municipal regulation of the price of those services. Section 14-54-1409 (the rent-contro…
Do the rules for license plates (Chapter 14, Subchapter 7) also apply to the temporary paper buyer's tags dealers issue to new car buyers, including the 100-foot visibility rule and the no-cover rule?
No. The display requirements for temporary preprinted buyer's tags are independent of license plate rules. Some requirements overlap, others don't. The license plate visibility rule (100 feet) does no…
Who enforces the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code in a fire district when wind turbines are being built, the State Fire Marshal, the city, or the local fire department, and can the city add stricter rules and charge inspection fees?
The State Fire Marshal enforces the AFPC by default. Local jurisdictions can establish a building department with a building official to enforce Volume 2 (buildings and structures), can adopt more str…
Can a Mississippi county use county equipment, labor, and materials to help a private water association with drainage repairs?
Generally no. The county home rule statute bars using public funds, equipment, or supplies for private purposes. But Section 19-5-92.1 carves out one exception: a county may provide labor, materials, …
Can a Mississippi tax collector accept a consular ID card or a foreign passport to register a vehicle?
No. While Section 27-19-57 does not allow a Mississippi tax collector to demand a Mississippi driver's license specifically, when proof of ID is required, it must be a driver's license or other govern…
Can a person serve as a Mississippi city fire chief and a county justice court judge at the same time?
No. The fire chief manages the entire fire department, serves as Civil Defense Director, and can hire and fire department staff. Those duties are executive core powers, so the same person cannot simul…
Did Missouri approve the summary statement for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-012?
Yes. The attorney general approved the proposed summary statement's legal content and form; the proposal addressed legislative changes to citizen initiatives and when ballot measures would be decided.
Can a Tennessee municipality annex territory that is both outside its urban growth boundary and not adjacent to its existing city limits?
No. A municipality may only annex noncontiguous territory if that territory sits entirely within the urban growth boundary. Land that is both noncontiguous and outside the urban growth boundary is una…
Did Missouri approve the summary statement for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-011?
Yes. The attorney general approved the summary statement's legal content and form; the proposal addressed initiative-law changes, election timing, and a citizens' ballot-summary commission.
Did Missouri approve the fiscal note summary for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-017?
Yes. The attorney general approved the fiscal note summary's legal content and form; it estimated no state or local government costs or savings, and the review did not assess that estimate's fairness …
Did Missouri approve the fiscal note summary for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-016?
Yes. The attorney general approved the fiscal note summary's legal content and form; it estimated at least $31,000 in state costs in each odd-numbered fiscal year beginning in fiscal year 2027 and no …
Does the Arkansas Attorney General have authority to review and approve an interlocal agreement between a city and a county that only divides funding for district court operations?
No. The AG concluded he lacks authority to review the Pope County / Russellville agreement under either the Interlocal Cooperation Act or the county-interlocal-agreement statute. The Cooperation Act a…
Did Missouri approve the fiscal note summary for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-015?
Yes. The attorney general approved the fiscal note summary's legal content and form; it estimated at least $31,000 in state costs in each odd-numbered fiscal year beginning in fiscal year 2027 and no …
Can off-duty Texas sheriff's deputies be hired directly for private security work without commissioners court approval?
It depends on whether the work is 'county business' or genuinely private. The AG explained that only the commissioners court may contract on the county's behalf for law enforcement services that invol…
Can a juvenile defendant's lawyer get the underlying records behind a Texas juvenile probation social history report?
Not through ordinary criminal discovery, but yes by subpoena. The AG concluded that a local juvenile probation department (Tarrant County Juvenile Services) is not 'the state' under Code of Criminal P…
When does a newly elected Arizona fire district board member take office after a November election?
On the first day of the month after the election. The Attorney General concluded that A.R.S. § 48-803(G) was meant to apply to all fire districts, even though a 2014 amendment accidentally added a cla…
Can the Kansas Governor veto just the strings attached to a school grant while leaving the money itself untouched?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Governor Kelly's line-item veto of a proviso restricting how a $5 million school safety and security grant could be spent, while leaving the $5 million appropri…
Can South Dakota's State Treasurer proactively find owners of small unclaimed property holdings and mail them a check, without waiting for the owner to file a claim?
