Opinions
About the AGO > Service Divisions

Opinions

As chief law officer of the state, the Ohio Attorney General provides written opinions on legal questions at the request of designated public officials on issues arising in the course of their duties.  The Attorney General’s Office does not prepare opinions for private citizens. The Opinions Section researches, writes, and prepares for issuance and publication all formal opinions of the Attorney General. For more details about the formal opinions process, please visit the Opinions FAQs.

Opinions prior to 1993 can be found under the Opinions Archive.

The Opinions Section also maintains a listing of previous AG Opinions that have been subsequently overruled.

The Opinions Section can be reached:

Search for Opinions

Recent Opinions

2024-002

Requested by: Knox County Prosecuting Attorney
A board of township trustees lacks authority to establish a death benefit payable directly from township funds to the family of a township employee who dies while so employed.

2024-001

Requested by: Holmes County Prosecuting Attorney
If dogs under the age of eight weeks old are sold directly to the public, R.C. 955.50(A) does not apply. However, if dogs under the age of eight weeks old are sold for the purpose of being resold or placed into commerce, R.C. 955.50(A) does apply. Whether this statute applies to high volume dog breeders depends on to whom and for what purpose the dogs are sold. Finally, whether there is any payment made is irrelevant to the analysis because it is not in the statute.

2023-009

Requested by: Geauga County Prosecuting Attorney
The duties of the county records commission, county microfilming board, and county recorder acting as chief administrator of the county microfilming board cannot be delegated to the board of county commissioners. Because the duties of the county records commission and the county microfilming board cannot be delegated, they may only be transferred pursuant to the procedure outlined in R.C. 307.847. There is no explicit or implicit authority in the Revised Code for the county microfilming board to contract for services with its own county’s board of county commissioners; instead, the county microfilming board is statutorily required to provide these services to the board of county commissioners.

2023-008

Requested by: Licking County Prosecuting Attorney
The county dog warden has no mandatory duty to accept and impound unregistered dogs voluntarily brought to the county-operated dog shelter by a non-owner. The county dog warden has the discretion to accept and impound registered or unregistered dogs voluntarily brought to the county-operated dog shelter by a non-owner.

2023-007

Requested by: Scioto County Prosecuting Attorney
Subject to approval by the court of common pleas, the county sheriff is authorized to promulgate rules and policies to deny an arrestee admission to the county jail when the jail physician determines that off-site treatment is required as a matter of medical necessity, and the medical costs of an arrestee denied admission to the county jail are borne by the custodial law-enforcement agency. If an arrestee is denied admission to the county jail based on medical necessity, custody remains with the outside law-enforcement officer and that officer is responsible for transporting and guarding the arrestee at the off-site medical facility.