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 Texas's workers' comp board approve a settlement that ends an injured worker's right to future medical benefits?
No. Under the workers' compensation law in effect in 1988, once there was a final award of the Industrial Accident Board, a court judgment, or an approved compromise settlement that had not been lawfu…
If a Texas city annexes my municipal utility district but does not dissolve it, can the city and the district both tax me for the same services?
The Attorney General concluded that a 1987 amendment letting a city annex a political subdivision while the district keeps existing (up to ten years) does not create unconstitutional double taxation, …
Does the State of Maine guarantee the obligations of the SEED Plan to pay college tuition for plan beneficiaries, and if so, does that guarantee fit within the Maine Constitution's $2,000,000 limit on unbonded long-term debt?
Half yes, half no. Asst. AG Jeffrey Frankel concluded that 20-A M.R.S.A. § 12604 made the State a contractual party to each advance tuition payment contract. But once the cumulative value of those con…
How does the Maine Tort Claims Act, state purchasing law, and corporate-formality framework apply to Maine's new Student Educational Enhancement Deposit (SEED) prepaid-tuition plan and its directors?
Asst. AG Jeffrey Frankel advised: (1) the SEED Plan is a state instrumentality whose directors and officers are very likely covered by Tort Claims Act immunity (14 M.R.S.A. § 8111(1)), with personal l…
Can a Maryland county require its circuit court to follow county purchasing rules, including a minority-business contracting program?
In a 1988 opinion, Maryland's Attorney General concluded that subjecting the Circuit Court for Prince George's County to the county's budget, fiscal, and purchasing laws, including its Minority Busine…
Can a Maryland county liquor board fine a bar for breaking liquor laws even if no one was criminally convicted?
In a 1988 opinion, Maryland's Attorney General concluded that the Montgomery County Board of License Commissioners could impose administrative sanctions, including fines, on alcoholic beverages licens…
When a North Carolina sheriff seizes drug-related cash and the U.S. Attorney pursues federal forfeiture and shares the money back, must the cash go to the county school board under the state constitution?
No. Article IX, Section 7 of the North Carolina Constitution sends 'clear proceeds' of forfeitures only to forfeitures resulting from violations of state penal law. A federal forfeiture under 21 U.S.C…
When can a former Texas district judge who served less than four years still be assigned to hear cases?
A 1987 law let the presiding judge of an administrative judicial region assign a 'former district judge who has served as judge of more than one district court' even without the usual four years of ju…
Can a state aviation authority give one taxicab company the exclusive right to pick up passengers at the airport?
In a 1988 opinion, Maryland's Attorney General concluded that the State Aviation Administration could require taxicabs to hold a concession contract before picking up passengers at BWI Airport, and co…
Is a Maryland 'covenant not to encumber' real estate subject to recordation tax, and can it even be recorded?
A 1988 Maryland opinion concluded that a covenant not to encumber or convey real estate, a borrower's promise not to sell or mortgage property while a debt is outstanding, creates no security interest…
Can a Texas hospital authority spread its deposits across affiliated banks so all funds are FDIC-insured and skip the collateral rules?
No. A hospital authority created by a city under the Hospital Authority Act that picks a depository different from the city's must follow the same municipal-depository rules in Chapter 105 of the Loca…
Does serving as a court-appointed special master count as 'employment' that cuts into a retired Maryland judge's pension?
A 1988 Maryland opinion concluded that a retired judge who accepts appointment as a court special master has accepted 'employment' under Article 73B, §56(c)(1), because the court controls the master's…
Can a Texas county commissioner post a bail bond, or pledge his property as a surety, for someone charged in his own county?
No. The Attorney General concluded a county commissioner may not act as a surety on a bail bond for a defendant charged in the commissioner's own county. A bail bond is a contract, and if the defendan…
Can a Texas firefighter pension board run its own office, hire its own administrator and attorney, and control its own records?
Yes, mostly. The Attorney General concluded that the board of trustees of a fire fighters' relief and retirement fund can spend fund money on reasonable administrative expenses, which includes setting…
In Texas, does a county attorney pro tem have the same power as a regular county attorney to file and sign a criminal information?
