Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Nick Brown

Pending Attorney General's Opinions

Pending Attorney General's Office Formal Opinion Requests

The Washington Attorney General issues formal published opinions in response to requests by the heads of state agencies, state legislators, and county prosecuting attorneys.  When the Attorney General's Office receives a request for a formal opinion, a summary of that opinion request will be published here and distributed via our mailing list. 

Formal Requests:

Informal Requests:

 

If you are interested in commenting on any of these requests, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office.

 You may notify the Attorney General’s Office of your intention to comment by:

  • Writing to the Office of the Attorney General, Solicitor General Division, Attention: Alicia O. Young, Deputy Solicitor General, P.O. Box 40100, Olympia, Washington 98504-0100;  or
  • Emailing opinioncomments@atg.wa.gov.

When you notify the office of your intention to comment, you may be provided with:

  • A copy of the opinion request in which you are interested;
  • Information about the Attorney General’s Opinion process;
  • Information on how to submit your comments; and
  • A due date by which your comments must be received to ensure that they are fully considered.

 

Formal Opinion Requests:

 

Opinion Docket No. 24-12-02: Request by Richard A. Weyrich, Prosecuting Attorney, Skagit County

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office.

1. Pursuant to RCW Chapter 77.85, by what mechanism and criteria may local and tribal governments within a watershed de-designate a private nonprofit corporation as RCW 77.85.050(l)(a) lead entity for that watershed?

2. In the alternative, under RCW Chapter 77.85, where a private nonprofit corporation currently asserts standing as a RCW 77.85.050(l)(a) lead entity within a watershed, may the county, unified dike/drainage districts and a federally recognized Indian tribe within that watershed form a separate RCW 77.85.050(1)(a) lead entity by which to direct state salmon recovery funding toward strategic governmental objectives, providing a competing list of funding priorities to the state Salmon Funding Recovery Board?

3. By prioritizing, controlling and directing the distribution of state salmon recovery funds in the place of cities and counties, is a nonprofit that has been designed a watershed's RCW 77.85.050(l)(a) lead entity, and therefore its board of directors, "exercising or undertaking to exercise any of the powers or functions of a municipal officer", within the meaning of RCW 42.23.020(2)?

4. To the extent the answer to question #3 is "yes," does the participation of nonprofit representatives on a RCW 77.85.050(1)(a) lead entity nonprofit board of directors in the prioritization, selection and/or arrangement of funding contracts with their own nonprofit employers offend the prohibition on beneficial interest in contracts set forth by RCW Chapter 42.23.30?

Entire text of original request

 

 

Opinion Docket No. 24-12-01: Request by Eric Eisinger, Prosecuting Attorney, Benton County 

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office.

Is a proposed first class city charter amendment required to be placed on the ballot for the November 2025 general election, or can it can be placed on either the February or April 2025 special election ballot?

Entire text of original request

 

 

Opinion Docket No. 24-09-02: Request by The Honorable Curtis King, State Senator, District 14

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office.

May proceeds from the sales and use tax authorized by RCW 82.14.460 be used for new construction of housing to be made part of a coordinated chemical dependency or mental health treatment program or service?

Entire text of original request

 

 

Opinion Docket No. 24-09-01: Request by The Honorable Leonard G. Christian, State Representative, District 4

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office.

Do the background check and waiting period requirements of RCW 9.41.092 apply to sales of firearms to individual law enforcement officers who use the firearm within the scope of their employment?

Entire text of original request

 

 

Opinion Docket No. 24-02-01: Request by Sara Robbins, Director, Office of Civil Legal aid & Larry Jefferson, Director, Office of Public Defense 

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office.

Does RCW 13.50.010 require court clerks to provide the Office of Public Defense and the Office of Civil Legal Aid access to records in dependency and termination cases, often referred to as “Type 7” cases, without the need to file a notice of appearance?

Entire text of original request

 

 

Opinion Docket No. 24-02-03: Request by Joseph Brusic, Prosecuting Attorney, Yakima County

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office.

