State AG Opinions
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Does the ADA override Texas's ban on electronic bingo devices for disabled players?
The Attorney General concluded that a keypad device with electronic memory that helps a player track bingo cards (the PowerBingo System) is a 'computerized or electronic device' barred by section 11(u…
Is the State Superintendent of Public Instruction required to comply with the NC Environmental Policy Act (NCEPA) when issuing certificates of approval for new school construction plans under N.C.G.S. § 115C-521, given that local school boards may not invest in any new building without a Superintendent-issued plan approval covering structural and functional soundness, safety, and sanitation?
Yes. The Superintendent's plan-approval certificate is a state 'action' under NCEPA implementing rules (T1 NCAC 25.0108(b)) because, without it, local school boards cannot invest in the new building. …
Can an Idaho city or county hand out a cable TV franchise, regulate the rates the cable company charges, and collect a franchise fee, without waiting for the legislature to pass a special cable statute?
Yes for cities, almost certainly. Probably yes for counties too. Idaho's general municipal-franchising and home-rule statutes already cover cable TV alongside taxis, buses, and garbage hauling. Federa…
When North Carolina registers an out-of-state child support order, the statute says the clerk must send the obligor notice by certified or registered mail. If the clerk instead has the sheriff personally serve the obligor, is the registration still valid, and can the court enter an order confirming the registration even when there is no proof the obligor received the mailed notice?
Yes on both. Personal service by the sheriff satisfies the notice purpose of § 52A-29 even though the statute says the clerk should send by certified or registered mail (Silvering v. Vito). For order …
If a state employee is hurt on the job and wants to see a chiropractor, but the state agency's approved-provider list does not include chiropractors, does the general chiropractic free-choice statute (§ 90-157.1) let the employee go to a chiropractor anyway, or does the Workers' Compensation Act's provider rules (§ 97-25) require Industrial Commission approval?
The Workers' Compensation Act controls. Under § 97-25, the employer (or its insurer) provides medical compensation and the Industrial Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over treatment disputes. The…
Can a Minnesota sheriff get paid extra by cities or private businesses for off-duty policing, and can the sheriff's family run a civil process serving business inside or outside the county?
No on personal compensation. The AG concluded the sheriff's salary covers all law enforcement duties, so an elected sheriff cannot keep money paid by cities or private parties for off-duty policing. F…
Can a NC public body go into closed session with its lawyer to discuss a contract negotiation, not just litigation?
Yes. The 1994 rewrite of N.C.G.S. § 143-318.11(a)(3) expressly authorizes a public body to consult with its attorney in closed session to preserve the attorney-client privilege, and this authority is …
Could the District tap the Convention Center Fund, the Starplex Fund, or the Rainy Day Fund in 1995 to pay consultants studying whether to build a new convention center and a new MCI-style sports arena?
Yes. The Corporation Counsel concluded that feasibility and preconstruction studies were a necessary expense of constructing those facilities, and that all three funding sources, when combined with th…
Does the NC Department of Correction have to pay the Utilities Commission's quarterly regulatory fee for its inmate pay-phone system?
No. The Department of Correction, as a State agency, is not a 'public utility' under N.C.G.S. § 62-3(23) because the statute's 'person' definition (§ 62-3(21)) does not expressly include the State or …
Can a NC public body keep the location and seller secret in closed session when discussing buying real estate?
Usually no. After the 1994 Open Meetings Law amendments, a public body may close a session to discuss real property only to instruct staff or negotiators about price and other material terms it actual…
If a SD landowner did not return a county classification questionnaire in 1992, had his land reclassified from agricultural to non-agricultural for the 1993 tax year, paid the higher 1993 taxes in 1994 without protest, and later asks for an abatement and refund under SDCL chapter 10-18, can he get it?
No. The SDCL chapter 10-18 abatement procedure is available only for the six narrow categories listed in SDCL 10-18-1 (entry error, valuation-included improvements that did not exist, exempt status, n…
When the NC Environmental Management Commission submits a fiscal note for a proposed rule, can the Director of the Budget refuse to certify it just because another affected agency (such as DOT) objects to the cost numbers or to spending funds available in that agency's budget?
