North Dakota AG Opinions, 1958

OPINION 58-156 April 22, 1958 (OPINION) RESIDENCE RE: Poor Relief - Qualifications This is in reply to your letter of April 17, 1958, in regard to residence for poor relief purposes. You state the pertinent facts as follows: (1) Family "x" resided in Walsh County and received welfare assistance on March 1, 1956. They received no assistance from Walsh County after that date. (2) On April 1, 1957, the husband and head of household moved to Drayton, Pembina County, and commenced working there. The wife and children followed him to Drayton a few days after he went to w

OPINION 58-82 April 18, 1958 (OPINION) COURTS RE: County - Furnishing or Probate Forms Mandatory Pursuant to your letter request of April 10, 1958, please be advised that it is the opinion of the attorney general's office that it is mandatory for the county judge to furnish blank probate forms, at the expense of the county, for use in estate proceedings in his court if, in his discretion, he believes such forms to be necessary for the making of proper records in his office or for efficiently transacting the business of his office. LESLIE R. BURGUM Attorney General

OPINION 58-186 April 18, 1958 (OPINION) TAXATION RE: Abatement - Application by Lessee This is in reply to your letter of March 25, 1958, requesting an opinion on the question of whether our statutes authorize a lessee to apply for and be granted an abatement of a certain percentage of a general real estate tax levied against the real estate owned by the lessor but which taxes the lessee is obligated under the lease to pay for the lessor-owner. The property in question consists of two pieces of business property in Fargo, which are used for motion picture theaters by the Amer

OPINION 58-70 April 10, 1958 (OPINION) COUNTY COMMISSIONERS RE: Authority to Sell Merchandise at Courthouse This is an answer to your letter of April 7, 1958, requesting the opinion of this office on several questions relating to the authority of the county commissioners and the county auditor to purchase and sell atlases. Your questions appear as follows: 1. Would it be legal for the commissioners of the county to purchase such atlases and resell them through the office of the county auditor at a profit to the county? 2. Would it be permissible for the county to buy the a

OPINION 58-69 April 8, 1958 (OPINION) COUNTY COMMISSIONERS RE: Authority to Provide Electricity for Courthouse We have your letter of April 1, 1958, in which you requested an opinion on whether the county may legally build and operate its own transmission lines to the city limits for the purpose of purchasing electricity from a rural electric cooperative. We assume that the electricity would be purchased for the use of the county, that the county's electricity needs are at present fulfilled by the public utility which has the franchise for the city, and that the rural electri

OPINION 58-136 April 2, 1958 (OPINION) NURSING RE: Scholarships - Fulfilling Requirements This is an answer to your request of March 27, 1958, relative to the question of whether a nurse receiving a scholarship under chapter 43-12 of the 1957 Supplement to the N.D.R.C. of 1943 may fulfill her condition of scholarship as provided in sections 43-1228 and 43-1231 of the 1957 Supplement to the N.D.R.C. of 1943 by nursing in a veterans' hospital in North Dakota for the period of one year. Subsection 6 of section 43-1228 of the 1957 Supplement to the N.D.R.C. of 1943 states: "* * *I

OPINION 58-213 April 1, 1958 (OPINION) TOWNSHIPS RE: Authority to Pay for Electrical Service in Unincorporated Villag This is an answer to your request of March 19, 1958, relative to whether a board of township supervisors has authority to pay for the cost of electricity used by an unincorporated village in lighting the street lights. It is understood that payments made would be taken out of the township funds. It is also asked whether it would be permissible to pay for the cost of this electricity from contributions made by residents of the unincorporated village. It is ge

OPINION 58-110 April 1, 1958 (OPINION) HIGHWAY PATROL RE: Duties - Enforcement of City Ordinances We have your request for an opinion dated March 28, 1958. In it you state that you have had requests from municipalities to charge traffic offenders under city ordinance rather than state law in cases where highway patrolmen are acting within city limits and observe traffic violations therein. The powers of the Highway Patrol are prescribed by section 39-0309 of the 1957 Supplement to the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943. Subsection 1 provides that a patrolman has the power of a

OPINION 58-9 March 31, 1958 (OPINION) ADOPTION RE: Residence Requirements We have your letter of March 26, 1958, and we have noted its request for an opinion of whether a man who moved into North Dakota from Wisconsin in October of 1957, and who subsequently in December of 1957, brought his family and a child to be adopted to live with him in North Dakota, is now qualified under North Dakota law as a resident for the purpose of petitioning the court for adoption of the child. We assume from your letter that the individual referred to is married and that his wife has been livi