Are public works and prevailing wage laws applicable to a proposed sprint boat racecourse to be constructed at the Yakima County Fairgrounds by the Central Washington Fair Association (CWFA), a nonprofit, 501(cX3) organization?

Entire text of original request

 

 

Opinion Docket No. 23-08-01: Request by The Honorable Monica Stonier, State Representative, District 49

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office by September 15, 2023. 

Is an inclusive and culturally competent education permissible under, as well as consistent with the goals of, state and federal civil rights laws, including Washington’s Equal Education Opportunity Law, Wash. Rev. Code § 28A.642.010; its related prohibition on sex discrimination in public schools, Wash. Rev. Code § 28A.640.010; the education clause of the state constitution, Wash. Const. art. IX, § 1; the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1; Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d; and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a)?

Entire text of original request

 

 

Opinion Docket No. 23-04-02: Request by The Honorable Phil Fortunato, State Senator, District 31

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office by May 22, 2023. 

If a pawn broker receives an assault weapon as collateral for a loan, before or after the enactment of legislation banning assault weapons, is the pawn broker permitted to return the firearm to the owner?

Entire text of original request

 

 

 

Opinion Docket No. 22-03-01: Request by The Honorable Patty Kuderer, State Senator, District 48

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office by March 31, 2022. 

What legal authority does the State have to legislate and regulate rail worker occupational safety as it relates to the provisions of SB 5065?

Entire text of original request

​​

 

Opinion Docket No. 21-09-03 : Request by The Honorable Skyer Rude, State Representative, District 16

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office by October 15, 2021. 

 

SET ONE:

1. Do RCW 71.05.150 and RCW 71.05.153 establish a legal duty for peace officers? And would the decision to not respond pursuant to these provisions constitute a breach of a legal duty?

2. If a peace officer is not authorized to use physical force to conduct an investigatory detention where there is reasonable suspicion, but not probable cause as required by RCW 10.120.020(1), that the person is involved in criminal activity, then can the person lawfully evade or flee the officer attempting to conduct the investigation? In the absence of the circumstances delineated in RCW 10.120.020(1), under what authority, if any, could the officer pursue a fleeing suspect? Can the officer use physical force to stop or detain a fleeing suspect?

3. Does RCW 10.120.020(2)(a) require peace officers to leave the scene where there is a high likelihood of the use of physical force and where there is no threat of imminent harm and no reasonable suspicion of criminal activity? If a peace officer is required to leave a scene under such circumstances, would it be reasonable for a peace officer to not respond to a scene because information known to the peace officer indicates that there is a high likelihood of the use of physical force and that there is no threat of imminent harm and no reasonable suspicion of criminal activity? Would the refusal to respond to such a scene breach a legal duty? And would that constitute an exception to the Public Duty Doctrine?

4. How should RCW 10.120.020(1)(b) be read together with RCW 9A.16.040?

5. How should RCW 10.120.020 be read in context of the Court's ruling in Graham v. Connor?

6. Is RCW 10.120.020 consistent with the Court's "objectively reasonable" standard in Graham v. Connor?

7. Is a peace officer's use of force lawful if it is consistent with the Court's ruling in Graham v. Connor but is not consistent with RCW 10.120.020?

 

SET TWO:

1. Do the restrictions on the acquisition and use of "firearms and ammunition of .50 caliber or greater" in RCW 10.116.040 apply only to pistols, rifles, and conventional ammunition typically measured by caliber? Put another way, does the same provision prohibit the acquisition and use of a firearm or conventional ammunition measuring at .50 inches or greater even if the particular firearm or conventional ammunition is not typically measured by caliber, including, for example, shotguns and shotgun slugs?

2. Does RCW 10.116.040 prohibit law enforcement agencies from acquiring and/or using any firearm with a barrel diameter of .50 inches or greater even if the device is being acquired and/or used for the purpose of deploying less lethal alternatives?

3. Does RCW 10.116.040 prohibit law enforcement agencies from acquiring and/or using less lethal alternatives (i.e. rubber bullets, beanbag rounds, tear gas rounds, flash bang rounds, baton rounds, and other less lethal projectiles) with a diameter of .50 inches or greater?