Yes. The Uniform Unclaimed Property Act says an owner 'may' file a claim, not 'must,' which means the owner's claim is one route but not the only one. The Treasurer is the safekeeper of the property a…
Does the New Mexico Military Institute get a share of the extra 1.25% annual distribution from the state's land grant permanent funds that voters approved in 2022, including the 60% piece earmarked for early childhood education?
No, on either question. The 2022 amendment's extra 1.25% distribution comes only from the permanent school fund, which the federal Enabling Act limits to support of public (common) schools. NMMI is a …
Can a California special water district hire its own staff or contract with an outside vendor for staff, when the district's enabling statute says it may contract with two named partner agencies for staff services?
No. The Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency cannot hire its own employees or contract with a private vendor for staff. Its enabling statute lets it get staff only from the County of Ventura or th…
If a public employee's name, salary, hire date, and job title are requested under the Arkansas FOIA, can the agency release them?
Yes. The AG concludes that releasing nonelected public employees' compensation information (name, hire date, base salary, bonus, overtime, gross wages, and position title) is consistent with the FOIA.…
Can an Arkansas city pass an ordinance that limits how much a landlord can charge for rental application fees and background checks?
No. AG Tim Griffin opines that Fayetteville's Ordinance 6800 (capping rental application fees at $20 and background check fees at $40) likely violates A.C.A. § 14-43-608, which broadly prohibits munic…
If the state takes my home through eminent domain and I have to buy a new one, can my Amendment 79 senior property tax cap follow me to the new house at the old assessed value?
No. Amendment 79's senior cap applies to the new home, but it caps the new home at the new home's assessed value as of the purchase date, not at the old home's assessed value. There is no 'carry over'…
Can Texas police issue a traffic ticket as a card with a QR code that links to the full citation online?
Probably, if the system is built right. The AG concluded a court could find that handing a driver a card showing the time and place to appear and the citation number, plus a QR code that links to the …
Can the Arkansas Attorney General review a school district's decision to release records about a job applicant who is not employed by the district?
No. The AG's review jurisdiction under § 25-19-105(c)(3)(B)(i) is limited to personnel records and employee-evaluation records. Records about a person who is not employed by the public agency are neit…
Did Missouri approve the summary statement for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-010?
Yes. The attorney general approved the proposed summary statement's legal content and form; the proposal addressed legislative changes to citizen initiatives and when ballot measures would be decided.
Did Missouri approve the summary statement for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-009?
Yes. The attorney general approved the proposed summary statement's legal content and form; the proposal addressed legislative changes to citizen initiatives and when ballot measures would be decided.
Did Missouri approve the fiscal note summary for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-014?
Yes. The attorney general approved the fiscal note summary's legal content and form; it estimated no state or local government costs or savings, and the review did not assess that estimate's fairness …
Why did Missouri reject Katherine Floyd's initiative petition 2026-020?
The attorney general rejected petition 2026-020 because it did not correctly include only the sections of existing law to be repealed or amended. The opinion did not review whether other deficiencies …
Did Missouri approve the form of Katherine Floyd's initiative petition 2026-019?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-019 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 Katherine Floyd's initiative petition 2026-018?
Yes. The attorney general approved petition 2026-018 as to form, but the secretary of state retained final authority to approve or reject it, and the opinion did not decide substantive sufficiency.
Can a South Carolina state agency or public university agree to indemnify or 'hold harmless' another party in a contract?
No, not without express statutory authority. The Attorney General reaffirmed its longstanding position (dating to 1966) that a state agency has no authority to enter indemnification or 'hold harmless'…
Can a journalist use FOIA to find out which Delaware House staff signed nondisclosure agreements?
No. The Division of Legislative Services produced redacted copies of the five signed NDAs, the unsigned policy template, and the related employee handbooks. The redactions of staff names and signature…
Can a Delaware public body cure a missing public-comment item on the agenda by orally adding it before the meeting starts?
No. The public-comment period must be on the printed agenda. The Mayor's verbal addition at the start of the December 13, 2024 meeting did not save it. ACT violated FOIA. But because ACT voted at that…
Can a Tennessee property assessor correct an erroneous property classification or square-footage error after the original assessment year, and can the trustee then collect additional taxes?
