State AG Opinions
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Can a for-profit company lease a building to nonprofit groups to run bingo games and take a big cut of the proceeds as rent?
In this 1985 opinion, the Attorney General concluded that an arrangement in which a for-profit corporation leased a building to nonprofit organizations to run bingo games, supplied the equipment, and …
Were property developers disqualified from serving on a water district board when the district planned to operate a regional sewage system serving households indirectly?
They were disqualified if the regional sewage function became the district's principal function. JM-296 treated indirect household service through local governments as covered, but said the supplied f…
Could a Texas commissioners court create a road district from separate noncontiguous tracts, and could its bonds fund access roads outside the district?
The commissioners court could not create a road district from noncontiguous tracts. Bond proceeds could fund access-road improvements outside the district if the election proposition disclosed that us…
Could Texas officials order privately owned starving animals destroyed to end their suffering?
The Animal Health Commission could not destroy animals solely because starvation caused suffering, although it could act against a disease threat caused by extreme conditions. Certain local officers c…
Did Texas regulate resume, interview-coaching, job-lead, and employer-contact businesses as personnel services?
Yes when the service offered or attempted, even indirectly, to help bring about employment. Whether a particular business met that standard depended on its facts, but a covered service could not charg…
Who paid the cost of producing and copying records in a Texas administrative case, and did the Open Records Act use the same rules?
The requesting party paid copying costs, and the agency could condition discovery on payment of reasonable production costs, including advance payment or a bond. Open-records requests followed differe…
Did a Dallas police and fire pension trustee have a substantial conflict-of-interest stake by owning $2,500 of company stock or participating in deferred compensation?
Owning $2,500 of a company's stock was a substantial interest under article 988b, regardless of the percentage owned. The statutory public-employee deferred-compensation program was not an investment …
Did a felony conviction require Texas to revoke a professional engineer's license?
JM-290 concluded that revocation was mandatory when a registered professional engineer was convicted of a felony while licensed. The Texas Attorney General's official page says JM-482 later overruled …
Could Texas exclude lawful resident-alien veterans from its Veterans Land and Housing Programs because they were not U.S. citizens?
JM-289 predicted that a court would strike down the citizenship requirement. It treated lawful resident-alien veterans as a suspect alienage class and found no compelling state interest for denying th…
Could a school principal keep her position after her husband joined the school board if she had worked for the district more than two years but had been principal only ten months?
She could finish her existing principal contract but the board could not renew it while her husband served because she had held the principal position for only ten months. She could potentially return…
Could a Texas state legislator receive court-appointed counsel fees for defending a prison inmate?
JM-287 did not answer the compensation question. Because court orders had already directed payment and were subject to judicial review, the Attorney General declined to opine on a matter being adjudic…
Could people buy, sell, and carry handguns at a gun show inside a civic center licensed to serve alcohol?
JM-286 did not give a categorical answer because criminal liability depended on the facts. It identified possible defenses for a buyer taking a handgun home and for a dealer controlling leased premise…
Could a Texas taxing unit add the section 33.07 collection penalty to older delinquent taxes or choose a date later than July 1 for the penalty?
No. JM-285 limited the penalty to taxes first becoming delinquent in the adoption year or later, after the required notice, and held that the July 1 attachment date was mandatory rather than adjustabl…
How should Jefferson County Drainage District No. 7 select five commissioners after two of its five municipalities merged?
JM-284 said the district should keep selecting commissioners from the existing geographic areas unless it obtained the federal approval then required for a voting change or the Texas Legislature amend…
When a public high school contracted with a private beauty school, were its cosmetology students private-school students, and how many training hours did they need?
They remained public-school vocational students and qualified through 1,000 cosmetology hours plus 500 related high-school hours rather than 1,500 private-school hours. The beauty school still counted…
Could a Texas state university hire a construction manager before plans were complete and later use a negotiated guaranteed maximum price instead of competitively bidding the project?
The university could separately hire a consultant before plans were complete, but permanent construction still required sealed competitive bids on adequate specifications. A guaranteed maximum price w…
Could a former Texas Public Utility Commission member or employee work for a regulated utility as an outside lawyer or consultant during the statutory cooling-off period?
No. Section 6(i) barred covered former commissioners and employees from representing or performing work for a public utility as an outside attorney or consultant during the applicable two-year or one-…
Could a Texas home-rule city divide the statutory duties of a city secretary between two municipal employees?
Yes. Kingsville could use an ordinance authorized by its charter to assign city-secretary duties to two employees because article 1000 governed general-law cities, not home-rule cities, and article 11…
Did the five years of investigative experience required for a Texas polygraph examiner license have to come immediately before the application?
Yes. The five consecutive years had to be the five years nearest the filing date, without a significant gap between the experience and the license application.
Could a Texas constable appointed to fill a vacancy request a hearing before the county salary grievance committee?
Yes. Article 3912K's reference to an elected county or precinct officer covered the elected office itself, so an appointed constable could request a salary-grievance hearing just as an elected constab…
Did the fixed nursing-school tuition rate apply to accredited associate-degree and vocational-nursing programs at Texas public junior colleges?
