State AG Opinions
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Who can remove the Children of the Confederacy plaque in the Texas Capitol, and how?
Three bodies share that authority, the AG advised: the Legislature, the State Preservation Board, and the Texas Historical Commission. A House committee chair asked who may remove or relocate the Chil…
Can a city waterworks system employee serve on the municipal housing authority board?
Probably yes, on the facts presented, the AG advised. A district attorney asked whether an employee of the Eagle Pass Water Works System counts as a 'municipal employee' who, under Local Government Co…
Is an RV park guest in Texas a tenant or a licensee for eviction purposes?
It depends on the agreement, the AG advised; there is no one-size-fits-all rule. A state senator asked whether guests at recreational vehicle parks are licensees or tenants for eviction purposes. The …
Can Connecticut's legislature change the state bond cap calculation after committing to bondholders that no future law would alter it?
Yes, but narrowly. AG Jepsen concluded that the May 9, 2018 amendments adding three new exclusions to the $1.9 billion bond cap were valid because the covenant locking the cap in place did not actuall…
Can a Washington city or county LEOFF Plan 1 disability board reimburse a retired law enforcement officer or firefighter for state-authorized medical marijuana, and could that put the jurisdiction's federal funding at risk?
Yes to reimbursement, qualified yes on federal funding. The AG concluded that LEOFF Plan 1 disability boards have discretion to fund medical services beyond the statutory minimums when medically neces…
After the 2012 amendment adding 'sworn or civilian' to Florida's public-records exemption for law enforcement personal information, does the older AGO 07-21 limitation on civilian support personnel still control?
No. The Florida AG concluded in 2018 that AGO 07-21's reading (that civilian support personnel were not covered by the exemption) is no longer controlling, because Chapter 2012-149 added 'sworn or civ…
Can a custodian release only employment dates, salary, and position in response to an Arkansas FOIA request for personnel records?
The AG could not opine on the specific records because she had not seen them. The opinion laid out the FOIA framework: records can qualify as personnel records or evaluation records depending on how t…
Can a school district employee involved in procurement host a fundraising dinner where attendees (including vendors) bid for invitations and the proceeds go to a related education foundation?
Yes. Donations to an independent education foundation, even by district vendors who attend a dinner hosted by the Superintendent, are not 'personal' gifts under A.R.S. § 15-213(N). The funds benefit t…
Can a Virginia trial court hold off on entering a conviction and dismiss a criminal case later if the defendant fulfills conditions, even without a specific statute authorizing it?
Yes. A Virginia trial court has inherent authority, recognized by the Supreme Court of Virginia in Moreau, Hernandez, and Starrs, to defer disposition and continue a criminal case (so long as no judgm…
Can a Virginia city avoid its constitutional debt limit by financing a new school through a lease that depends on annual appropriations?
Yes, under the structure the AG reviewed. As long as the city makes no binding commitment to pay or to put up its full faith and credit, an appropriation-dependent school lease does not count as 'debt…
Can a Virginia landowner change the approved use of a cash proffer accepted before 2016 without going back to the governing body, and does an amendment require a public hearing?
Once a local governing body accepts a cash proffer, it becomes part of the zoning ordinance and binds both the locality and the landowner. Unless the locality approves an alternative use under Code § …
Can a Virginia political party run a raffle as a fundraiser under the charitable-gaming exemption?
No. A political party may not conduct a raffle as charitable gaming in Virginia. Code § 18.2-340.33 limits the proceeds of authorized raffles to 'religious, charitable, community or educational purpos…
Would Tennessee marijuana legalization violate the federal Controlled Substances Act, and would legislators be liable for voting for it?
It depends on the bill text. The Tennessee AG concluded the federal Controlled Substances Act preempts state marijuana laws only if there's a direct positive conflict, not by occupying the field, so a…
What was the Arkansas Citizens' Redistricting Commission constitutional amendment proposed in 2018?
The AG certified the popular name and ballot title as submitted. The amendment would have replaced the existing Board of Apportionment (Governor, Secretary of State, AG) with a 7-member Citizens' Redi…
Why did Arkansas reject the 2018 'Marijuana As Alcohol' constitutional amendment ballot title?
