State AG Opinions
Free state attorney general opinions with plain-English summaries, full citations, and the original source on every page.
No opinions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Can a prosecutor's office release a 'Brady list' spreadsheet of officer misconduct, plus emails from law enforcement about Brady issues, to a FOIA requester?
Mostly yes, with care. The emails are personnel records and can come out (no clearly unwarranted privacy invasion). The Brady-list spreadsheets are evaluation records: officers who were suspended or t…
If a city or county gets a state report listing all businesses that remitted sales tax there, can a citizen FOIA that report? And can the city pass an ordinance keeping it secret?
No to both, but for different reasons. The list of businesses remitting sales and use tax is exempt from FOIA under the Tax Procedure Act's confidentiality clause for 'information pertaining to any ta…
Can Arkansas police arrest you for refusing to show ID outside of a traffic stop?
The Attorney General declined to answer. The same issue is on appeal in a Drew County criminal case (State v. White), and the AG's office does not opine on questions actively in litigation. Until a co…
If a person held in a Texas county jail dies in a hospital or while on work release, does state law require an independent outside agency to investigate the death?
Not under Government Code § 511.021(a). That statute only forces an outside agency to investigate when the prisoner dies inside the county jail facility itself. But the Commission on Jail Standards st…
Can a Mississippi sheriff also work a part-time job for a local school district?
Yes, as long as the school-district job stays in the executive branch (or doesn't exercise core legislative or judicial powers). The state constitution prohibits a person in one branch of government f…
Can a Mississippi drainage district let a neighboring private landowner modify a public drainage ditch?
No. A drainage district has only the powers the statutes give it, and Mississippi law gives the district (not the adjoining landowner) exclusive control over its drainage ditches. Section 51-29-73 let…
Can a Tennessee PLLC mix and match health care professionals across the categories listed in § 48-249-1109(e)(1), like combining chiropractors with optometrists, or putting physicians, physician assistants, and advanced practice nurses all in one PLLC?
No. The five combinations listed in § 48-249-1109(e)(1) are pairs, not building blocks. Each pair (e.g., podiatrists + physicians) is allowed; cross-combinations across the lettered subdivisions are n…
Can a Texas occupational licensing agency accept an applicant's sworn statement that they have no Social Security number, instead of an actual SSN?
No. Family Code section 231.302(c)(1) requires occupational licensing authorities to request, and each applicant to provide, the applicant's Social Security number. The AG concluded agencies cannot so…
Is Kansas's in-state tuition law for immigrant students without lawful status still enforceable?
No, according to the opinion. The Attorney General concluded that K.S.A. 76-731a, which grants in-state tuition to certain students without lawful immigration status, conflicts with two federal statut…
If a West Virginia local police department uses an unmarked vehicle without tinted windows to run radar and pull people over for speeding, does the law banning unmarked-vehicle traffic stops apply?
No. West Virginia Code § 17C-15-36a only bars routine traffic stops by unmarked law-enforcement vehicles that are exempt from the window-tint rules, meaning vehicles with tinted windows that are prima…
I have a felony conviction from another state but a Virginia circuit court restored my firearm rights. Why won't the Virginia State Police let me buy a gun?
Because federal law (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)) still prohibits you from possessing a firearm. A Virginia circuit court restoration order does not erase a federal disability that arises from an out-of-sta…
Does an Arkansas city have to release records showing how much comp time its employees have accrued, and can a city council member make that FOIA request?
Yes to both. Comp time records are 'personnel records' under FOIA, similar to salary, sick leave, and vacation records, and they are presumptively releasable. The city must redact narrow personal info…
If voters reject a hospital district's proposed property tax increase, does the district's taxing law conflict with the Tax Code, and does the county have to take over indigent care?
No conflict, and no county takeover. A hospital district's authority to levy a property tax (up to 75 cents per $100) and the Tax Code's truth-in-taxation rule that lets voters reject a rate increase …
Does a Texas county have to make a contractor carry performance and payment bonds on a road or bridge project, or can the county waive that requirement?
It is mandatory, not optional. Under Government Code section 2253.021(a) (the McGregor Act), a county that signs a qualifying public work contract must require the prime contractor to execute a perfor…
In Texas, when do pretrial bond conditions like a no-contact order actually become enforceable, and do they still apply after a defendant is rearrested?
Bond conditions become enforceable when the defendant actually posts (gives) the bond the magistrate ordered, not when an order is signed and not while the defendant is still in jail. And once the bon…
Can a police department release a FOIA-requested suspension report on three named officers when the officers themselves object?