Yes, when the accredited program was offered for college credit at a public junior college receiving state supplemental funding. The $50 semester charge was a fixed amount, not merely a minimum; the o…
Did confidential employment-discrimination complaint information stay confidential when the Texas Commission on Human Rights referred it to a local commission?
Yes. Information protected by section 8.02(a) retained its confidential character when transferred through an authorized state-to-local referral, although the protection covered only the information w…
Could a county-backed community action agency receive interest-free loans from the county's depository bank based on the county's credit?
Not if the agency was an arm of the county, because a county lacked general authority to borrow that way. If it was an independent nonprofit, county credit could support its loan only for an authorize…
Did the Texas law limiting payroll deductions from state-funded employees apply to Del Mar Junior College?
Yes. Del Mar was an institution of higher education within article 6813e because public junior colleges were included in Education Code section 61.003, were treated as part of the executive branch, an…
Could the Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspect and approve a Bowie County jail located in an interstate justice center that was not wholly inside Texas?
Yes, if Arkansas enacted the required legislation and the affected counties and cities entered the mandated contracts. The commission could conduct the occupancy inspection, authorize Bowie County's u…
Did a Texas sheriff have to accept a bail bond from a locally licensed bondsman for a person held on another county's warrant or capias?
Yes. A sheriff in the county of arrest had to accept or approve a compliant bond from a bondsman licensed there, even when the detainee was held on an out-of-county warrant or capias; the bond was the…
Could a Texas constable who owned a computer store continue servicing county accounts and make new computer sales to counties?
Article 988b did not bar the contracts because the constable had no legal authority to vote or decide the county's computer purchases. The opinion still recognized separate criminal and common-law con…
Was the Blue Bird Circle's office and resale-shop property exempt from Texas property taxes as charitable property?
No. The organization did not satisfy section 11.18 because its governing documents lacked the required direction transferring assets to the state or another qualifying charitable organization when the…
Could a weekly newspaper serve as the official publication for a Texas municipal utility or water district's bond-sale notice?
Yes. A weekly paper with general circulation could qualify if it met article 28a's newspaper definition and the district strictly followed article 29a and the applicable Water Code notice requirements…
Could Texas charge foreign nationals more tuition at public universities than other students who were also nonresidents of Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that such a law would not survive constitutional challenge. Charging one nonresident group more solely because its members were foreign nationals lacked a stated rationa…
Was a Texas district attorney's office covered by the Open Records Act, and did it have to release prosecution files requested by inmates?
The district attorney's office was a covered governmental body, not part of the judiciary exception. Its files were public information unless specific portions qualified for an exception, and the offi…
Did charging excessive photocopy fees for public records itself constitute a criminal offense under the Texas Open Records Act?
No. Excessive copy charges were not, by themselves, the criminal refusal offense in section 10(b). But an excessive fee could be strong evidence of that offense when it functioned as a way to withhold…
Could a county tax assessor-collector or staff keep payments for delinquent-tax clerical work or motor-vehicle registration lists prepared on county time?
No. The officer had no authority to accept or retain extra payments for statutory duties or unauthorized tasks performed on county time and resources, and staff could not keep payments for producing p…
Did applying Texas's general sales tax to newspaper sales violate the First Amendment's freedom of the press?
No. Repealing the newspaper exemption placed newspapers under the same generally applicable sales, excise, and use tax as other businesses; it did not single out the press for a special tax.
How large a road-construction bond could Harris County require from a subdivision developer, and could the county also demand a maintenance bond?
The construction bond could not exceed the estimated cost of building the subdivision roads and streets. Harris County could not require a separate maintenance bond under the cited statutes or as a co…
After a criminal case ends without bail forfeiture, can a Texas county deduct court costs from the bond returned to the surety?
No. JM-261 concluded that neither a county treasurer nor a trial court could charge costs against a bail-bond surety after the surety was absolved of liability under article 2372p-3, section 13(c).
Could a Texas county clerk release records filed in a mental-health docket to the public?
Only in part. JM-260 concluded that a county clerk could disclose material that did not reveal intimate details of the patient or family, while statements of fact and other private material required j…
Did every owner of a Texas business using an assumed name have to file and sign a separate assumed-name certificate?
No. JM-259 concluded that the unincorporated business entity filed one certificate listing the required information for every beneficial owner, and each partner did not have to execute a partnership's…
Could the Titus County Hospital District lease part of its hospital to private doctors for their medical offices?
No. JM-258 concluded that the district's constitutional and statutory powers covered hospital purposes and care for needy residents, not private physicians' office space.
Could the Sweeny Hospital District buy or lease real property outside its district boundaries for regular hospital operations?
No. JM-257 concluded that the district's enabling law did not clearly authorize outside-boundary property acquisitions, although the district could pay for temporary outside care when an emergency or …
Could the Texas State Library transfer federal money as cash grants to other state agencies for institutional library services?