The AG rejected the entire submission. The amendment proposed regulating marijuana 'as an alcoholic beverage,' but federally licensed alcohol producers cannot also distribute marijuana under federal l…
Can the same person serve on a California healthcare district board and a city council or planning commission inside the district?
No. The Southern Mono Healthcare District board member cannot also sit on the Mammoth Lakes city council or its planning commission. Eminent domain power, contracting between the city and the district…
Can a Tennessee DA file a civil lawsuit to stop a junkyard or dumping along a scenic highway?
Yes. The Tennessee AG concluded the district attorney for the judicial district where a Scenic Highway System Act violation occurs may bring an injunction, mandamus, abatement, or other civil action t…
Why did Arkansas reject the 2018 marijuana initiated act that would have removed marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act?
The AG rejected the entire submission. The proposed amendments to current law were essentially hidden in the measure's drafting (requiring side-by-side comparison with existing statutes), and the ball…
Can an Arkansas school district use its buses to take students to a summer youth program run by an outside organization?
Likely yes. Arkansas school boards have broad discretion under Ark. Code Ann. 6-13-620 to determine what serves the educational mission. The tax exemption under 6-19-112 turns on the buses' primary us…
Can a Texas city charge fines under a limited annexation near a military base, and was San Antonio's annexation ballot valid?
Yes to the fines, and yes the ballot wording was likely valid, the AG advised, but San Antonio's plan to count blank or double-marked ballots as votes for Option 2 was not. A state senator asked three…
Can a non-Delaware resident or a Delaware-registered LLC owned by a non-resident demand Delaware Department of Insurance records under FOIA?
No. The AG reaffirmed that Delaware FOIA grants record-access rights only to Delaware citizens, applying the U.S. Supreme Court's reasoning in McBurney v. Young. DOI properly denied a Texas-based hedg…
Is the University of Florida a Florida state agency for purposes of qualifying its drone as a 'public aircraft' under federal law?
Yes. The AG confirmed the University of Florida as a state university and an agency of the executive branch under § 1001.705(1)(d), supporting its FAA drone application.
Why did Arkansas reject the 2018 'Arkansas Rank Voting Initiative' as a proposed initiated act?
The AG rejected the entire submission. The same fundamental ambiguities as the prior submission (Op. 2018-112) remained: the proposed initiated act would dramatically change election law without clear…
Are employee-initiated harassment complaints exempt from Arkansas FOIA as employee-evaluation records?
The AG could not see the records, so it could not confirm the custodian's classification. But the office emphasized that to count as an employee-evaluation record under Arkansas FOIA, a record has to …
Does Virginia's monument protection statute apply when a county adds a new Emancipation Proclamation monument to a park that already holds a Confederate monument?
Based on the facts presented, placing a stone monument commemorating the Emancipation Proclamation in Fluvanna County's Civil War Park would not implicate Va. Code § 15.2-1812, because the park itself…
Can the City of Little Rock release a Housing & Neighborhood Programs employee's ID photograph under FOIA over his objection?
The release of the photograph is likely consistent with FOIA. Records depicting public employees are generally subject to disclosure under the personnel-records test, and the requester's identity or m…
Can the City of Little Rock release a code enforcement officer's ID photograph under FOIA over his objection?
The release of the photograph is likely consistent with FOIA. Records depicting public employees are generally subject to disclosure under the personnel-records test, and the requester's identity or m…
Can a Little Rock employee block release of her city ID photograph under Arkansas FOIA by objecting?
The custodian's decision to release the city ID photograph is likely consistent with the FOIA. Records depicting public employees are generally subject to disclosure under the personnel-records test, …
Can a Little Rock senior code officer block release of her ID photo and personnel file under Arkansas FOIA by objecting to the requester?
The custodian's decision to release the photograph is likely consistent with the FOIA. The objection does not articulate a legally sufficient reason to withhold the records, and the requester's identi…
Can the Georgia National Guard share in proceeds of drug-related civil forfeitures alongside police, sheriffs, and the GBI?
Yes. The Georgia National Guard remained a 'law enforcement agency' eligible to share in proceeds of drug-related forfeitures, even after the 2015 Georgia Uniform Civil Forfeiture Procedure Act repeal…
When a town manager and police chief sign administrative agreements (like an LESO surplus-property program policy) without a Council vote, does Delaware FOIA require an open meeting before they sign?
