State AG Opinions
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Can a Texas justice of the peace also work as a court-appointed investigator in felony cases?
No single law flatly forbids it, but the ethics question is for the judicial-conduct commission. District Attorney Micheal Murray asked the Attorney General whether a sitting justice of the peace coul…
When Washington's Energy Independence Act tells a utility to use methods 'consistent with' the most recently published regional power plan, does that mean the plan from when the law passed, or whatever plan is current today?
The Fifth Power Plan, the one in place when voters passed Initiative 937 in 2006. But 'methodology' means analytical steps, not specific savings values, so utilities still have to update their biennia…
If I just want to look at Arizona public records or photograph them with my phone, can the agency still charge me a copying fee?
No on both counts. Under A.R.S. § 39-121, a public body cannot charge a copying fee when a requesting party only wants to inspect records (even if the agency has to print or redact internally to enabl…
What happens if a Tennessee hotel collects the Kingsport hotel/motel tax but does not remit it to the city?
The hotel operator faces civil liability under the 1981 private act and Title 67 of the Tennessee Code: 12% annual interest plus a 0.5% monthly penalty, levy and seizure procedures, padlocking of the …
What fees can a Tennessee court clerk charge in a delinquent property tax lawsuit?
A $44 filing fee per parcel included in the lawsuit, a $100 fee for each parcel the court orders sold, and a 5% commission on any property taxes (plus penalties and interest) the clerk actually receiv…
Can horses be slaughtered in Tennessee to sell horsemeat for people to eat?
No. Tennessee law required all horsemeat sold, offered for sale, or exposed for sale to be denatured with at least 2% charcoal or a similar inert substance, which renders it unfit for human consumptio…
Is the 10% Tennessee county clerk fee on late motor vehicle registration renewals mandatory?
No. The clerk's fee was permissive at the county clerk's discretion. It only applied at vehicle registration renewal time, only to motor vehicle registration fees the owner owed (on any vehicle), and …
When can a parent see their child's Department of Children's Services file, and can DCS records be subpoenaed in court cases? Does it matter if the abuse claim turns out to be false?
A parent who is not the alleged abuser can get DCS records about their child upon written request, but the reporter's identity is not disclosed. State court discovery is allowed only through specific …
Can a Virginia gun owner put a machine gun in a trust to register it with state police?
No. The Uniform Machine Gun Act in Va. Code § 18.2-288 defines 'person' as 'firm, partnership, association or corporation.' Va. Code § 1-230 (the general definitions statute) includes 'trust' among en…
Who legally controls how Delaware invests its state cash, the elected State Treasurer or the Cash Management Policy Board?
The Cash Management Policy Board, not the State Treasurer. The AG concluded that Delaware's constitution gives the Treasurer no inherent investment power, only the receipt, care, and disbursement of f…
Can a nonprofit like the ACLU get an inmate's records under FOIA when the inmate himself would be barred from requesting them?
Yes, in this case. The AG found that DOC had to release Alco-Sensor calibration and maintenance records to the ACLU of Delaware because the group was pursuing its own public-interest investigation, no…
Can a Tennessee city give local businesses a preference (like a percentage bid bump) when awarding municipal contracts?
No. The Municipal Purchasing Law of 1983 requires competitive bidding, which means all bidders must be on equal footing. A local-preference policy puts non-local bidders at a disadvantage and conflict…
Does renaming police captains to 'assistant chiefs' change how many a Texas city can appoint?
No. The cap follows the 1983 headcount, not the title. Representative Tracy King asked how many officers a police department head may appoint to the rank just below chief under Local Government Code s…
Can Houston METRO use job order contracting for civil works like roads and water projects?
Only for building work, not civil works. Representative Bill Callegari asked whether the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) could use 'job order contracting,' a streamlined method…
Are Texas landowners liable for police actions on their land or for livestock that escape due to outside interference?
The Attorney General declined to answer. Representative Ryan Guillen asked whether existing law shields landowners, lessees, and occupants of agricultural land from liability in two situations: law en…
Can a Florida county ban mobile homes from a residential zone that allows conventional and manufactured homes?