No. JM-256 concluded that article 5435 did not expressly or necessarily authorize the State Library and Archives Commission to create a cash-grant program for other agencies.
When could a Texas county begin collecting the optional $5 vehicle registration fee authorized to start in 1985?
A county that properly adopted the fee could begin collecting it on January 1, 1985, but only for renewals of registrations expiring February 28, 1985. It could not charge the fee on renewals purchase…
If a DC police officer or firefighter is hurt in a crash while driving a District vehicle on duty, can they collect no-fault PIP benefits from DC on top of their regular disability and salary benefits?
No, not from DC. On-duty DC police and firefighters injured in District vehicles are limited to disability and salary benefits under the Comprehensive Merit Personnel Act (and the older Police/Fire Re…
Could Maryland require Montgomery County school board members to live in specific residence districts through a state law?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General advised that a bill requiring five Montgomery County school board members to reside in specific districts was constitutional, because the bill estab…
Are Maryland Juvenile Services Administration records about a child kept confidential the same way juvenile court records are?
In this 1984 opinion, the Maryland Attorney General concluded that Juvenile Services Administration records identifying a child, including intake, counselor, and institutional records, are protected a…
Could a Texas public university withhold an employee's paycheck to collect parking fines, bounced-check charges, or court-ordered debts owed to the university?
No. JM-255 concluded that a university in the Texas State University System could not use self-help paycheck withholding to collect sums an employee allegedly owed the university.
Could a Texas commissioners court approve a raise for a county attorney's investigator who was a commissioner's first cousin?
Yes. JM-254 concluded that approving a raise for the investigator position did not violate the nepotism statute because the county attorney, not the commissioners court, selected the person holding th…
Could a Texas commissioners court appoint a commissioner's first cousin to fill a vacant county tax assessor-collector office?
No. JM-253 concluded that no commissioner could vote to appoint another commissioner's first cousin to the vacancy, and the chief deputy's earlier service did not qualify for the statute's continuous-…
Could the Texas State Library give county and city libraries cash grants funded only by state general revenue for library services or construction?
Not under article 5436a. JM-252 concluded that the statute allowed state money only as matching funds within the federal library program, while article 5446a authorized narrower state-funded system gr…
Could a Texas county bail bond board require a sheriff's or district attorney's designee to work in that official's office or meet added knowledge requirements?
No. JM-251 concluded that a county bail bond board could not add qualifications for a sheriff's or district attorney's designee when the legislature had not included those limits in the statute.
Could Texas probate a driver's-license suspension for refusing a DWI breath test when the driver received criminal probation or a jury recommended no suspension?
No. JM-250 concluded that a breath-test-refusal suspension was a separate civil penalty that could not be probated, regardless of a probated DWI sentence or a jury recommendation against suspension.
Could a Texas county limit domestic-relations-office services by income or charge an income-based application fee?
No. JM-249 concluded that article 5142a-1 authorized neither an income ceiling for domestic-relations-office services nor a graduated application fee based on an applicant's income.
Could a quorum of a Texas public board meet privately to hear information and ask questions if the members did not discuss public business with one another?
Yes, under JM-248's reading of the 1984 statute. The gathering was not a statutory meeting if members only listened to and questioned the presenter and did not exchange views among themselves about pu…
Could Harris County transfer its child-support payment collection division from the juvenile board to the county domestic relations office?
No. JM-247 concluded that article 5139W specifically placed the child-support collection service under the Harris County Juvenile Board, and the commissioners court could not transfer that statutory d…
Could Brazoria County treat the land between the Gulf and the Intracoastal Canal as a barrier island and place a dune-protection line along its entire coast?
No. JM-246 concluded that the artificial canal did not create a barrier island within the statutory meaning, so Brazoria County lacked authority under section 63.011 to establish the proposed coast-wi…
Did the Sweeny Hospital District automatically expand when the Sweeny Independent School District expanded its boundaries?
No. JM-245 concluded that the hospital district adopted the school district's boundaries as they existed in 1963, and could not expand without legislative authority and the required voter approval pro…
Could the Texas medical board use a single hearing examiner instead of board members to conduct physician disciplinary cases?
No. JM-244 concluded that the Medical Practice Act allowed delegation only to a hearing committee of at least three board members, not to a single outside hearing examiner.
Could a Texas sheriff refuse to enter a failure-to-appear or probation-revocation warrant into the statewide crime computer?
Yes. JM-243 concluded that a sheriff had reasonable discretion to withhold a warrant from the statewide computer, including when the county lacked personnel to retrieve a prisoner from elsewhere in Te…
Could West Texas State University convey fee title to campus land to a hospital district if the land reverted when hospital use ended?
Yes. JM-242 concluded that the 1973 law authorized the fee-title conveyance with a reversion clause, and continued student health services supplied adequate consideration.
Could E-1 visa dependents and NATO military personnel establish Texas residency for in-state university tuition?
JM-241 originally said yes, but the official landing page lists it as modified by JM-848. JM-848 later concluded that E-1 and NATO status alone did not require Texas to recognize United States domicil…
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