No. The AG found the Town Manager and Police Chief did not constitute a 'public body,' so FOIA's open-meeting rules did not attach. Whether their signatures exceeded municipal authority is a question …
Are citizen complaints against Delaware State Police officers reachable through a Delaware FOIA request, and can a confidentiality order from prior litigation block disclosure of public records?
No to the first; the AG concluded LEOBOR keeps complaints against sworn officers confidential as part of investigatory records. Court-issued confidentiality orders can also block disclosure under § 10…
Does the Delaware open meeting law cover an informal gathering of a town manager, an audit committee chair, contract accountants, and an outside auditor to talk about audit issues?
No. The AG concluded the gathering was not a 'public body' because no government entity established or appointed it, and FOIA does not give the AG's office authority to enforce a town's compliance wit…
If a county zoning agenda lists a special-use exception by its zoning-code category (nursing home / convalescent home / home for the aged) but the actual hearing is about an assisted living facility with 35 houses, did the agenda give legally sufficient notice under Delaware FOIA?
Yes. The AG concluded that citing the zoning-code subsections for the requested exception was objectively comprehensible notice, even though the agenda did not use the specific phrase 'assisted living…
Can a Little Rock city employee block release of her ID photo and personnel file under Arkansas FOIA by objecting to the requester?
The custodian's decision to release the photograph is likely consistent with the FOIA. The objection does not articulate a legally sufficient reason to withhold the records, and the requester's identi…
Can a city release a public employee's personnel file and city ID photo over the employee's objection under Arkansas FOIA?
The custodian's decision to release the city ID photograph is likely consistent with the FOIA. Records depicting public employees are generally disclosable under the personnel-records test, and a requ…
Does Arkansas FOIA require a city to release a public employee's hourly wage and salary history when the employee objects?
Yes. Salary information is a personnel record, and the AG has consistently said release of public-employee salary information almost never rises to a 'clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.…
Can a Delaware town withhold surveillance video of a Town Hall confrontation when criminal charges are still pending?
Yes. The AG found that surveillance video was part of an active investigatory file for a pending criminal prosecution and was therefore exempt under 29 Del. C. § 10002(l)(3). Public interest and selec…
Does Delaware FOIA require a state agency to answer questions in a public records request, and what happens when the agency responds after the 15-business-day deadline?
The AG found the Auditor of Accounts committed a technical FOIA violation by responding late, but declined to recommend any remedy because the records were eventually produced. FOIA does not require a…
Under the Arkansas FOIA, can a city release a workplace harassment complaint and an exit interview as personnel records, and which redactions are required?
The records were properly classified as personnel records that must be released with redactions. Personal contact information, employee numbers, dates of birth, and similar items had to be redacted, b…
Why did the Arkansas Attorney General reject the 2018 Arkansas Regulation of Marijuana Amendment ballot title?
The AG rejected the entire submission. The proposal was substantially the same recreational-marijuana amendment the AG had already rejected in Opinion 2018-100 for being a convoluted statewide decrimi…
Why did the Arkansas Attorney General reject a 2018 marijuana initiated act submission that used a blacklined statute draft?
The AG rejected the submission at the threshold. Section 7-9-107 requires the sponsor to submit an 'original draft' of the proposed measure, but the submission was a blacklined working document showin…
Why did the Arkansas Attorney General reject the Natural Resource Cannabis Amendment ballot title in 2018?
The AG rejected the entire submission. The proposal was substantially the same measure the AG had already rejected in November 2017, with added language on banking and depository institutions that mad…
Can the City of Alexandria, which is grandfathered to tax real estate rentals, adjust its BPOL tax rate on those rentals up or down?
Yes. The City of Alexandria, which is grandfathered under Code § 58.1-3703(C)(7) to impose BPOL taxes on real estate rentals, may adjust the tax rate up or down (or eliminate it) by affirmative vote o…
Does Virginia's war monument statute block demolition of an old high school building that was originally dedicated as a memorial to World War I veterans?
