Legal Research Process

Section 402.042 of the Government Code set out the state and local officials who are authorized to request formal Attorney General opinions on questions of law. The Attorney General is prohibited by statute from giving a written opinion to anyone other than an authorized requestor. 

Authorized requestors include:

     (1) the governor;
     (2) the head of a department of state government;
     (3) a head or board of a penal institution;
     (4) a head or board of an eleemosynary institution;
     (5) the head of a state board;
     (6) a regent or trustee of a state educational institution;
     (7) a committee of a house of the legislature;
     (8) a county auditor authorized by law; or
     (9) the chairman of the governing board of a river authority.
 

A request for an opinion must be in writing and sent by certified or registered mail, with return receipt requested, addressed to the office of the attorney general in Austin, or electronically to an electronic mail address designated by the attorney general for the purpose of receiving requests for opinions under this section. The attorney general shall:
     (1) acknowledge receipt of the request not later than the 15th day after the date that it is received; and
     (2) issue the opinion not later than the 180th day after the date that it is received, unless before that deadline the attorney general notifies the requesting person in writing that the opinion will be delayed or not rendered and states the reasons for the delay or refusal.

Tex. Gov't Code § 402.042. 

Formal Opinions deal with issues that will be of interest to people throughout the state. They are numbered by initials of the AG and then sequence of issuance. Ex: KP-0347 (KP are the initials for Ken Paxton and this was the 347th opinion). 

Formal Opinions are available on the Attorney General website. 

• 1939 - Present. To search, you may Browse Opinions by Category or you may view a list of Opinions Overruled, Modified, Affirmed, and Withdrawn. You may also use the Index to Opinions to browse by Attorney General or keyword search. 

Pending Opinion Requests are requests that have been received by the Opinion Committee and are currently pending. 

• You can subscribe to the OAG's Pending Opinion Requests lists. If you subscribe, you will receive an email informing you of newly posted Requests for Attorney General Opinions. 
• You may also view the Pending Opinion Requests on the AG's website. 

Requests for Opinions are available on the AG's website through the Request for Opinion Index. 

• 1991 - Present. The index is not searchable.  

Letter Opinions dealt with noncontroversial issues or those that affect a particular group, were local in nature, did not require a meeting of the Opinion Committee. Beginning January 4, 1999, the AG's office stopped issuing Letter Opinions. All opinions issued are now "Formal."

• “A letter opinion has the same force and effects as a formal Attorney General Opinion, and represents the opinion of the AG unless and until it is modified or overruled by a subsequent letter opinion, a formal AG Opinion, or a decision of a court of record.” 19 Tex. Reg. 8089 (1994).

The Public Information Act allows governmental bodies to request a decision from the attorney general regarding whether requested information may with withheld under one of the exceptions permitted by law. Open Records Decisions may be cited as precedent in briefing to the Open Records Division. 
You can find open record decisions on the AG's website. 

• You may Search Open Records Decisions, Search Open Records Letter Rulings, or Review Open Records Questions 

The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) is a national forum for state and territory attorneys general to collaborate on issues. You can use this resource when conducting substantive research.

• NAAG Policy Letters 
  • NAAG publishes endorsement letters to provide support or dissent for federal legislation and policy. 
  • Search options include keyword searching, filtering by topic, state/territory, or publication year.
• Attorney General Office Characteristics
  • You can also find information on qualifications and requirements for serving serving as a state/territorial attorney general. 
  • Search by hovering over the state you are interested in on the interactive map or search the table below. 

Conference of Western Attorneys General (CWAG) 

• Texas is an associate member of CWAG is a regional forum for Western attorneys general to coordinate on issues.