How to Request an Opinion

State Officers, Boards, Agencies, River Authorities, and Legislative Committees, when requesting an opinion, should give a complete statement of the relevant, actual facts rather than pose a hypothetical question. The requestor should always advise this office of any established administrative construction, giving the length of time it has been followed, and whether the construction has been consistently applied. If there has been no such construction, the requestor should so advise us.

If the opinion request is made on behalf of a state board or legislative committee, a majority of the board or committee should agree that the opinion is needed; however, the request may be submitted by the chair of the board or committee, the secretary of the board, or the executive director or the executive secretary of the board on behalf of the particular board. In any event, the request should represent that a majority of the board or committee seeks the opinion.

We welcome briefs from those requesting opinions and anyone else. We encourage the submission of briefs within 30 days of the date the request is acknowledged.

County and District Attorneys

County and District Attorneys and Criminal District Attorneys should request an opinion in accordance with Section 402.043 of the Government Code. The requestor should give a complete statement of the relevant, actual facts rather than pose a hypothetical question. Further, the officer requesting the opinion should file a complete brief with the request, giving legal arguments to support his or her views. We cannot accept requests from county, district, or criminal district attorneys without accompanying briefs.

County Auditors

County Auditor's opinion requests should be submitted to the county or district attorney in accordance with the provisions of Section 41.007 of the Government Code. If the county or district attorney fails or refuses to answer the auditor's request, or if the county auditor, county judge, or any other officer affected by the opinion disagrees with the county or district attorney's opinion, or believes that it is in conflict with former opinions of this office, we will accept an opinion request directly from the county auditor.

Opinions to County and Precinct Officials

A district or county attorney, on request, shall give to a county or precinct official of his district or county a written opinion or written advice relating to the official duties of that official. Tex. Gov't Code Ann. § 41.007 (Vernon 1988).

Questions involving cities, independent school districts, or others not specified in Sections 402.041 - 402.045 of the Government Code should be submitted by a statutorily authorized requestor only if they concern subject matter covered by the jurisdiction and duties of the office submitting the request. All requests for opinions must be in writing.