Yes. Suspension reports that explain the basis for the suspension are employee-evaluation records. The four-part FOIA test is met here: the officers were suspended, the discipline is final, the report…
Does a Kentucky farmland owner have to live on the land to hunt or fish there without a license?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a bona fide owner of Kentucky farmland who is a resident of the Commonwealth does not have to live on the farmland to qualify for the hunting and fishing licens…
Can Arizona’s utility securitization law make financing charges irrevocable and limit court review?
Arizona may impose the law’s narrow court-review rules because the AG viewed them as substantive limits that do not abolish a protected damages claim. But A.R.S. §§ 40-608(D) and 40-610(A) are unconst…
Does Florida's law on selling or leasing municipal hospitals (§ 155.40) apply when a city transfers hospital assets to a state university?
No. Section 155.40 only governs sales or leases of municipal hospitals to for-profit or not-for-profit Florida entities. A state university is a state agency, a governmental entity, and is not a for-p…
Can the Arkansas legislature pass a law merging Ouachita County's tax collector office into the county treasurer's office on January 1, 2026?
No. The Arkansas Constitution (Article 19, § 6) prohibits one person from holding two constitutional offices in the same department of government, with narrow exceptions that do not include treasurer …
Does Kansas have to pay ACT exam fees for students at a private school that isn't accredited by the state board?
No. The Attorney General concluded that K.S.A. 72-5179 only requires the Kansas State Board of Education to pay ACT and related exam fees for students at public schools or nonpublic schools accredited…
Can a Kansas county use home rule to let commissioners appoint the county extension council instead of holding elections?
No. The Attorney General concluded that K.S.A. 2-611 requires county extension council members to be elected by county residents, and because that statute concerns elections, counties cannot use home …
If a Delaware county says it has no more records about a property easement but I think there must be more, what does the county have to do to prove it really searched?
It has to put the search under oath. AG opinion 26-IB06 found that New Castle County did NOT violate FOIA in responding to Gary Binns's request for easement and accessway records, because the county p…
Can I get Delaware State Police body camera footage of my own arrest after the case is closed?
Generally no. AG opinion 26-IB05 found that the Delaware State Police did NOT violate FOIA by denying James Eaves's request for body-worn camera footage related to his closed criminal cases. The inves…
Can New Mexico's legislature give the State Chief Information Security Officer authority to set cybersecurity standards across all branches of government, including for judicial branch IT systems, without violating the separation of powers?
It depends on the substance of the standards. The legislature can constitutionally delegate authority to the executive to set cybersecurity standards. It can also condition use of executive-owned netw…
Can the Arkansas State Police release internal-affairs witness statements, transcripts of interviews, and personal emails from a state trooper's personnel file?
Most of it, yes. Witness statements and interview transcripts in an internal affairs file that resulted in suspension are evaluation records that must be released because the four-part FOIA test is me…
Can a Texas county commissioners court rescind the county budget after it's approved and adopt a new one that strips an elected officer's salary increase?
No. There is no statute that lets a commissioners court wholly rescind a finally adopted county budget and replace it. And under the Local Government Code, the court can set or change an elected offic…
Under the Texas Open Meetings Act, does a home-rule city's charter decide what counts as a quorum, and can fewer than a quorum of council members meet privately to discuss city business?
A home-rule city's charter can define its own quorum for Open Meetings Act purposes, and that definition can include a mayor who only votes to break ties. A gathering of fewer than a quorum usually do…
Can a Texas constable use automated speed cameras to mail out speeding tickets without an officer stopping the driver?
No. A constable lacks authority to use an automated traffic-enforcement system to issue speeding citations by mail. Constables only have powers the Constitution or statutes grant them, and the Transpo…
Do Kansas cities and counties have to honor ICE detainer requests and can local officers arrest people for immigration violations?
Yes to both. The Attorney General concluded that K.S.A. 12-16,140 and 12-16,141 require Kansas cities and counties to communicate and cooperate with ICE detainer requests, including holding a person u…
Can the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services refuse to release records it sent to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services about a hospital complaint?
Yes. The AG concluded DHHS substantially complied with North Dakota's open records law by refusing to release the EMTALA complaint records, because the state's 1985 agreement with the federal HHS Secr…
When Pulaski County releases a fired employee's file (termination form, incident report, screenshots of text messages), what redactions are required?