No. The AG concluded that G.S. 150B-21.4 puts the certification decision in the Director of the Budget's own hands. The Director may seek input from any source, including the potentially affected agen…
When the Commercial Fishing License Moratorium Appeals Panel reviews tax forms submitted by license applicants, must the Panel keep the meeting open or can it (or must it) go into closed session to discuss state tax information?
The Panel must go into closed session to discuss anything found only on the state tax form. NC state tax information stays confidential and disclosing it is a crime under G.S. 105-259. Federal tax inf…
Is a private nonprofit arts council that takes some state grant money required to hold its board meetings open to the public under North Carolina's Open Meetings Law?
No, in this case. The AG concluded the Franklin County Arts Council, Inc., a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit that was not created by statute or local government and was not subject to government supervisi…
Can the Shannon County Board of Commissioners conduct business if fewer than three of its five members attend a meeting, given the long travel distances to meetings in Hot Springs, and what options exist when assembling a quorum is impractical?
No business can be conducted without a quorum. A three-member quorum is required for the five-member board, and three affirmative votes are needed to take any official action. The board's option for h…
After the 1994 Legislature passed HB 1255 pushing back the deadline for the Secretary of Revenue to withhold personal property tax replacement funds for nonagricultural assessment violations, can a South Dakota county commission pass a resolution rolling back agricultural land assessments to 1993 levels?
No. HB 1255 only delayed the withholding start date for nonagricultural property to 1995. It did not change the agricultural date, did not authorize any rollback, and did not modify the true-and-full-…
When several 1993 Texas bills changed the same truancy-fine law, which fines applied?
The Attorney General concluded that three bills from the 1993 legislative session (House Bill 681, House Bill 1372, and Senate Bill 7) all amended Education Code section 4.25, the compulsory-school-at…
Is an NC state employee using a privately owned vehicle on official state business entitled to mileage reimbursement at the statutory IRS-business-standard rate (29 cents per mile in 1994) for every mile traveled regardless of distance, as the 1975 AG opinion concluded? Or does the Department of Administration have authority to cap that statutory rate for longer trips by requiring use of a state vehicle?
The 1975 'reimburse at the statutory rate regardless of distance' opinion has been superseded by Department of Administration rules. Under those rules in 1 NCAC 38 .0500 et seq., statutory IRS-based r…
Did the NC Environmental Management Commission have legal authority to use funds from the High Unit Cost Wastewater Account to address failures of low-pressure pipe (LPP) sewer systems, given the 1994 budget bill's 'low wealth areas' language?
Yes. The AG concluded that the 1994 budget bill's 'low wealth areas' phrase did not exclude grants based on county wealth criteria. The phrase simply re-affirmed the existing sliding-scale eligibility…
When the 1994 South Dakota Legislature passed SL 1994 ch. 19 directing removal of the Edwin Blashfield mural 'The Spirit of the West' from the Governor's Reception Room, did that statute override the Capitol Complex Restoration Commission's general preservation duties for historic areas, and can the painting be left in place covered by draperies if physical removal would damage it?
SL 1994 ch. 19 controls over the general preservation statutes in SDCL chapter 5-15 because it is both more specific (about this mural) and more recent (1994). The statute requires the painting be tak…
Can a NC regional transit authority sign a labor-protection agreement with a union as a condition of getting federal transit money?
Probably not as a contract. G.S. § 95-98 voids agreements between NC government units and labor unions, and NC federal courts have read that statute broadly enough to reach agreements protecting union…
Can a North Carolina state-chartered bank invest in a 'banker's bank', a depository institution chartered to do business with other banks and majority-owned by banks, by treating the banker's bank as a 'central reserve bank' under one of the exceptions to G.S. 53-47's bar on a bank investing in another bank? And does the answer change if the investment is in a holding company that owns the banker's bank?
No to both. The AG concluded a banker's bank is not a 'central reserve bank' under G.S. 53-47, so the exception does not apply and a state-chartered NC bank may not invest in a banker's bank. A centra…
Can the State Board of Education adopt a rule that lets a local school board reduce the 180-day school term for just one school (when an emergency closes that one school) on different terms than the rule that applies when emergency closures affect a whole school district?