OPINION 58-189 March 24, 1958 (OPINION) TAXATION RE: Abatement - County Commissioners - Authority On March 15, 1957, it was requested of this office that an opinion be issued on the following question: Does section 57-2020 of the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943 authorize a board of county commissioners to abate, adjust, or refund property taxes on grounds other than the grounds for abatement and refunds specified in sections 57-2303, 57-2304, 57-2307, or 57-2904 of the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943? The opinion requested has not been issued as of this date because of a c

OPINION 58-149 March 21, 1958 (OPINION) RECORDS RE: Tax Department - Disclosure of Files Pursuant to your letter request of March 21, 1958, please be advised that it is the opinion of the Attorney General that section 57-3857 of the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943 does not prohibit disclosure by the Tax Commissioner of the fact that his office has no record of a particular person having filed an income tax return. The above referred to section provides that the commissioner "shall not divulge nor make known, in any manner, the amount of income, or any particulars set forth or

OPINION 58-46 March 10, 1958 (OPINION) COMPETITIVE BIDS RE: Preference - Residence We have received your request for an opinion dated March 6, 1958. You state your board advertised for bids on furniture and equipment for a new building at the Mayville Teachers College. The low bidder was Remington-Rand of Minneapolis, Minnesota, but they were not two percent lower than the next lowest North Dakota bidder. This bid and quotations came from the Minneapolis office. Your question is, can Remington-Rand, under the circumstances, be considered a North Dakota bidder? Section 44-0

OPINION 58-113 March 10, 1958 (OPINION) INSTITUTIONS RE: Residence - Reciprocal Agreement We have received your letter of March 8, 1958, with reference to residence. The facts are as follows: Mr. and Mrs. Paul White of Mountrail County, North Dakota, in July or August of 1957 moved to the State of Washington. On January 10, 1958, Mrs. White was committed to the Western State Hospital in Olympia, Washington, as a nonresident person. The above-mentioned hospital is a state owned and operated institution for the mentally ill. Mr. A.L. Whitmore, County Judge of Mountrail C

OPINION 58-51 March 7, 1958 (OPINION) COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS RE: Distribution of Net Proceeds - Who Votes Your letter of March 4, 1958, has been received in this office. In your letter you request our opinion of the interpretation of subsection 2(a) of section 10-1533 of the 1957 Supplement to the N.D.R.C of 1943. This subsection reads as follows: "The remainder of the total proceeds are net proceeds and shall be distributed and paid as follows: a. An amount not to exceed five percent thereof may be set aside as an educational fund to be used in teaching or promoting c

OPINION 58-64 February 27, 1958 (OPINION) COUNTIES RE: Funds - Use for Civil Defense We have received your request of February 6, 1958, for an opinion of the availability of county funds for civil defense purposes. Pursuant thereto, we submit the following conclusions: Chapter 37-17 of the 1957 Supplement to the N.D.R.C. of 1943 for the purpose of implementing a civil defense program establishes a state civil defense council which is empowered under section 37-1703, subsection 3, subdivision c "To require and direct the cooperation and assistance of the state and local governme

OPINION 58-109 February 27, 1958 (OPINION) HIGHWAY COMMISSIONER RE: Revocation of Driver's License is Not a Penalty I wish to acknowledge receipt of your letter of February 19, 1958, requesting an opinion construing certain provisions of the accident reporting law. Chapter 253 of the 1955 Session Laws has been codified into the 1957 Supplement to the North Dakota Revised Code of 1943 and is found in section 39-0804 through section 39-0817. In enacting Chapter 253 of the 1955 Session Laws, the Legislature specifically provided that this act shall be construed as being a part o

OPINION 58-132 February 13, 1958 (OPINION) MOTOR VEHICLES RE: Driver's License Required of Servicemen In regard to your request for an opinion of January 31, 1958, as to whether or not a serviceman stationed in the United States Military Service in North Dakota is obligated to acquire a North Dakota driver's license while operating a private vehicle, it is the opinion of this office that such serviceman must acquire a driver's license as would any other non-resident in similar circumstances. LESLIE R. BURGUM Attorney General

OPINION 58-129 February 11, 1958 (OPINION) LICENSE FEES RE: Aircraft We have received your letter of February 3, 1958, in which you requested an opinion of whether the city of Wimbledon, North Dakota, should make its claim for license fees to the County of Stutsman in which the real property constituting its airport is located, or to the County of Barnes in which the city is located. Such an opinion involves a construction of section 2-0511 of the 1957 Supplement to the N.D.R.C. of 1943 which in part reads: "* * *The above registration fee shall be in lieu of personal proper

