State AG Opinions
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If the treasurer of a South Dakota irrigation district is also (a) the insurance agent who sells the district's insurance and (b) an officer of the bank holding the district's deposits, are either of those arrangements legal? And does SDCL 6-1-1's escape valve for small or competitively-bid contracts help save the deal?
The insurance contract was void. SDCL 46A-4-49 made any direct or indirect officer interest in an irrigation district contract a Class 5 felony, and under SDCL 53-9-1 and Norbeck & Nicholson v. State,…
Could refusing to pay a dishonored-check processing fee support a Texas theft or bad-check charge?
No. JM-472 concluded that the processing fee was a civil obligation, not part of the check amount or an element of theft or issuing a bad check.
Could a corporate bail-bond surety replace its licensed agent's name without filing a new license application?
No. JM-471 concluded that a county bail bond board could not substitute an unlicensed new agent onto another person's license because the statute required a separate license for each agent.
Could Austin require medical-assistance applicants to use other available benefits before city funds?
Yes. JM-470 concluded that Austin's last-resort rule did not violate a constitutional freedom of choice because applicants had no privacy right to choose the source of public assistance.
Were airport crash and fire rescue workers covered as firefighters under Texas public-employee relations law?
Yes. JM-469 concluded that airport crash and fire rescue personnel employed by a city, town, or other political subdivision were firefighters under article 5154c-1.
Could a Texas city located in two counties hold a local-option election on mixed alcoholic beverages?
No. JM-468 concluded that the Alcoholic Beverage Code gave county commissioners courts no authority to order a citywide local-option election across county lines.
Must a Texas city put a polling place inside every city council district and appoint district residents as election judges?
Not exactly. JM-467 said a municipal polling place had to be within the election precinct, which was not necessarily the same as a council district, and an election judge generally had to be a qualifi…
Could a Texas home-rule city hold a charter-amendment election less than two years after its last charter-amendment election?
No. JM-466 concluded that a home-rule city had to wait two full calendar years, measured as 365 days or 366 days in a leap year, before holding another charter-amendment election.
Are 911 emergency call recordings public records that anyone can request in Maryland?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that tape recordings of calls to Maryland's 911 emergency system were public records generally subject to disclosure under the Public Information A…
Can a Maryland town legally install speed bumps on its own streets, and could it get sued if someone is hurt by one?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that a Maryland municipality has no authority to install speed bumps on State highways within its borders, but may install speed bumps on its own m…
If a Maryland board member attends every board meeting but skips the required public hearings, does that count against them under a 60 percent attendance removal rule?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the regional public hearings the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission had to hold before adopting program criteria were not "meetings of th…
Could the Texas labor commissioner set a mandatory pay scale for boxing referees, judges, and other ring officials?
No. JM-465 concluded that the commissioner's power to license and regulate boxing officials did not include authority to set their pay without a specific legislative grant.
Was city-owned airport property in Texas exempt from property tax when parts were leased to private businesses, farmers, and ranchers?
JM-464 drew a line between the airport operation and unrelated leased land. The airport and its leased fuel facility served a public airport purpose and remained exempt, but surrounding city land leas…
Did San Antonio violate Texas right-to-work law by requiring public-works apprentices to join federally registered training programs?
No. JM-463 concluded that the ordinance did not require union membership because federal registration was available to nonunion programs, and the apprentice standards were consistent with Texas prevai…
Could regular Texas city police officers serve arrest warrants after their normal shifts and keep a fee for each warrant?
They could serve warrants outside their regular hours, but they could not keep the municipal warrant fee. JM-462 said the fee belonged in the city treasury and any officer compensation had to come fro…
Who held cash bail paid to a Texas municipal court before the bond was forfeited or returned?
The municipal court's designated custodian of funds held the cash. JM-461 said the city could name the city treasurer as custodian, but the money did not belong to the city and had to be returned when…
After a Texas school district defeased and refunded Permanent School Fund-guaranteed bonds, did the old bonds still count against the guarantee limit?