No. G.S. 115C-84(c) sets a single statutory method for reducing the 180-day term: build in make-up days, exhaust them, then petition the State Board for relief. That method governs whether the closure…
Can a Texas county auditor also work for a nonprofit that gets county funding?
The Attorney General concluded that when the county-auditor oath of office (Local Government Code section 84.007(b)), which bars a county auditor from having a personal interest in any county contract…
When South Dakota police take a minor into custody, can they share information about the minor with a Department of Social Services caseworker or with school officials involved with the minor, given that SDCL 26-7A-27 bars disclosure of juvenile law enforcement records to 'the public'?
Yes, with limits. The term 'public' in SDCL 26-7A-27 means the general undifferentiated community, not government agency personnel who have a particularized interest in the child. DSS caseworkers and …
When I request a state agency's draft report or its investigation file under the NC Public Records Act, can the agency refuse to give it to me until the document is finished or the investigation is closed?
Probably not on a blanket basis. Under News & Observer v. Poole (1992), even draft reports already in the review pipeline are subject to disclosure. Civil investigative files generally are also public…
Can a county board of commissioners take physical possession of the county DSS's child protective services records, putting them in a safety deposit box that the DSS director cannot access?
No. The AG concluded that NC confidentiality laws are violated when CPS files are removed from DSS custody without the DSS director's consent or a court order. G.S. 7A-544 puts the burden on the DSS d…
Could the Texas Legislature legalize slot machines without another constitutional amendment, either privately or through the state lottery?
No. A slot machine whose payout depended entirely on chance was a prohibited lottery under article III, section 47, and the Legislature could not authorize it without a constitutional amendment. The 1…
How does Minnesota calculate the registration tax on a new car: from the manufacturer's lowest price-list MSRP for a given VIN, or from the actual base price on the window sticker?
From the window sticker. The AG concluded the motor vehicle registration tax base value under Minn. Stat. § 168.013, subd. 1a(b) is the federal-law base price listed on the window sticker (15 U.S.C. §…
Can the clerk of superior court, or local landowners, dissolve a NC drainage district that has served its purpose, or does dissolution require action by the General Assembly?
Dissolution requires legislative action. The AG concluded that Chapter 156 does not give the clerk or landowners statutory authority to dissolve a drainage district once it has been created. A drainag…
Can a North Carolina state-chartered credit union adopt by-laws that close nominations 45 days before the annual meeting, mail ballots to members, and then conduct the entire director election by absentee ballot, leaving no opportunity for a member to vote in person at the annual meeting?
No. G.S. § 54-109.35(a) plainly says directors are 'elected at the annual members' meeting by and from the members,' and § 54-109.31(b) authorizes by-laws to allow absentee voting but does not authori…
After 1994 amendments to the insurance code, can North Carolina consumer finance companies (consumer loan licensees) sell single-interest or dual-interest automobile physical damage insurance (VSI) along with their loans, without separately applying to the Commissioner of Banks for 'other business authority' under G.S. 53-172(b)?
Yes. The AG had previously concluded in November 1993 that VSI was not in the consumer-finance authorization list in G.S. § 53-189(a), so licensees needed other-business authority to sell it. SB 1719,…
If a sitting South Dakota county commissioner is appointed to a vacant seat in the State Legislature, can the person hold both offices at the same time until the county commissioner term ends?
No. The offices of state representative and county commissioner are incompatible. The Legislature has plenary constitutional authority over counties under S.D. Const. art. IX, § 1, including the power…
Are non-resident military servicemembers stationed in North Carolina exempt from the state's highway use tax when they register a vehicle here?
No. The AG corrected an earlier DMV Bulletin No. 136 that wrongly claimed an exemption. The Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940 exempts only annually recurring property taxes on a non-resi…
Could Texas exempt privately owned dredge-disposal land from property tax?
The Attorney General concluded that section 11.29 of the Tax Code, which exempted land a person dedicates by donated easement as a disposal site for material dredged from the Gulf Intracoastal Waterwa…
If a savings bank applies to convert from mutual to stock form and then withdraws the application, is the withdrawn application still a public record the state agency has to show to the public?