OPINION 58-190 February 10, 1958 (OPINION) TAXATION RE: Assessment of Equipment - Location This is in reply to your letter of January 31, 1958, asking where the road building equipment of a contractor should be assessed under the facts summarized from your letter as follows: The party in question is a road building contractor who owns a very large assortment of road machinery which he moves to wherever he has obtained a contract. It appears that in late winter or early spring of 1957 this contractor, whose permanent residence and home is in Lakota in Nelson County, moved his

OPINION 58-94 February 7, 1958 (OPINION) EDUCATION RE: Student Loans - Yearly Limitation We have received your letter dated February 5, 1958, with reference to the above statute. A certain applicant for a student loan has made application for more than $500.00 in one calendar year on the theory that when the law refers to one year it means one school year and thus a student attending summer school as well as the regular nine-month school term may be entitled to a loan in excess of $500.00 in any one calendar year. Section 2 of Chapter 150 of the 1957 Session Laws reads as foll

OPINION 58-177 February 7, 1958 (OPINION) SCHOOL DISTRICTS RE: Transportation of Students - Schedule of Fees We have received your letter dated February 3, 1958, wherein you ask for our interpretation of section 15-5315 as amended by Chapter 146 of the 1957 Session Laws. Your question is whether a reorganized school district can legally pay an amount greater than that provided for in section 15-3404, or is such district bound by the schedule set forth in section 15-3404 of the 1957 Supplement. That part of the law which gives rise to your question is the following language use

OPINION 58-82 February 4, 1958 (OPINION) COURTS RE: Mileage for Jury This is in reply to your letter of January 30, 1958, requesting an opinion relative to the question of whether the county is obligated or justified in paying mileage twice for the same term of court when the court was recessed for a period of five days and the entire jury panel was excused during recess. Section 4 of chapter 200 of the 1955 S.L. states that the amount for mileage that a juror shall receive to be: "4. Traveling expenses, payable by the county, of seven and one-half cents per mile for each mile

OPINION 58-48 January 27, 1958 (OPINION) CONTRACTORS RE: Competitive Bidding - Preference We have received your letter and enclosures of January twenty-one in which you requested an opinion of the Attorney General on the residence of a domestic corporation for purposes of the statute giving preference to resident contractors in the construction of public buildings in a case where the domestic corporation is owned by a foreign corporation and a majority of the directors are residents of a foreign state. The statute in question is section 48-0206 of the 1953 Supplement to the N.

OPINION 58-130 January 27, 1958 (OPINION) LICENSES RE: Real Estate Salesman - Change of Residence We have received your letter of January 21, 1958, in which you requested an opinion of the license fees to be paid in the following described situations which I quote: "1. A real estate salesman, employed by a corporation, pays his fee of twenty dollars and receives his license as a real estate salesman. Later he becomes an actively engaged officer of the corporation, by which he was employed; now he requests an individual license as an officer of the corporation and the fee is

OPINION 58-192 January 24, 1958 (OPINION) TAXATION RE: Authority of Commissioner to Enter Reciprocal Agreement This is in reference to your letter of January 18, 1958, in which you requested an opinion on the question of whether a temporary reciprocal agreement between the tax commissioner of North Dakota and Minnesota is authorized under the North Dakota Income Tax Law. I find it appropriate to quote in full your letter which reads as follows: Chapter 360, S.L. 1957, enacted by the last Legislative Assembly, extensively amended section 57-3804 of our income tax law, which sec

OPINION 58-91 January 16, 1958 (OPINION) EDUCATION RE: Scholarships - Psychiatric - Personnel We have received your letter dated January 7, 1958, wherein you ask whether in our opinion House Bill 535, now appearing as Chapter 144 of the Laws of 1957, is applicable to students of clinical psychology. Chapter 144 of the Laws of 1957 reads as follows: Training of psychiatric personnel: Scholarships.) The North Dakota state medical center, under the direction of the state board of higher education, is hereby authorized and directed to provide or encourage means for providing f

OPINION 58-159 January 10, 1958 (OPINION) RURAL FIRE PROTECTION RE: Boundary Change - Voters' Requirements This is in reply to your request of January 6, 1958, for an opinion from this office. As we understand it a question has arisen regarding Chapter 165 of the 1957 Session Laws. The question is asked in reference to the section of this act which specifies the procedure in changing the boundaries of the rural fire protection district. Section 11 (a) of Chapter 165 of the 1957 Session Laws states: BOUNDARIES OF RURAL PROTECTION DISTRICT.) The boundaries of any rural fir