Estray laws are to be enforced by the county sheriff whether the county has adopted a local-option stock law or remains an open-range area.
Opinion PDF
Chapter 393 of the Finance Code does not restrict credit services organizations, other than when operating as credit access businesses, from obtaining for a consumer or assisting in obtaining an extension of consumer credit in a form other than a deferred presentment transaction or motor vehicle title loan.
A determination about whether any specific extension of credit complies with the requirements of chapter 393 will involve a factual inquiry into the precise offering, and such questions are beyond the scope of an attorney general opinion.
Opinion PDF
Section 43.106 of the Local Government Code requires a municipality that annexed any portion of a county road or an area abutting a county road by granting a petition under former section 43.028 to also annex the full width of the road and adjacent right-of-way.
Depending on the relief sought, a county could challenge a municipality’s annexation under section 43.106 of the Local Government Code in an action in quo warranto, declaratory judgment, or both.
Opinion PDF
Disclosure of child sex offense victim from probable cause affidavits prohibited.
Opinion PDF
Subchapter D, chapter 822 of the Health and Safety Code governs dangerous dogs and incorporates local regulation. Under the home-rule amendment of the Texas Constitution, however, a municipality cannot adopt an ordinance that conflicts with or is inconsistent with state law.
Section 822.042 allows thirty days for an owner to comply with the applicable requirements for owning a dangerous dog. A municipal ordinance imposing a shorter compliance deadline cannot be harmonized with the statute and therefore the municipal ordinance provision would fall.
Opinion PDF
A district attorney pro tem appointed prior to September 1, 2019, shall be compensated according to a fee schedule stating reasonable fixed rates or minimum and maximum hourly rates, and awards outside of those parameters is invalid. An attorney assisting in a case prior to the district attorney’s recusal serves in the capacity of a special prosecutor, rather than an attorney pro tem.
Opinion PDF
Subsection 1704.304(c) of the Occupations Code prohibits a bail bond surety from soliciting business in a police station, jail, prison, detention facility, or other place of detainment for persons in the custody of law enforcement. Based on the description provided, a court would likely conclude that a signboard installed inside a jail facility by a third party providing information about available bail bond services does not amount to a solicitation and is therefore not prohibited under subsection 1704.304(c).
Opinion PDF
A court likely may, without a hearing, order a defendant’s rearrest to secure the defendant’s presence at a bond-revocation hearing, based on an officer’s sworn affidavit showing probable cause that the defendant has violated bond conditions.
Opinion PDF
Chapter 76 of the Property Code requires the county treasurer to sell abandoned property subject to its provisions at a public sale conducted in the county’s jurisdiction. If the county treasurer determines the highest bid from the public sale is insufficient, then the property may be sold through a public or private sale, including an online auction.
Opinion PDF
The sheriff’s “exclusive control” of commissary funds under subsection 351.0415(b)(1) of the Local Government Code and his or her authority under subsection 351.0415(c) to “use commissary proceeds only” for statutory purposes gives the Hunt County sheriff the authority to initially determine whether an expenditure is authorized, subject to administrative review by the Commission on Jail Standards and judicial review under an abuse of discretion standard.