Responding informally, the AG advised that a county may exclude mobile homes from a zoning classification for conventionally constructed homes, because mobile homes (defined in section 320.01(2)(a)) d…
Can a Texas state employee run for and hold an elected county office while keeping both salaries?
Generally yes, with one federal caveat. The Attorney General concluded that no Texas statute prohibits a state employee from running for an elected county office, and that Article 16, Section 40(b) of…
Do university psychology staff need a specific job title to be exempt from the Texas Psychologists' Licensing Act?
The Attorney General answered two questions from the State Board of Examiners of Psychologists. First, a university does not have to use the official title 'psychologist' or 'psychological associate' …
Does a part-time or seasonal employee still count under the Texas nepotism continuous-employment exception?
Brazoria County's district attorney asked whether an at-will employee who works consistently but only periodically can use the continuous-employment exception to the Texas nepotism law, Government Cod…
Can Delaware's prison system keep the identity of its lethal injection drug supplier secret under public records law?
No. The AG reaffirmed its prior ruling that DOC could not use a trade-secret exemption, a state confidentiality statute, its execution protocol, or a state-secret privilege to withhold records about i…
Can the Tennessee Board of Regents or the University of Memphis enter a complex deal where a private nonprofit finances and builds a student housing facility on land next to campus, with the university as a member of the nonprofit?
No. Neither TBR nor the University of Memphis has statutory authority to enter this Student Housing Affiliation Agreement. State agencies can only do what the legislature has authorized, and nothing i…
Can the spouse of a charter school employee sit on the school's governing board in Florida?
The AG concluded that section 1002.33(26)(c) applies to all charter schools, including municipal ones, because the statute has no limiting language. The office also concluded the prohibition is substa…
Can the public get copies of 911 call recordings under Delaware's open records law?
Yes, in limited circumstances. The AG found that New Castle County could withhold 911 recordings that discussed a possible medical emergency because they implicated the caller's constitutional and com…
Is Tennessee's 1949 private act creating the DeKalb County Democratic Party Executive Committee still enforceable today?
No. The private act unconstitutionally restricts the Democratic Party's First Amendment associational rights. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that a political party gets to set its own internal struct…
Can a sheriff's office release internal investigation records that led to officer firings and forced resignations under Arkansas's FOIA?
Partly resolved, based on this opinion. The Washington County Sheriff's internal investigation records properly counted as 'employee evaluation or job performance records,' and releasing the suspended…
Why did Arkansas's Attorney General reject a proposed ballot measure to repeal all state cannabis laws?
The Attorney General rejected the proposed measure, based on this opinion, because its text described what repealing cannabis laws 'would' do rather than actually enacting a repeal, and because its br…
If two Virginia No Through Truck routes share an endpoint, can a trucker use one as a shortcut just because he lives on the other?
No. Even though VDOT had referred internally to two contiguous No Through Truck routes (one in Hanover, one in New Kent) as 'one continuous truck restriction,' they were legally separate designations.…
What can a Washington junior taxing district like a park district actually spend its 'tier one' timber excise tax revenues on?
Only debt service and capital project payments tied to the specific RCW 84.52.056 voter-approved bonds (or RCW 84.52.053 school capital levies) that qualified the district as tier one. Once those bond…
Can the head of Arkansas's environmental agency single-handedly freeze or halt animal feeding operation permit applications?
No, based on this opinion. Only the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, a separate rulemaking body, has statutory authority to declare a moratorium on or suspend the processing of a cat…
Who prosecutes misdemeanors, traffic tickets, and city ordinance violations in an Arkansas city, the prosecuting attorney or the city attorney?
The city attorney bears the default responsibility, based on this opinion. A prosecuting attorney may choose to take on misdemeanor violations of state law that occur within a city's limits, but isn't…
Does an Arkansas improvement district keep its property-tax exemption on lots that owners just signed over by quitclaim deed instead of losing them to foreclosure?