No. JM-460 concluded that, once bonds were defeased through the statutory refunding and escrow process, they no longer counted as outstanding guaranteed bonds for the Permanent School Fund cap, assumi…
Could Texas pay state employees cash awards for money-saving suggestions, and could donated agency funds cover the awards without an appropriation?
The awards were constitutional compensation for work outside an employee's assigned duties, but no funds had been appropriated for the 1986-87 awards. Another state agency could not use its donated fu…
Could Texas require first-grade bilingual students with limited English proficiency to take an English-only basic-skills test?
No, not for the students described in JM-458. The opinion concluded that an English-only test was not an appropriate measure of their reading, writing, and math skills and that they were impliedly exe…
Could Maryland pharmacists legally fill a prescription written by a nurse practitioner instead of a doctor?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that pharmacists were not prohibited from filling prescriptions properly issued by nurse practitioners, even though the Pharmacy Act's definition o…
Does North Carolina's real estate excise stamp tax apply to a deed transferring the lessee's ownership interest in improvements built on leased land, where the underlying ground lease keeps those improvements in the lessee's ownership during the lease term?
No. The excise tax applies to deeds conveying 'lands, tenements or other realty.' Leasehold improvements owned by the lessee under a ground lease are 'chattels real,' an interest in real estate that i…
Could the Texas engineering board require public agencies to choose an engineer before discussing the proposed fee?
No. JM-457 concluded that the board lacked authority to impose a federal-style two-step selection process and that the proposed rule conflicted with Texas law requiring competence, qualifications, and…
Could a Texas jury infer that the person named on a utility bill knowingly tampered with the meter just because the meter had been bypassed?
Only as a permissive inference supported by the evidence. JM-456 concluded that meter tampering alone was not enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the billed customer was the person who know…
Could Ocean City, Maryland charge new construction an impact fee to pay for beach restoration, and would it be unconstitutional to charge only new development rather than existing property owners?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Ocean City had statutory authority under Article 23A, §2(b)(33)(ii) to impose impact fees on new development to help fund its share of a state…
Did Texas violate equal protection by barring the Orange County Attorney from private law practice when some other prosecutors could practice privately?
No. JM-455 concluded that a public prosecutor had no fundamental right to maintain a private practice and that the restriction was reasonably related to efficient and effective administration of justi…
Could Texas optometrists use diagnostic eye drugs under a physician's standing order, and what could the Medical Board regulate?
Yes. JM-454 concluded that the delegation statute was constitutional and let an optometrist use nontherapeutic topical ocular drugs under a valid physician order. The Medical Board could prescribe the…
Could a Maryland charter county hire a private company to run its jail and hold custody of inmates, instead of using its own sheriff or county employees?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Talbot County, a charter county, had authority under the Express Powers Act to pass an ordinance vesting jail custody in a warden and contract…
Could a Texas city withdraw from an existing rural fire prevention district without an election, and when would district taxes stop?
Yes. JM-453 concluded that the withdrawal statute applied to existing districts and required no city election; withdrawal after January 1 took tax effect the following January 1. Existing bond obligat…
Did Idaho's sick pay plans qualify state employee sick payments for exclusion from Social Security wages between 1978 and 1981?
Yes. The AG concluded that Idaho's mandatory statutory sick leave plans for both classified and nonclassified employees met the requirements of 42 U.S.C. § 409(b), so payments on account of sickness d…
Could a Maryland public agency avoid paying prevailing union wages on a big construction project just by hiring a construction manager to split it into many contracts, each under $500,000?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's Prevailing Wage Law's exclusion for 'contracts of less than $500,000' does not apply to a contract that is one stage of a single pu…
Could the Texas Pharmacy Board license a foreign pharmacy graduate whose school lacked U.S. accreditation but who earned equivalency certification?
The board had discretion to do so. JM-452 said the Pharmacy Act neither required nor prohibited licensing such graduates and allowed the board to decide whether foreign-graduate certification showed t…
Could a nonlawyer agent represent a landlord or tenant in a Texas justice-court eviction case?