Yes, but only as long as the agency keeps it. The AG concluded that the public-information portion of a conversion application becomes a public record the moment the Savings Institutions Division (SID…
Are vendor payments to providers of medical, psychological, therapeutic, and remedial services for adopted special needs children a form of public assistance, and can the state pay them retroactively?
Yes, vendor payments are a category of adoption assistance and thus a form of public assistance. Whether the payment goes directly to adoptive parents (monthly cash) or to the service provider (vendor…
Does a small public construction job in Texas still need a workers' comp coverage certificate?
The Attorney General concluded that Labor Code section 406.096 requires a workers' compensation coverage certificate on every building or construction contract with the state or a political subdivisio…
Can a 1993 Texas law stop an economic development corporation from paying a debt it took on before the law passed?
The Attorney General concluded that section 4A(q) of article 5190.6, V.T.C.S., added in 1993, bars a type 4A economic development corporation from assuming or paying down a debt that existed before th…
Can a North Carolina bank organized under Chapter 53 own the shares of a nondepository trust company, on the theory that a nondepository trust company is not a 'bank' under G.S. 53-47's prohibition on a bank owning another bank?
No. The AG confirmed a 1992 conclusion that a bank may not own a nondepository trust company. The 1945 General Assembly removed the prior carve-out for nondepository trust companies from the statutory…
How much can a Texas court charge to file a protective order?
The Attorney General concluded that section 71.04(e) of the Family Code caps the total a court clerk may charge a family-violence protective order applicant at $36, covering both the $16 filing fee an…
Does Minnesota's 1993 campaign finance law (§ 211A.13) ban a candidate for local office from transferring money to or from any other local candidate's campaign committee, or only to campaigns of state and judicial candidates?
Only state and judicial. The AG concluded that § 211A.13's ban on transfers to and from a 'principal campaign committee' is limited to the principal campaign committees of chapter 10A candidates (stat…
When the SD Legislature created the Office of Administrative Hearings under SDCL chapter 1-26C in 1994, did that new chapter override or abrogate the existing hearing procedures the Division of Insurance had been following under SDCL title 58 and chapter 1-26?
No. SDCL 1-26C creates a new structure (the Office of Administrative Hearings and statewide Administrative Law Judges) but does not abrogate existing procedures unless they specifically conflict. Insu…
Can the NC State Treasurer (who is by statute ex officio chairman of the State Banking Commission) authorize the Assistant State Treasurer to preside over Banking Commission meetings when the Treasurer is absent?
Yes. Under G.S. 147-75 the Treasurer may authorize a deputy to perform any duties of the Treasurer's office, and the AG's 1986 formal opinion held that Council of State members may delegate their ex o…
Does NC's Soil Conservation Districts Law require that appointed members of a Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors live within the district they are appointed to represent?
Yes. The AG concluded that the 1979 statutory phrase 'from the district' in G.S. § 139-7 means appointed supervisors must be residents of the district. Read together with NC constitutional provisions …
If an Idaho school district raises a student fee by more than 5 percent in a year, does the public-notice statute apply, and does the district have to hold a public hearing?
Yes. Fees a school district charges for voluntary or extracurricular activities (sports, driver's education, towels, lockers, parking, lunch, etc.) are 'fees' under the 1994 budget-cap law. Any increa…
When a North Carolina law enforcement agency seizes cash or property from a drug suspect, can the agency release it directly to the NC Department of Revenue to satisfy controlled-substance excise taxes without first getting a court order, and what happens if the agency does that with property that was supposed to be held for forfeiture?
Evidence-only property can be released to Revenue without a court order if the prosecutor agrees the property is no longer needed for trial. Property actually seized under § 90-112 forfeiture authorit…
Can Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) agents bring a drug-sniffing dog along on a routine ABC permit inspection? Do local officers need a mutual aid agreement to help? Can ALE force entry if the business owner refuses?
Yes, mostly no, and probably no. The AG concluded ALE may use a borrowed narcotics dog during a G.S. 18B-502 administrative inspection because the permittee waives Fourth Amendment objections to inspe…
Could a North Carolina state-chartered savings bank become a regular commercial bank in the mid-1990s and then merge with another commercial bank?