Yes. A county attorney pro tem serving under an agreement between two counties has all the powers and duties of the regular county attorney, so he is not excused from filing an information and he may …
Can a Texas court require me to put my Social Security number on a will probate application, and is that legal under federal privacy law?
No, not as a hard requirement. The Attorney General concluded that the Federal Privacy Act bars the state from denying probate of a will just because the applicant refuses to give their own Social Sec…
Can a Texas Lloyd's Plan insurance company issue the surety bond a contractor needs to do a public construction job in Texas?
No. The Attorney General concluded that public-works bonds under article 5160.A must be backed by a 'corporate surety,' and a Texas Lloyd's Plan carrier is an unincorporated association of individual …
Does the Texas Commercial Feed Control Act apply to a commercial feed lot that boards and feeds another person's cattle?
No. The Attorney General reaffirmed a 25-year-old position: a feed lot that keeps and feeds an owner's stock is performing a service (a bailment known as agistment), not selling or distributing feed, …
Can Texas library grant money go to a regional library system that includes private religious school libraries or for-profit libraries?
Only if the system's members are public libraries. The Attorney General concluded that a regional library system can have as members only public libraries, because only a public library can be accredi…
Could Texas fertilizer regulators send a failed state-lab report to the purchaser before the manufacturer completed independent testing?
In 1988, the Attorney General concluded that the Texas Feed and Fertilizer Control Service had implied statutory authority to send the state chemist's noncompliance report to the fertilizer's purchase…
When a five-member North Carolina county board of social services picks its fifth member, do all four other members have to be present, and do they all have to agree?
Not all present, but yes all must agree. Under N.C.G.S. § 108A-3(b), four of the five members of a five-member county board of social services are appointed (two by the county commissioners, two by th…
If a Texas appraisal district's mistake made my property tax late, can the taxing unit waive the penalties and interest?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a central appraisal district counts as an 'agent' of the taxing units it appraises for under Tax Code section 33.011. So when a taxpayer's bill becomes delinqu…
Do employees of a private firm hired to collect a Texas taxing unit's property taxes have to register as tax professionals?
Only if the taxing unit's chief tax administrator says so. The Attorney General concluded that field collectors and supervising officers of a private collection firm working under contract for a taxin…
Can a Texas court make me pay a fee to dismiss a no-insurance ticket after I prove I actually had coverage?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the $10 fee the legislature added to article 6701h, requiring a driver to pay before a failure-to-maintain-financial-responsibility charge is dismissed, is unco…
When an electric utility wants to install a new line through Maine's unorganized territories (the area regulated by LURC), does the utility need a Land Use Regulation Commission permit?
It depends on whether the line follows a public way. Asst. AG Jeffrey Pidot concluded that a major new utility installation generally needs a LURC permit, but 35-A M.R.S.A. §§ 2502-2503 give utilities…
If a NC city contracts with a private hospital to assign uniformed, armed city police officers to provide security at the hospital full time, does the city have to obtain a private security license under Chapter 74C?
No. When officers act as municipal police performing their official duties under a contract paid by the hospital, they are not 'engaging in a private protective service business' and fall within the e…
Did Maryland properly suspend Governor Harry Hughes's state pension while he served as Governor?
A 1988 Maryland opinion concluded that suspending former Governor Harry Hughes's Employees' Retirement System allowance during his term as Governor was proper under Article 73B, §11(12), and that Gove…
Can a Maine regional planning commission's executive board include members who weren't appointed by a member municipality?
No, based on this opinion. While a regional planning commission may create a smaller subordinate executive board to handle day-to-day operations, every member of that board must also be a member of th…
Could Maryland voters petition to referendum just the handgun ban part of a 1988 law that also protected gun makers from lawsuits?
In a 1988 opinion issued during the Saturday Night Special referendum fight, Maryland's Attorney General concluded that the handgun ban and the strict liability repeal in Chapter 533 were not legally …
Can a state agency legally pay a private tipster a cut of the money the state recovers because of their information?