Yes, in the cases covered by Property Code section 24.009. JM-451 said the agent had to be a natural person, not a business entity, and the agent's authority was presumed unless challenged in justice …
Could a Texas deputy sheriff own an auto garage that repaired county patrol vehicles during his off-duty hours?
Article 988b did not prohibit it because the deputy had no authority to vote on or make the county repair contract. JM-450 cautioned that county purchasing and competitive-bidding requirements could s…
Could a Texas county lease courthouse space and equipment to a private cafeteria, and could it use sealed bids?
The county could lease the space by public auction if the cafeteria did not interfere with courthouse use and served courthouse users. JM-449 said a sealed-bid-only process would defeat the open compe…
Could Idaho state employees, board members, or elected officials be held personally liable when the state's self-insurance ran out of money to pay tort judgments?
Generally no. Under the Idaho Tort Claims Act, the governmental entity (not the Insurance Division) had the duty to defend and indemnify employees acting within the course and scope of their employmen…
Does the North Carolina Constitution require a three-fifths supermajority vote of both houses of the General Assembly before the State can grant a flood-control flowage easement on Umstead State Park land to Wake County?
No. Article XIV, § 5 of the NC Constitution requires legislative approval only when dedicated park property is used for purposes 'unrelated to' the preserve's purposes. Wake County's flood-control pro…
When a North Carolina county department of social services has legal custody of a handicapped child, can the DSS director sign consent forms for the child's special education services, or must a separate surrogate parent be appointed to represent the child's educational interests?
A surrogate parent must be appointed; the DSS director cannot consent. Federal IDEA law (20 U.S.C. § 1415) requires a surrogate parent for wards of the state, and prohibits any employee of a public ag…
When a defendant in North Carolina Small Claims Court (magistrate court) thinks the plaintiff might not be able to pay court costs if the defendant wins, can the defendant force the plaintiff to post a $200 prosecution bond under G.S. § 1-109?
No. G.S. § 1-109's plaintiff prosecution bond is a 'provisional or incidental remedy.' G.S. § 7A-231 lists which provisional and incidental remedies are available in small claims (claim and delivery, …
Does NCSU's TACIT program, which sells consulting services to North Carolina local governments to help them select computer systems, violate the Umstead Act's prohibition on state agencies competing with private business?
No. The Umstead Act forbids state agencies from rendering services 'to the public' that are ordinarily provided by private business. TACIT provides services to local governments, not to the general pu…
Did the Harris County clerk have to collect the appellate-system court-cost fee in probate proceedings?
Yes. JM-448 concluded that probate proceedings were included within the civil suits subject to the fee because the statute expressly listed probate courts and legislative history confirmed that purpos…
Could a Texas county pay an injured employee the gap between workers' compensation benefits and salary, plus accrued sick and vacation leave?
A county could not award the salary gap retroactively, but it could make that supplement part of a prospective compensation policy. JM-447 also concluded that already-earned sick and vacation leave co…
When Maryland got a $36 million share of Exxon's oil overcharge refund in 1986, what could the state legally spend that money on?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that Maryland's roughly $36 million share of the Exxon oil overcharge refund could be spent only on one or more of five federally designated energy…
If Maryland's insurance guaranty fund ran out of money to pay claims against a failed insurance company, was the state on the hook to cover the shortfall?
In this 1986 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that the State of Maryland bore no financial liability for claims against the Maryland Insurance Guaranty Association, since the statute funded MIG…
Did Maryland's old MSSIC savings and loan insurer have legal authority to insure each separate account instead of each depositor, and can the legislature undo that after the 1980s Maryland savings and loan crisis?
In this 1986 opinion, issued during Maryland's savings and loan crisis, the Attorney General concluded that MSSIC exceeded its statutory authority in 1976 when it switched from insuring each depositor…
Were Texas Supreme Court long-distance telephone records held by a state service agency subject to the Open Records Act?