Entire text of original request

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​Opinion Docket No. 20-07-01 : Request by Lin-Marie Nacht, Chair, Commission on Judicial Conduct

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office by November 25, 2020.

Absent a constitutional amendment, can the CJC create a rule, consistent with Article IV §31, under the CJCRP to request the Washington Supreme Court to order the interim suspension of a judge or justice charged with or convicted of a felony or any judge or justice suffering from a mental, emotional, psychological, or physical disability that renders them unable to fulfill their judicial duties, and whose continued service would pose an immediate and substantial harm to the public or to the administration of justice?

Entire text of original request

 

 


Informal Opinion Requests:

Opinion Docket No. 24-07-01: Request by The Honorable Mike Padden, State Senator, District 4

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office.

1. Does RCW 48.30.110 prohibit insurance producers from contributing to candidates for the Office of the Insurance Commissioner?

2. Does RCW 48.30.110 prohibit those employed by an insurer from contributing to candidates for the Office of the Insurance Commissioner?

3. Does RCW 48.30.110 prohibit individual members of a fraternal benefit society from contributing to candidates for the Office of the Insurance Commissioner?

Entire text of original request

Opinion Docket No. 24-03-01: Request by The Honorable Curtis King, State Senator, District 14

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office.

Where a mobile food unit returns to its approved commissary after each day of service as described in an approved plan from one regulatory authority, may another regulatory authority require the mobile food unit to maintain a second commissary kitchen in that second regulatory authority’s jurisdiction?

Entire text of original request

 

 

Opinion Docket No. 24-03-01: Request by Jane Wall, executive Director, County Road Administration Board

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office.

1. If a county fails to adopt a road plan as required by RCW 36.81.130 prior to adopting a county road budget for the year beginning January 1, 2024, but then later adopts a road plan and provides that its effective date is retroactive to the date the county road budget was intended to go into effect (but after its adoption), does that render the 2024 county road budget void?

2. If the answer to the first question is yes:

a. What actions must the county take to have a lawful county road budget for year 2024?

b. Can the county use county road funds to pay for any expenses such as wages, benefits, goods and services, contractor payments, etc., incurred between January 1, 2024, and the date the county adopts a lawful county road budget?

c. Are there any other legal issues caused by the county working without an adopted county road budget?

3. If a county adopts multiple budgets, including the county road budget, in a single resolution and one of the budgets is invalid, does that invalidate the county road budget absent severability language?

Entire text of original request

 

 

Opinion Docket No. 24-01-01: Request by The Honorable Tina Orwall, State Representative, District 33

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office.

Would the airport noise and air pollution mitigation program proposed by HB 2103/SB 5955(2024) comply with the state constitutional prohibition against the gift of public funds?

Entire text of original request

 

 

Opinion Docket No. 23-10-02: Request by The Honorable Brad Hawkins, State Senator, District 12

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office.

Does a city have councilmanic authority to use lodging taxes to repay revenue bonds for affordable housing projects within one-half mile of a transit station?

Entire text of original request

 

 

Opinion Docket No. 23-03-01: Request by The Honorable Sam Hunt, State Senator, District 22

The Attorney General’s Office seeks public input on the following opinion request. If you are interested in commenting on this request, you should notify the Attorney General’s Office by April 6, 2023. 

1. Do any of the following laws, in whole or in part, protect the non-residents from any potentially harmful actions by the owners, operators, or staff of the long-term care setting in which they live?

  • Chapter 70.129 RCW — Long-Term Care Resident Rights
  • Chapter 18.20 RCW — Assisted living Facilities; Chapter 388-78A WAC — Assisted Living Facilities Licensing Rules
  • Chapter 70.128 RCW — Adult Family Homes; Chapter 388-76 WAC — Adult Family Home Minimum Licensing Requirements
  • Chapter 59.18 RCW — Residential Landlord-Tenant Act
  • Chapter 59.12 RCW — Forcible Entry and Forcible and Unlawful Detainer
  • Chapter 74.34 RCW — Abuse of Vulnerable Adults

2. What other rights do non-residents who live in long-term care settings have against discharge and eviction?

Entire text of original request

 

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