Yes, within limits. The Attorney General concluded that a 1987 law letting the Texas Comptroller contract with informants, and pay them up to 5% of what the state actually recovers, does not violate t…
If a teacher gets workers' compensation and paid sick leave for the same work injury, can the school district reduce one to offset the other?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a school district cannot use the offset provision in the public-employee workers' compensation law (article 8309h, section 5) to reduce a teacher's sick-leave b…
When two Texas laws passed the same year set different penalties for the same offense, which one applies?
The later-passed one. Two 1985 bills, S.B. 464 and S.B. 980, both rewrote the penalty sections of the Parks and Wildlife Code and set different fines and jail terms for the same fish-and-marine-produc…
Can Texas charge lawyers a special occupation tax that exempts older attorneys and those who no longer practice?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the temporary occupation tax the legislature placed on Texas attorneys (running from 1988 through 1990) was constitutional. The tax exempted lawyers 70 and old…
After a justice of the peace dismisses my fine-only ticket, can that same court erase the record, or do I have to go to district court?
You have to go to district court. The Attorney General concluded that when a justice of the peace dismisses a fine-only (Class C) case after deferred disposition under article 45.54, the person cannot…
Which Texas county official was responsible for preparing payroll, printing paychecks, and distributing them?
In 1988, the Attorney General concluded that county officers in Harris County had statutory authority to prepare payroll and issue paychecks for employees of their own offices. The county auditor coul…
Can a Texas county commissioners court give elected and appointed county officials vacation and sick leave, and pay them for unused leave when they leave office?
Yes, but only if the commissioners court actually authorizes it. The Attorney General concluded that a commissioners court may grant vacation and sick leave (and pay for unused leave) to county and pr…
Does a candidate for a Texas water control and improvement district board have to live inside the district, or is living in the state enough?
Living in the state is enough. The Attorney General concluded that the Water Code sets the qualifications for a water control and improvement district director and requires only that the candidate be …
Can a Maryland home rule county create a private lawsuit remedy for improper vehicle towing?
In a 1988 opinion, Maryland's Attorney General concluded that Montgomery County had authority under the Express Powers Act to create an express private right of action, including a treble damages reme…
Can someone be convicted of a lesser crime if the charging document only listed the greater offense?
In a 1988 opinion, Maryland's Attorney General concluded that a charging document did not need to separately spell out a lesser included offense as long as it clearly alleged every element and specifi…
Could a Texas county sign a long-term solid-waste contract, include minimum-delivery or cost-plus terms, and award it without competitive bidding?
In 1988, the Attorney General concluded that a Texas county could enter a long-term solid-waste service contract that bound future commissioners courts, include properly measured damages for a deliver…
Can NC DMV waive an out-of-state salvage-title brand, or relax the 75% repair-cost test, or require an insurer total-loss declaration to also meet that test, when a vehicle comes in for titling?
No to all three. The AG concluded G.S. 20-71.3 is mandatory: NC DMV must honor an out-of-state salvage brand, must apply the 75% repair-cost test as written, and cannot impose the 75% test on top of a…
To get a patent to public free school land in Texas under the constitution's title-defect provision, does your chain of title have to reach all the way back to the original grant from the state?
No. The Attorney General reconsidered and overruled an earlier opinion, concluding that article VII, section 4A(a)(3) of the Texas Constitution requires a patent applicant to show an unbroken chain of…
Could the City of Cascade upgrade its water system without holding a special election, even though the project cost more than the city's annual budget?
The 1988 AG opinion concluded that under *Asson v. City of Burley* and *City of Pocatello v. Peterson*, the proposed Cascade water system improvements (distribution upgrades, treatment plant repairs, …
Can the Texas Medical Board discipline doctors in closed, informal hearings, and does it have to tell hospitals about old complaints against a physician?
The closed 'administrative sanction' hearings no longer work. After 1987 amendments to the Medical Practice Act, the board must enter a formal disciplinary order whenever it finds misconduct, so its r…
If one partner in a law firm files a divorce complaint, can another partner in the same firm notarize the client's verification, or does that violate the rule against attorneys taking oaths in their own cases?
The AG advised against the practice. G.S. 47-8 prohibits a practicing attorney from administering an oath to any paper used in a legal proceeding in which the attorney appears. Under partnership-agenc…
When a Texas justice court defers a no-insurance fine, can it also defer the $75 court cost, and can it spend the fees it collects the way a prosecutor spends hot-check money?