Yes to both, as long as the correction happens before March 1 of the second year following the tax year. Once the assessor certifies a correctable error in writing, the trustee or municipal collector …
Can a Delaware state representative use FOIA to find out which legislative staff signed nondisclosure agreements?
He can get the policies themselves, but the names of the staff who signed are protected. The Division of Legislative Services properly redacted names and signatures from the five NDAs because the staf…
Did Missouri approve the fiscal note summary for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-012?
Yes. The attorney general approved the legal content and form of the auditor's fiscal note summary, which estimated no costs or savings for state and local government.
In a South Carolina mayor-council town, can the mayor hire a deputy administrator without council approval, and can the council cut the budget to block it?
The Attorney General concluded that in a mayor-council form of government, the mayor has broad authority under § 5-9-30(1) to appoint municipal employees, and because no statute governs a deputy/assis…
Can a New Mexico state agency sign the standard US Forest Service indemnity language for a special-use permit that lets it put a cell tower or other equipment on federal land?
Partly. The State can agree to indemnify the United States up to the Tort Claims Act's liability limits and can name the USDA as an additional insured on a commercial general liability policy purchase…
Can the Mesalands Community College Board of Trustees demand money from the Mesalands Community College Foundation when the College needs cash?
No. The College Board can request funds, but the Foundation is not legally required to comply with any specific request. The Foundation's directors owe fiduciary duties (good faith, care, loyalty) to …
Is it legal for Kansas to require the State Board of Cosmetology to have at least one African-American member?
It's constitutionally uncertain. The Attorney General concluded that K.S.A. 74-2701(a)'s requirement that at least one member of the State Board of Cosmetology be African-American is a race-based clas…
Are settlement discussions and materials in Oklahoma utility rate cases confidential, and can a single Corporation Commissioner be shown them?
Confidential, yes, and no, not even one Commissioner can see them. Settlement matters in any public utility rate proceeding before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission are privileged under 17 O.S. § 28…
If a Delaware town quotes me a high fee for a FOIA request and I ask for a quote on a narrower version, can the town just ignore the new request?
No. When the requester modifies a FOIA request after seeing a fee estimate (here, $660), the town has to engage with the modification, not stay silent. Bethany Beach's failure to respond to Ms. Pawlos…
If a Delaware city tells me that no records exist responsive to my FOIA request, can I force them to look harder?
Only if you can show their search was inadequate. The City of Wilmington's Director of Land Use and Planning swore under oath that an inspector visited the Rockford Tower Condominiums in August 2024 a…
If a New Mexico statute says members of the State Music Commission cannot receive 'compensation, perquisite or allowance,' can they still be reimbursed for the gas and per diem they spend traveling to a Commission meeting?
Yes. The Per Diem and Mileage Act applies to members of the Commission as nonsalaried public officers and authorizes mileage reimbursement at the IRS standard rate plus per diem within statutory limit…
When the New Mexico State Ethics Commission votes in closed session on whether to file a civil enforcement action, does the Open Meetings Act force it to put the target's name on the public agenda?
No, not necessarily. The Open Meetings Act requires 'reasonable specificity' on agendas, but reasonableness is fact-specific. Because the State Ethics Commission Act keeps complaint and investigation …
Did Missouri approve the fiscal note summary for Jamie Howard's initiative petition 2026-011?
Yes. The attorney general approved the legal content and form of the auditor's fiscal note summary, which estimated at least $25,000 in state costs each odd-numbered fiscal year and no local costs or …
When a public flood-control authority sets up a private dispute-review board to handle construction disputes, do open meeting laws apply?
Yes. The Metro Flood Diversion Authority is a public entity. Its Technical Dispute Review Board, set up by contract with a private developer to resolve construction disputes, is a committee of the MFD…
Did Missouri approve the ballot wording for a county tobacco cigarette tax with dedicated local uses?
Yes. The attorney general approved the summary statement for Deirdre Hirner's petition 2026-006, letting county voters set and control taxes on tobacco cigarettes with proceeds dedicated to listed loc…
Did Missouri approve the ballot wording for a county cigarette and tobacco tax controlled by county voters?
Yes. The attorney general approved the summary statement for Deirdre Hirner's petition 2026-005, a shorter version letting county voters set and control county taxes on cigarettes or tobacco products.
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