It's genuinely unsettled, according to this opinion. Arkansas courts have held that improvement district property obtained through court-ordered foreclosure for unpaid assessments is tax-exempt public…
Can a Tennessee county commissioner vote on the school budget if they (or their company, or their charter school application) have a financial connection to the school system?
If the commissioner is a school employee whose job predates the election, they can vote after disclosing the conflict. If the job came after the election, they can't vote at all. If the commissioner's…
Can a West Virginia county ambulance authority sue in magistrate court to collect unpaid emergency ambulance fees?
No, not for the special county-wide fees imposed under W. Va. Code § 7-15-17. The AG concluded that those fees are levied and collected by the county commission, not the ambulance authority. The autho…
Why did the Arkansas Attorney General rewrite, rather than reject, the ballot title for a 2013 initiative to repeal the state's marriage amendment?
The Attorney General certified a revised popular name and ballot title, based on this opinion, for a proposed constitutional amendment that would have repealed Arkansas's Amendment 83 (the state's ban…
After Miller v. Alabama and Wyoming's 2013 fix, when does an inmate sentenced to life for a crime committed before age 18 become eligible for parole, and does it matter what the law said when the crime was committed?
Attorney General Peter Michael answered four questions: (1) The 2013 amendments apply to all qualifying juvenile offenders regardless of when their crime was committed, because the statutes are about …
Are Tennessee Ethics Commission lobbyist audit files always confidential, and when can the Commission release them in administrative hearings?
All random and investigatory audit information must be kept confidential, treated like tax records. The Commission can disclose in an administrative proceeding if the audited lobbyist is a party and t…
If a Tennessee county passes a bond resolution, citizens petition against it, and then the county takes the bond resolution back, does the county still have to hold the bond election?
No. Once the county commission rescinds the initial bond resolution, there is no longer any proposition for voters to approve or reject. Tennessee law does not authorize advisory or non-binding refere…
How does Tennessee's expunction statute for pre-1989 nonviolent offenses actually work? Which offenses qualify, and can someone with more than one conviction apply?
The 2012 expunction statute for pre-1989 nonviolent offenders is fact-specific: trial courts decide case-by-case whether a particular offense involved a substantial risk of physical force. Sentence le…
If a citation for a state crime tells the defendant to appear in a Tennessee municipal court, can the city prosecutor or city attorney handle the case, or does only the district attorney general have authority?
Only the district attorney general can prosecute the state criminal offense, even when the case is in municipal court. City prosecutors can handle municipal ordinance violations, but state crimes (whe…
Do Oregon county planning commission staff need a professional land surveyor license to survey land under ORS 215.080, and do the entry-on-land restrictions for licensed surveyors apply to them?
Commission staff who actually do work that meets the statutory definition of land surveying do need to be registered, unless one of the ORS 672.060 exemptions applies, including working under the supe…
Can one red-light-camera hearing officer serve multiple Florida cities or counties at the same time?
The AG concluded no. The ex officio exemption in section 316.003(91) lets a local government use its own existing code enforcement board or special magistrate as the local hearing officer for red-ligh…
Can one building official serve a city and a county at once under an interlocal agreement in Florida?
The AG concluded that an interlocal agreement under section 163.01 letting Lee County provide building code inspection and plan review for the Town of Fort Myers Beach would not violate Florida's cons…
Does Connecticut's prevailing wage law apply to construction and renovation projects done by local housing authorities?
It depends. The AG concluded housing authorities are political subdivisions for prevailing wage purposes, but whether any given project is a 'public works project' triggers Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-53 on…
Can a Tennessee city or county sell extra real estate without a public auction?
Cities under private-act charters with broad authority (like Jellico) can sell surplus land by private sale if they decide that's the most advantageous method, follow their charter procedure, and act …
Who picks the chair of Connecticut's Board of Firearms Permit Examiners, the Board members or the Governor?
The Governor. The Connecticut AG concluded that Conn. Gen. Stat. § 4-9a, which gives the Governor authority to appoint the chairperson of executive branch boards and commissions, controls over the Boa…
Can a city release employee names, resumes, job titles, and salaries in response to an Arkansas FOIA request?