The text messages are personnel records (subject to release with privacy redactions). The termination form and incident report are evaluation records and require the four-part FOIA test (suspension/te…
In a South Dakota city with an aldermanic form of government, can the city council fire the City Administrator on its own, or does only the mayor have that power?
Only the mayor can. South Dakota law (SDCL 9-14-13) gives the mayor sole authority to remove officers the mayor has appointed. A city ordinance giving the council appointment or removal power conflict…
When the Department of Corrections releases a corrections major's personnel file (timesheets, signed policies, PREA forms, employment records, training certificates), what redactions are required and which are improper?
Most of the custodian's redactions are correct, but two corrections are needed: (1) the employee's AASIS personnel number must be redacted from one Administrative Directive form where it is currently …
Can a North Dakota county make a person sign an acknowledgment as a condition of receiving copies of public records?
No. The AG concluded the Ransom County Commission violated the open records law by requiring the requester to sign an acknowledgment of receipt before getting county-commission minutes. The law does n…
When Pulaski County releases HR complaint records (exit interviews, employee complaints, HR responses, harassment investigation forms), how do you classify each piece, and what are the release rules?
Mixed. Detailed exit interviews about a supervisor are evaluation records. Routine forwarding emails by HR (passing along an employee complaint) are personnel records. HR replies that just provide com…
When an employee files a Discrimination and Harassment Complaint form on a county template, is that an evaluation record (which can be withheld) or a personnel record (which must be released)?
It depends on whether the employer directed the employee to complete the form. If yes ('at the behest of the employer'), it is an evaluation record and stays confidential unless the subject of the com…
Does Arkansas law require a person to show ID to a police officer before being charged with obstruction of governmental operations?
No. A person is not required to present, produce, or show ID to a police officer before being charged or ticketed under A.C.A. § 5-54-102 (Obstruction of Governmental Operations). Refusing to identify…
Why did Virginia AG Jay Jones withdraw his January 16, 2026 opinion (26-001) on firearm licensing and assault weapon bans, and what does the withdrawal mean for people who relied on the original opinion?
AG Jay Jones withdrew Opinion 26-001 because he concluded that an underlying historical assertion in that opinion (that no U.S. jurisdictions had historically required firearm purchase licensing) was …
Who decides whether a private school can participate in Texas's Education Freedom Accounts program, and what laws disqualify a school?
The Comptroller's Office, not the Attorney General, has the exclusive duty to find the facts that decide eligibility for the Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) program. The AG declined to make th…
Can Texas's juvenile Independent Ombudsman interview and inspect on behalf of youth committed to TJJD who are still sitting in a county detention center waiting to be moved?
Yes. The Office of Independent Ombudsman can interview a child who has been adjudicated for a felony and committed to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department even while the child is held in a county pre…
If I'm the subject of a Pulaski County FOIA request for a workplace complaint about me, what can the County actually release and what must it redact?
The County can release emails as personnel records with privacy-related redactions. It must withhold the discrimination/harassment complaint form against you so long as you have not been suspended or …
Can an Arkansas county tax collector require exact-change payments, refuse cash, or operate a fully cashless office? Should tax payments be rounded to the nearest nickel because the U.S. Mint has discontinued the penny?
Yes, yes, and yes (with the rounding question covered by a separate opinion). Neither federal nor state law (constitutional, statutory, or regulatory) requires county officials to accept cash payments…
Can someone in Arkansas run for school board AND for mayor (or city council) at the same time? Can they hold both offices if elected?
Yes to both. The dual-candidacy bar in A.C.A. § 7-5-111 (which prohibits running for more than one 'state, county, municipal, district, or township office' on the same date) does NOT cover school dist…
Does 'advanced recycling' like plastic pyrolysis count as recycling under Texas law, or is it just incineration?
It counts as recycling. Under the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act, an advanced recycling facility that uses pyrolysis on post-use polymers (plastics) is engaged in 'recycling.' The statute expressly li…
Can a Texas city reduce or repeal the local option homestead exemption it adopted, even if voters vote to lower the city's property tax rate?
No. Under Tax Code subsection 11.13(n-1), a city, county, or school district that had a local option homestead exemption in place for the 2022 tax year cannot reduce or repeal it through the 2027 tax …
Can the Mississippi State Treasurer invest the excess tax dollars Mississippi collects from medical cannabis sales in a money market fund?
