§ 36-15-1 — Duties Generally

The Attorney General shall keep his or her office at the capital city and perform the following duties:
(1)a. He or she shall give his or her opinion in writing, or otherwise, on any question of law connected with the interests of the state or with the duties of any of the departments, when required by the Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, Superintendent of Education, Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, Director of Finance, Comptroller, State Health Officer, Public Service Commissioners, Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources, or the Commissioner of the Department of Revenue or any other officer or department of the state when it is made, by law, his or her duty so to do, and he or she shall also give his or her opinion to the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of either house, when required, upon any matter under the consideration of the committee.
b. The Attorney General shall give his or her opinion, in writing or otherwise, as to any question of law connected with the duties of the following county or city officers when requested so to do in writing: Judge of probate, clerk of the circuit court, sheriff, city and county boards of education, county commission, register of the circuit court, tax collector, tax assessor, mayor or chief executive officer of any incorporated municipality, city council or like governing body of any incorporated municipality, or any other officer required to collect, disburse, handle, or account for public funds.
c. Any officer or governing body of a municipality or county or officer or governing body of any other elected or appointed body shall submit with the request for an opinion a resolution adopted by the governing body setting forth the facts showing the nature and character of the question which makes the advice or opinion sought necessary to the present performance of some official act that the officer or governing body must perform.
d. An officer or governing body shall not submit to the Attorney General moot, private, or personal questions in which the state, county, or public is not materially or primarily interested or questions that are subject to ongoing litigation. Any officer shall submit, with the request for an opinion, a writing setting forth the facts showing the nature and character of the question which makes the advice sought necessary to present performance of some official act that the officer must perform.
(2) He or she shall attend, on the part of the state, to all criminal cases pending in the Supreme Court or Court of Criminal Appeals, and to all civil actions in which the state is a party in the Supreme Court or Court of Civil Appeals. He or she shall also attend to all cases other than criminal that may be pending in the courts of this state, in which the state may be in any manner concerned, and shall appear in the courts of other states or of the United States, in any case in which the state may be interested in the result.
(3) He or she shall post on the Internet searchable, electronic copies of the written official opinions rendered by him or her pursuant to subdivision (1). On a timely basis, he or she shall also send electronic copies of the opinions to any public official who has asked to receive them and who has provided a working e-mail address for that purpose.
(4) He or she shall, in the month of October of the last year of his or her term of office, compile a report, which shall include suggestions for the suppression of crime and the improvement of the criminal administration as he or she may deem proper. Such report shall also contain a statement of the number of criminal cases disposed of in the entire state for the past four years, as shown by reports of district attorneys; and, taking each character of cases separately, it shall show the number disposed of in each judicial circuit and in each criminal court or other court or territory having a separate district attorney, the number of convictions, the number of acquittals, the number of nolle prosequis entered, the number of cases which were abated or otherwise disposed of, the number of sentences to death, the number of sentences to the Department of Corrections, the number of other sentences, including fines imposed, and the totals under each head above mentioned. One copy of the report shall be retained in the permanent files of the office of the Attorney General, and one copy of the report shall be transmitted to the Governor, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, and the Secretary of the Senate, and two copies of the report shall be transmitted to the Department of Archives and History. The expense of printing and binding all of the reports provided for in this section shall be paid by the state in the same manner as is now or hereafter may be provided for printing and binding for the state.
(5) He or she shall keep and preserve, with proper indexes thereto, copies of all his or her official opinions and correspondence.
(6) He or she shall keep, with proper index thereto, a docket of all civil actions and claims in which the state is in any manner concerned and to which he or she is required to give attention, showing the names and addresses of the parties, the nature and amount of the action or claim, when and in what court action was brought, and steps taken therein, and the final determination and result thereof, and, as to claims for collection, showing also when and from whom the claims were received and the name and address of any agent or attorney to whom sent for collection and the date thereof and, in all cases, the amount and date of each collection, the amount of commissions or other expenses deducted, if any, the net amount collected, when and to whom paid over, and the receipt of the officer therefor.
(7) At such time as the Attorney General deems appropriate, the Attorney General may carefully examine all of the general statutes now in force, or which hereafter may be enacted by the Legislature from time to time, as to their clarity and constitutional validity.
(8) At such time as the Attorney General deems appropriate, the Attorney General may make a report in writing to the Governor and to the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives and of the Senate, pointing out the laws or parts of laws of Alabama which have been held invalid by courts of last resort since the last session of the Legislature, and also making suggestions as to inaccuracies, inadvertences, mistakes, and omissions in statutes, which, in his or her opinion, should be corrected.
(9) He or she may, when requested to do so by the chief executive authority of any municipality in the State of Alabama, represent the municipality before the appellate courts of this state in any case appealed to such courts involving the constitutionality of a municipal ordinance.
(10) When extradition papers are presented to the Governor by the executive authority of another state seeking to extradite a person from Alabama, or by the proper authority of the State of Alabama seeking to extradite a person from another state, the extradition papers shall be submitted to the Attorney General for examination and shall be approved by him or her both as to form and legality before the papers are acted upon by the Governor, and, when requested so to do by the Governor, the Attorney General shall advise him or her as to his or her action thereon.
(11) When requested so to do by the Governor, the Attorney General shall examine all bills, resolutions, and other documents submitted by the Legislature to the Governor for his or her consideration under Section 125 of the constitution, and advise him or her as to his or her action thereon.
(12) The duties imposed by this section upon the Attorney General and his or her assistants shall be performed by the Attorney General personally or by his or her assistants under his or her supervision, direction, and control.
(13) Any statute to the contrary notwithstanding, no attorney shall represent the State of Alabama, or any agency, department, or instrumentality of the state in any litigation in any court or tribunal unless the attorney has been appointed as a deputy attorney general or assistant attorney general. Nothing in this section shall prevent the Governor from employing counsel pursuant to Section 36-13-2.

Legislative History

(Code 1852, §72; Code 1867, §108; Code 1876, §109; Code 1886, §127; Code 1896, §2028; Code 1907, §635; Code 1923, §853; Acts 1939, No. 50, p. 57, §1; Code 1940, T. 55, §228; Acts 1949, No. 475, p. 693, §§1, 2; Acts 1951, No. 398, p. 719, §1; Acts 1995, No. 95-770, p. 1819, §1; Act 2010-369, p. 610, §1; Act 2010-695, p. 1684, §1; Act 2011-574, p. 1219, §1.)