Generally yes, based on the prior opinions referenced here. Although the Attorney General declined to rule on this specific city's request due to a procedural timing problem, the office pointed to est…
Do Tennessee school officials have to report it to the state when one student texts another a nude photo of themselves or someone else?
Probably yes, if the photo shows a child (under 18) and the nudity involves 'lascivious exhibition' of breast, genitals, buttocks, anus, or pubic or rectal area, and the official knows or has reasonab…
If a South Dakota high school student is suspended from sports for a drug conviction and reduces the suspension to 60 school days by completing a chemical-dependency assessment, do summer school days count toward those 60 days?
Yes. If the local school board has established a special summer school term and the student is enrolled in it, the days that instruction is provided count as 'school days' for the 60-day extracurricul…
Did the revised 2013 Arkansas same-sex marriage amendment fix its ballot title problem?
No, not fully. Jennifer Pierce revised her earlier proposal (Opinion 2013-122) to address a gap the AG had flagged in Amendment 83, adding a line that 'Arkansas law shall recognize all marriages valid…
If a Florida special district is dissolved, who is responsible for its pension liabilities?
Responding informally, the AG explained that under section 189.4045(2), unless a law or ordinance says otherwise, dissolving a special district transfers its property to the local general-purpose gove…
Why did Florida's Attorney General ask the Supreme Court to reject the 2014 medical marijuana ballot measure?
In this petition to the Florida Supreme Court, Attorney General Bondi argued that the ballot title and summary for a proposed medical marijuana constitutional amendment were misleading and should keep…
What does a Tennessee school district have to do to set up an online public school, and does the state Department of Education have to approve it?
An LEA can establish a virtual school by complying with the Virtual Public Schools Act: a Tennessee administrative office, enrollment cap of 1,500 (with exception for proven student growth), Tennessee…
Why did the Arkansas AG reject the ballot measure stripping limited liability from corporations that spend on elections?
The AG rejected it on several grounds. First, the submitted ballot title ended in an ellipsis and skipped whole sections, so it did not summarize the measure and he could not rewrite it 'out of whole …
Does UConn need approval from the General Assembly's joint committees, or wait until the legislature is out of session, to acquire or dispose of real estate?
No. The AG concluded that UConn's authority under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 4b-21(a) to handle real estate directly is not limited to recesses of the General Assembly and does not require joint-committee con…
Does an Arkansas prosecutor have to be physically present every time a court accepts a guilty plea?
No, in the AG's view. Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 24.3(d) bars a court from accepting a guilty or no-contest plea unless the prosecutor was given an 'opportunity to be heard,' but it does not …
How does an Arkansas second-class city fill a council vacancy, and what are the rules on quorums and city funds?
The Attorney General answered a set of questions about second-class city government. A city cannot change the statutory rules for filling a council vacancy; doing so takes a majority of the remaining …
Can a Tennessee county or city charge a tipping fee on recycling facilities or on businesses that grind wood waste into mulch?
No. Tennessee's Solid Waste Management Act tipping fees apply only to solid waste disposal facilities. Recycling involves recovered materials, which are not solid waste under Tennessee law. And the st…
Can a Tennessee county apply zoning rules to a farmer's or farmworker's house on a working farm?
No, in most cases. Tenn. Code Ann. § 13-7-114 exempts buildings on agricultural land from county zoning if they're 'incidental to the agricultural enterprise.' Farmer and farmworker housing on a worki…
In Tennessee, who counts as a 'humane society' for animal cruelty enforcement, and can a humane society's agents arrest people or seize animals?
A 'humane society chartered by the state' is just a Tennessee-incorporated nonprofit whose charter says it's for the prevention of cruelty to animals. The president can appoint agents who can arrest c…
Can a Florida county stop vacation rentals in a neighborhood zoned for single-family homes?
The AG advised that because Flagler County had no ordinance regulating vacation rentals on or before June 1, 2011, section 509.032(7) preempts the field to the state and bars the county from enacting …
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