Yes, but only if the State Treasurer determines (1) that the cannabis tax revenues sitting in the General Fund really are 'excess' beyond seven business days of operating need, (2) that they cannot be…
Can a Florida town pass an ordinance requiring stores to submit a shopping cart retention plan or install a cart-retention system?
No. Florida law (§ 506.5131) expressly preempts municipal ordinances that require retailers to submit shopping cart retention plans, allow the town to deny those plans, impose monetary penalties for n…
Does a North Dakota school district violate the open records law by giving a requester redacted documents and explaining the redactions verbally instead of in writing?
Not necessarily. The AG concluded the Williston Basin School District substantially complied with the open records law. The district provided records the day after they were requested, and verbally ex…
Does the Arkansas Attorney General have an opinion on whether Act 573 of 2025 (Ten Commandments classroom posters) is constitutional or whether universities have to grant religious accommodations from it?
The AG declined to opine because litigation challenging Act 573 is pending in federal court. The AG flagged that he believes the Act is constitutional and pointed to a brief filed in the Eighth Circui…
Are Florida laws that give racial preferences, use race-based classifications, or impose racial quotas unconstitutional?
Yes, in the Attorney General's view. The opinion concludes that Florida laws which mandate race-based state action, including affirmative action requirements (§ 110.112), minority contracting set-asid…
If the Virginia General Assembly first agreed to a constitutional amendment on October 31, 2025, when does it have to vote on it again to send it to voters?
At the 2026 regular session. Article XII, § 1 of the Virginia Constitution requires a proposed amendment to be referred to the General Assembly's first regular session held after the next general elec…
Now that the U.S. Mint has stopped making pennies, can an Arkansas store round cash transactions to the nearest nickel, including for SNAP customers paying cash for the non-SNAP portion of a mixed transaction?
Yes. Neither Arkansas nor federal law forbids penny rounding on cash transactions. For SNAP, the federal rule is that retailers cannot treat SNAP coupon users differently from cash users. The simplest…
Can a Delaware public body charge me thousands of dollars in advance for school records held by an outside contractor?
Yes, but it has to scope the estimate properly. AG opinion 26-IB04 found that the Delaware Department of Education did NOT violate FOIA by collecting all estimated fees in advance. But the AG recommen…
Does the Fourth Circuit's Grimm decision still require Virginia school districts to let transgender students use bathrooms matching their gender identity, after the Supreme Court's Skrmetti ruling?
In the AG's view, no. Attorney General Miyares concluded that Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board is limited to its specific facts, and the Supreme Court's 2025 decision in United States v. Skrmet…
Would a Virginia law requiring a license to buy a firearm, or a ban on AR-15s and standard-capacity magazines, violate the Second Amendment?
Yes, in the AG's view. Attorney General Miyares concluded that a permit-to-purchase regime and a ban on commonly-owned firearms, components, and magazines would both violate the Second Amendment and A…
If my Arkansas police department's federal-grant overtime threshold is 80 hours of work in a two-week pay period, do my sick days, vacation, and comp time count toward that 80-hour total?
No. Under the FLSA's 7(k) exemption and 29 C.F.R. § 778.218(a), only hours actually worked count toward the overtime threshold. Sick leave, vacation, and comp time are not 'hours worked,' so an office…
Can the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority require medical cannabis certifications to be electronic only, or do qualified practitioners still have to be allowed to issue paper certifications?
Paper certifications must still be allowed. Attorney General Miyares concluded that the Cannabis Control Authority cannot adopt a digital-only policy because Virginia's general definition of 'written'…
If a North Dakota school district can't find old bid records because the project was finished by a predecessor district before reorganization, did it violate the open records law?
No. North Dakota's open records law only requires a public entity to provide records it actually possesses. AG Wrigley concluded that Williston Basin School District #7 complied with N.D.C.C. § 44-04-…
If Tennessee passes a law shielding pesticide manufacturers from failure-to-warn lawsuits when their labels comply with state and federal law (S.B. 527/H.B. 809), what tort claims would still survive, and would the law conflict with FIFRA?
The proposed Tennessee bill would shield manufacturers and sellers from civil claims 'related to the labeling' of a registered pesticide whose label complied with FIFRA at the time of sale, but only w…
How these opinions are useful
- Understand state law: AG opinions are authoritative interpretations of how state law applies.
- Persuasive authority: Not binding like court decisions, but they carry significant weight.
- Government guidance: Often clarify how state agencies and officials should interpret statutes.
- Legal research: Cite AG opinions in letters, motions, and legal arguments.