Yes. The AG concluded that while no statute authorized a savings bank to merge directly with a commercial bank, a two-step path worked: a Chapter 54C state savings bank could convert into a Chapter 53…
When a cable company, the Welcome Wagon, a church, or anyone else asks a South Dakota city for the names and addresses of its water and sewer customers, does the city have to release the list, and can the city charge for it?
Yes, the city must allow inspection of subscriber name-and-address lists. Names and addresses alone do not invade privacy here, similar to electric and telephone subscriber lists. The city has no auth…
After the NC Savings Institutions Division Administrator approved a mutual savings institution's plan to convert from mutual to stock form and merge into a bank holding company (and the conversions were consummated), can the Administrator now order the former directors to refund the benefits they received from the transactions and distribute those benefits to depositors?
No. NC statutory law does not give the Administrator (or Deputy Administrator) of the Savings Institutions Division the power to reverse a final agency conversion approval, absent a specific grant of …
Can a North Carolina municipal hospital put physicians on salary, give them office space and supplies, and collect the fees those physicians earn from treating patients?
Yes. The AG read the public-hospital contracting statute (G.S. 131E-7(b)) literally: a municipal hospital may contract with any person for the provision of health care and pay for that contract out of…
Are the two 'at-large' members on the Coastal Resources Advisory Council legally seated, when the statute lists specific seats and caps total membership at 47?
No. The AG concluded the statute names a fixed roster (45 designated seats with no at-large category) and caps the council at 47, so there is no authority for at-large appointments. The two at-large m…
Under Idaho's Unified Sentencing Act, can the Commission for Pardons and Parole shorten a felon's fixed (mandatory) prison term by commuting it, even though the Act explicitly bars parole, discharge, or good-conduct credit during the fixed term?
Yes. Commutation is a constitutional clemency power separate from parole. Idaho Const. art. 4, § 7 (as amended in 1986) gives the Commission authority to commute sentences. The Unified Sentencing Act'…
Could the NCDOT Employee Insurance Committee execute a contract with American Franklin Life Insurance Company to offer variable life insurance to NCDOT employees, given that Statewide Benefits, Inc. claimed an exclusive marketing right for 'universal' life insurance products?
Yes. The AG found no legal impediment. The NC Department of Insurance treated 'variable' life insurance and 'universal' life insurance as two distinct products, and American Franklin had been approved…
Are members of the Boards of Trustees of NC's two main public-employee retirement systems prohibited under G.S. § 150B-35 from having ex parte communications with the Director of the Retirement Systems Division or with petitioners about issues of fact or law in pending contested cases, and what sanctions follow a violation?
Yes, the prohibition reaches both directions. G.S. § 150B-35 forbids the administrative law judge assigned to the case AND any member or employee of the agency making the final decision from communica…
Can a local school board demand that the driver-education instructors it hires under contract hold a state teaching certificate, even though state law says contract instructors are not required to be certified teachers?
Yes. The AG concluded that the General Assembly's 1991 amendments to NCGS 20-88.1 and 115C-215 were intended to limit the State Board of Education's regulatory authority (the State Board cannot requir…
When Alexander County Schools adopted a differentiated pay plan under the 1989 School Improvement and Accountability Act, did that decision trigger the 'hold harmless' provision in G.S. 115C-363.11(c) for teachers who had earned Career I or Career II status under the discontinued Career Development Pilot Program?
Yes, but the protection was narrower than it might first appear. Only teachers who had earned Career I or Career II status before the 1989-90 school year (the year Alexander County converted to a diff…
Does the North Carolina General Assembly have the constitutional authority to enact Senate Bill 883, which would create a new Professional Teaching Standards Board that operates independently of the State Board of Education and would, by plan, take over from the State Board the responsibility of setting standards for and issuing, renewing, and revoking teacher licenses?
Probably not, as drafted. The AG concluded that SB 883 as written may be unconstitutional because it completely removes the State Board of Education from one of the most critical areas of public educa…
If a North Carolina city expands its corporate limits through annexation (or satellite annexation), does the city school district automatically expand to cover the new area, or does the city school district's boundary stay where it was originally set?
The school district's boundary stays where it was. A city school system has no inherent power to unilaterally expand and remove students and taxable property from the surrounding county school system.…
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