Ohio Attorney General Opinions: How to Find, Read and Cite Them

Short answer: Ohio attorney general opinions are formal written answers to legal questions. Only a short list of public officials can ask. The usual asker is a county prosecutor. The office does not answer private citizens, city officials or single lawmakers. Only a formal opinion counts. An informal letter, the office says, "should not be cited as an 'Attorney General opinion.'" Each formal opinion opens with a syllabus, a short summary of what it decides. The office also keeps a table of opinions that later ones overruled, meaning replaced as no longer the office's view.

TL;DR

• Formal or informal: a formal opinion is the attorney general's official view. An informal letter is an assistant's analysis. Do not cite it as an opinion.
• Who can ask: state officers and agencies, county prosecutors and township law directors. The legislature can ask by vote. City officials and single lawmakers cannot.
• The weight: the office says courts "usually give formal opinions careful consideration." The Ohio Supreme Court says they do not bind a court.
• Citing: the office states three citation forms, by year. Its own letters vary.
• Still good? Check the office's table of overruled opinions, and know what it skips.

Formal opinions and informal letters

A request can end two ways. The office first decides if a formal opinion is "the appropriate form of response." If not, it may decline. It may also answer by informal letter.

A formal opinion is "an official statement of the Attorney General's views on a legal question." A letter is not the same. It shows "the analysis of the Assistant Attorneys General who write them." You may find such a letter on a city website. Do not call it an opinion.

A formal opinion has limits. It cannot rule on whether a state or federal law breaks the constitution. It cannot touch a case already in court. It cannot settle a dispute over facts or a fight between private people.

Who can ask, and why prosecutors ask most

Three statutes set the list. They sit in the Ohio Revised Code, the state's statute book. Section 109.12 covers state officers, boards and commissions. Section 109.13 covers the General Assembly, which is the legislature. Either house can ask when it passes a resolution. Section 109.14 covers county prosecutors. It also covers law directors of townships with limited home rule, which is a type of township self-rule.

The office's FAQ names who is left out. That includes private citizens, federal officers and local employees. Single lawmakers are out too. Prosecutors and township law directors are the exceptions.

County officials get answers through a funnel. Section 309.09 makes the county prosecutor their legal adviser. A county board with a question goes to its prosecutor. The prosecutor can then ask the office. The office's list shows it. On its opinions page, 2026-002 to 2026-006 were each "Requested by" a county prosecuting attorney.

The office posts each request with a summary. Outsiders may send comments first.

How Ohio attorney general opinions are built

A formal opinion begins with a syllabus. Many have numbered paragraphs. A later one can overrule paragraph 1 and leave paragraph 2 alone.

The syllabus can also carry its own history. Opinion 2014-027 ends its syllabus with this note: "(1964 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 1499, p. 2-388, approved and followed.)" The first page tells you the office kept an older rule.

The office signs the opinion and sends it to the requester. It then prints it in a yearly book and posts it online. The online database covers 1993 on. By the office's count that is about 1,400. A separate archive holds 1846 to 1992, copied from the printed books. The office calls those copies "authentic and authoritative."

How to cite one

The office gives three forms, by year. "Op. Att'y Gen." is short for Opinion of the Attorney General. Add a page number when you point to one part. A "slip op." cite points to a page of the opinion as first issued, before it went into the yearly book.

Watch the office's own letters. Opinion 2026-003 writes "2015 Ohio Atty.Gen.Ops. No. 2015-036." Opinion 2014-027 uses the guide's style. When you cite, follow the guide.

How to tell if an opinion is still good

The office keeps a table of overruled opinions. The copy I read was marked updated September 10, 2025. A typical line says: "2012-016 syllabus, paragraph 1, overruled, on the basis of statutory amendment, by 2015-033." Other lines say "followed," "clarified" or "questioned."

The office states a limit in its FAQ. The table tracks opinions "overruled by subsequent opinions." It "does not include other factors, such as subsequent legislation and court decisions." So a clean line does not prove an old answer still stands.

The office also adds notes to some posted copies. The posted copy of 2012-016 opens with a note. It says paragraph 1 "was overruled on the basis of statutory amendment" by 2015-033. Texas keeps a similar list, which the Texas guide describes.

Do Ohio courts follow them?

Not by rule. The Ohio Supreme Court said so in a 2003 case, Van Dyke v. Public Employees Retirement Board, 99 Ohio St.3d 430. It wrote: "Attorney General opinions are not binding on courts; at best, they are persuasive authority." Persuasive means a court may give it weight.

The worker in that case had cited a 1972 opinion. The court held that her county board was not "equitably estopped from denying her request." Estoppel stops a party from going back on what it led someone to believe. I found no Ohio statute that shields an official who follows an opinion.

A real recent opinion: can a township buy a fire truck with road money?

On April 22, 2026, the office issued opinion 2026-003 to the Fayette County prosecutor. A township wanted to pay $100,000 down on a fire tanker truck. It planned to take $50,000 from its fire fund and $50,000 from its road fund. The road fund is made of motor fuel tax money.

The syllabus answers: "A township may not use revenue from the motor fuel excise tax to fund any portion of the purchase of a fire tanker truck for its fire department." The reason is the Ohio Constitution. It closely limits fuel-tax money to roads. The text says: "An indirect connection to highway maintenance is not enough." A township clerk can use this to keep fire buys out of the road fund. Read it on the office's site.

An older opinion that is still cited

That one cites opinion 2014-027, dated July 10, 2014. A township had asked if road money could buy land for a building to house road machinery. The answer was no. The 2014 text "approved and followed" a 1964 opinion that said the same. The office has a habit here. A newer answer says how it treats an old one.

Mistakes people make in Ohio

• Citing an informal letter as an opinion. The office says not to.
• Trusting the overruled table alone. It skips court decisions and most law changes.
• Copying the wrong citation form. The form depends on the year.
• Reading an answer as one holding. Check which paragraph a later one changed.

This guide is part of US Law Data: The Complete Guide. For how Ohio numbers its statutes and rules, see how to find and cite Ohio law. The national guide compares other states.

FAQ

Who can request an Ohio attorney general opinion? State officers, agencies and boards can. So can county prosecutors and law directors of limited home rule townships. Either house of the legislature can ask by resolution. The office does not answer private citizens or city officials.

What is the difference between a formal opinion and an informal letter? A formal opinion is the attorney general's official view. An informal letter is an assistant's analysis. The office says to cite only formal opinions.

Is an Ohio attorney general opinion binding? No. The state supreme court calls opinions persuasive at best. The office says courts usually take them seriously.

How do I search Ohio opinions? Use the office's search for 1993 on. Search by keyword or by number, such as 2013-001. An archive holds 1846 to 1992.

How do I cite an Ohio attorney general opinion? For 2000 and later, write "2006 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 2006-012." Earlier years use other forms, and the office publishes all three.

How do I know if an opinion was overruled? Check the office's table of overruled opinions. Then look for new laws and court decisions, which the table skips.

If your product shows an Ohio opinion beside the Revised Code section it interprets, the US primary law data API can supply both. Primary law means the official texts themselves. An API is a feed that lets software look them up.

Priyansh Khodiyar

Co-Founder & CTO

Priyansh leads engineering and AI at Vaquill AI: the pipelines that pull statutes, regulations and court rules from every US jurisdiction's official publisher, and the REST API, MCP server and open dataset that serve them.