JM-446 said no because the service agency held the records as the court's agent and the judiciary was outside the act. The official Texas AG page states that this opinion was later overruled to the ex…
When does the DC Mayor have to follow notice-and-comment rulemaking, and when can the Mayor just issue an internal directive?
The Mayor must use the DC Administrative Procedure Act's rulemaking process when an order applies to the public, affects rights or benefits, or imposes sanctions. The Mayor can issue an internal Mayor…
Could the Texas Surplus Property Agency buy supplies and services from its trust fund without using state purchasing procedures?
No. JM-445 concluded that the agency was a state agency subject to the State Purchasing and General Services Act, and neither its enabling law nor the trust fund created an exemption from the purchasi…
Could Texas counties, cities, hospital districts, and school districts buy products or services from disabled-person programs without competitive bidding?
Yes. JM-444 concluded that the specific Human Resources Code exception for purchases from blind or severely disabled persons controlled over the general competitive-bidding statutes for those politica…
Could Texas impose a new $3 crime-victims court cost on traffic offenses committed before the fee took effect?
No. JM-443 concluded that court costs were part of criminal punishment, so applying the new fee to an earlier traffic offense would violate the prohibition on ex post facto laws.
Could a general-law city increase its elected mayor's salary during the mayor's current term?
No. JM-442 concluded that article 1010 absolutely barred changing the mayor's compensation during the term for which the mayor was elected.
Could a municipal or justice court charge traffic defendants or defensive-driving providers an administrative or referral fee under article 6701d, section 143A?
No. JM-441 concluded that section 143A authorized no administrative or referral fee against either defendants or defensive-driving course providers.
Could the Sutton County Commissioners Court set the county auditor's office hours?
No. JM-440 concluded that no applicable statute expressly or impliedly authorized the Sutton County Commissioners Court to set the county auditor's office hours.
Was a driver entitled to dismissal of a financial-responsibility charge if the borrowed car was uninsured but the driver's own policy covered the trip?
Yes. JM-439 concluded that dismissal was required when the driver produced a valid policy that provided the statutory coverage while operating the borrowed car, even if the owner had not insured the v…
Did the repeal of Texas's later prison good-time law revive an older statute granting sentence credit for overtime work?
No. JM-438 concluded that article 6166x-1 had been impliedly repealed in 1943 and was not revived when the later repealing statute was itself repealed in 1977.
Did a Texas polygraph examiner have to display the examiner's license at every temporary location where tests were performed?
No. JM-437 concluded that the license-display requirement applied to the examiner's normal or fixed place of business, not every location where an examination happened.
Could a Texas county-jail inmate receive both good-time credit and manual-labor credit against the same sentence?
No. JM-436 concluded that a county-jail inmate could receive good-time credit or manual-labor credit, but not both. It overruled MW-497 to the extent that opinion allowed both credits.
Who was responsible for notifying misdemeanor defendants of pretrial hearings and trial settings, and could a prosecutor contact a represented defendant with that notice?
JM-435 concluded that the court, not the prosecutor, was responsible for notice and should not order the prosecutor to serve it. A prosecutor was not ethically barred from giving scheduling notice.
When could a Texas clerk collect the $50 fee for handling civil-case trust funds, who initiated collection, and could the clerk charge more?
JM-434 concluded that collection followed the incurred expense and designation of the responsible party, the county clerk initiated collection, and the fixed $50 fee was the only authorized handling f…
Was Senate Bill 454 valid even though the Texas House Journal suggested the House may have passed a substitute that omitted three new probation-commission members?
Yes. JM-433 applied the enrolled-bill doctrine and treated the authenticated, signed, and enrolled version of Senate Bill 454 as conclusive despite the conflicting journal entry.
Could a Texas county lease crossings under county roads to a common-carrier pipeline company and collect annual payments?
No. JM-432 concluded that a county could reasonably regulate and permit pipeline crossings, but chapter 111 did not authorize leasing those crossings to a common carrier.
How these opinions are useful
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