No. The Dickenson County Board of Supervisors would not violate Va. Code § 15.2-1812 by authorizing the demolition of the Dickenson Memorial High School building. The statute operates prospectively, d…
After Trinity Lutheran (2017), can Idaho still categorically exclude religiously affiliated schools and universities from generally available state programs like work-study and tax-free bonds under Idaho's Blaine Amendment?
Probably not for status-based exclusions where the program is publicly available and the institution is not putting the benefit to a religious use. AG Wasden concluded Trinity Lutheran limits Idaho's …
Why did the Arkansas Attorney General reject the 2018 ranked-choice voting initiative's ballot title?
The AG rejected the entire submission. The proposal failed to specify whether it was an initiated act or a constitutional amendment, the popular name and ballot title were misleading, and the underlyi…
Can a Texas county use public funds to help homeowners repair homes or to subsidize housing construction?
Only when the spending serves a predominantly public purpose, the AG concluded, and the commissioners court has to make that call first, subject to court review. A Texas House committee chair asked wh…
Does Texas's recreational use statute protect a landowner who hosts agritourism when a private plane lands on the property?
Yes, the AG concluded, as long as the usual conditions of Chapter 75 are met. A Texas House committee chair asked whether Chapter 75 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, the recreational use statu…
Can the temporary directors of a new Texas groundwater conservation district cancel the election that would confirm the district?
Almost certainly not, the AG concluded. A Texas House committee chair asked about the Southwestern Travis County Groundwater Conservation District, whose seven temporary directors cancelled the May 20…
Can a Texas groundwater district amend a historic-use permit to change the purpose or place of water use?
Changing the purpose of the water use makes it a new use, even if it stays inside the district, the AG concluded. A Texas House committee chair asked about a dispute over what the Texas Supreme Court'…
When the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality releases an employee's personnel file under FOIA, must a photocopy of the employee's driver's license be entirely withheld?
The custodian's redaction work was mostly correct, but a photocopy of the employee's driver's license must be entirely withheld, not just the license number redacted. The AG also told the employee to …
Why did the Arkansas Attorney General reject the 2018 'Arkansas Cannabis Hemp and Recreational Marijuana Amendment' ballot title?
The AG rejected the entire submission at the threshold. The proposal was the same measure the AG had already rejected in Opinion 2017-006 as ambiguous and misleading. Recycling language previously ide…
Can a Texas city set a homestead property tax exemption minimum higher than $5,000?
No, the AG concluded. A state senator asked whether a home-rule city could adopt a residential homestead property tax exemption with a minimum dollar amount above the $5,000 set in the Constitution. T…
Can the survivors of a part-time firefighter or police officer who died in the line of duty buy the city's health insurance?
Yes, the AG concluded. A district attorney asked about the City of Burnet, where a part-time firefighter and EMT died in the line of duty. The city's policy did not give part-time workers or their dep…
Does a Texas DA's office have to turn over information from its civil cases to a criminal defendant?
Often yes, the AG concluded. The Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney, whose office handles both civil and criminal matters, asked whether information her civil-side attorneys obtain, such as in …
Can the Little Rock School District release a former employee's eligibility-for-continued-employment file under Arkansas FOIA over the subject's privacy objection?
Yes, mostly. The records were properly classified as employee-evaluation records, and the four-prong test for release was satisfied. The personnel-records balancing test that the subject's attorney in…
Can a Virginia locality direct Four-for-Life EMS funds to its own fire department instead of a private emergency crew?
Yes. A locality may direct Four-for-Life funds under Code § 46.2-694(A)(13)(e) to its fire department if the department meets the regulatory definition of an 'emergency medical services agency' in 12 …
Why did the Arkansas Attorney General reject the 2018 'Arkansas Marijuana Amendment 2020' ballot title that proposed adult-use legalization with a regulatory licensing scheme?
The AG rejected the entire submission. The ballot title was generic and uninformative, leaning on words like 'regulation' and 'licensing' without describing the actual legal effects. The underlying pr…
Why did the Arkansas Attorney General reject the 2018 'Right to Grow Cannabis Amendment' ballot title?
The AG rejected the entire submission. The popular name 'Right to Grow' was misleading because the amendment also covered possession. The ballot title was inadequate. And the text's reach (which purpo…
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