No on both. The Attorney General concluded that article 45.54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure lets a justice defer the fine but says nothing about deferring court costs, so the $75 cost of court on …
If a teenage driver is involved in a car accident in NC, does the Juvenile Code's confidentiality rule prevent the police report from identifying the teen as the driver?
No. G.S. 7A-675 protects investigations and records under the Juvenile Code (abuse, neglect, delinquency, undisciplined behavior). A factual DMV collision report under G.S. 20-166.1(e) is not a juveni…
Can a Texas county clerk re-record a corrected deed, and is the clerk on the hook for mistakes inside the documents people file?
The clerk's job is ministerial. The Attorney General concluded that each document offered for recording is judged on its own merits: if it meets the Property Code's recording requirements (proper ackn…
Does Maryland's Homeowners Association Act apply to condominiums and co-ops?
In a 1988 opinion, Maryland's Attorney General concluded that the Homeowners Association Act did not apply to ordinary condominiums or cooperatives, only to the rare ones that were also part of a larg…
Could Texas Racing Commission members send substitutes to meetings, and could the commission fund a laboratory for racehorse and greyhound drug testing?
The comptroller's chief clerk could sit, vote, and count toward a quorum when the comptroller was unavoidably absent because a statute authorized the clerk to perform the comptroller's official duties…
Which Texas special districts counted as improvement districts subject to county-auditor control, and who paid for the additional audit staff?
The Attorney General defined an improvement district under article 1667 as a district primarily concerned with permanently enhancing land or natural resources. Hospital, rural fire prevention, and eme…
Could a Texas county bail bond board regulate lawyers who posted bonds for their own criminal-defense clients or regulate the county pretrial-services agency?
No. The Harris County Bail Bond Board could not require a lawyer to obtain a bail-bond license when the lawyer executed a bond for a criminal defendant the lawyer actually represented, although the st…
Did abusive, indecent, profane, or vulgar language in a Texas public place automatically amount to a breach of the peace?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Penal Code section 42.01(a)(1) reached only 'fighting words,' meaning words that, in their factual setting, were likely to cause an average addressee to fight. …
Who held title to a vehicle forfeited for a Texas sheriff's use, how was it sold when no longer useful, and where did the sale money go?
The certificate of title was issued to the law-enforcement department or agency receiving the vehicle, but that did not make the department an owner separate from the county. Once the vehicle was no l…
Could a Texas justice of the peace order community service instead of collecting a fine, and who was liable or insured if someone was hurt?
The Attorney General concluded that a justice of the peace could require reasonable community service, with the defendant's agreement, as a condition of deferring a fine under article 45.54. Judicial …
Could the Texas Veterans Land Board charge a later paid-in-full deed fee on an older land contract or on a contract assigned to a new purchaser?
Usually, the contract and the statutes and rules in effect when it was made controlled the paid-in-full deed fee. A later fee could not be imposed merely because the documents referred to the law 'as …
Could the city of Denison withdraw on its own from the Greater Texoma Utility Authority, and was the authority unconstitutional if it could not?
No. The Attorney General found no statute allowing Denison to withdraw unilaterally from the Greater Texoma Utility Authority; the governing law instead gave the authority's board procedures for exclu…
If my out-of-state charity wants to ask DC residents for donations, what does DC require us to do first?
Two registrations are required. First, file as a domestic or foreign nonprofit corporation with the DC Superintendent of Corporations. Second, complete the charitable solicitation application with the…
Can a North Carolina county manager put a county Criminal Intake Center (jail detention cells) under someone other than the sheriff?
No. Under N.C.G.S. § 162-22, the sheriff has the care and custody of the county jail, and any facility with detention cells used to hold prisoners is a jail. Under § 162-24, the sheriff cannot delegat…
If a town council member moves out of town during their term, does the council seat automatically become vacant in North Carolina?
Yes. Under N.C.G.S. § 163-59, an elected city officer's seat is automatically (ipso facto) vacant the moment they cease to meet the qualifications for office, including the residency requirement. Once…
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