Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

OFFICE OF THE AITORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN Honorable Lee Bredy, Comaleeloner, Department of Banking Austin, Texas We beg to ackno 0r,your letter 0r October 0, 1940, ue r exemina- The dlrrlculty the cfflce. the plan of this DeDartment that lssloner, Decs,rtmentel Exeminer Loan %:Dervlsor will actively in the act,.;al exeminetlon of banks and building and. loan associations wtienever their suocrvisory d-ties will ?ernit. "Your attention Is dlrected to the ract that under the current apcroorlatlon bill there 1s a prcvislon for the poslticn o? 'bookkeeper and bond clerk'. This Tosltlon is new f?lled Hon. Lee Brady, Page 2 by a man who was rormerly an arRlctent examine*. It is our hope that by reorganizing hla work he Will be able, not onby to perform the duties of his Doeltlon, but will have some time avail- able for other work. It has been suggested thet he could beet be used ln assisting either the Deputy Commlreloner, Departmental Examiner, or Bulldlng and Loan Supervisor, when thore tmploy- tea art actively engaged In examinationa, by ptrronnlng a part of the detall work in con- nection with the examlnatlon. At times it may be desirable to have this employee assist the field examlntrs, his use being governed by the requirements of the tioment. Naturally, if thf6 employee 1s to be used as above suggested it will be necessary that he trevtl. Before put- ting this plah o? operation into effect I would llkt to eubmlt to you the following question: *Can the State pay the travel expenses of the bookkeeper and bond oltrk of this Depart- ment when he Ie traveling in, connection wlth the work as above outllntd?’ A rider attached to the Departmental Appropria- tlon Bill by the 45th Legislature (General Laws, 1937, p. 1491).provIded for transfer of employees, as follows: #It shall be the duty of the head of any department to transfer an employee of his orflce to any desk or place within the department ,when necessary to perform the duties of the department, snd for the.pro- per dlsoatch of buslnesf.’ This rider was omitted from the Appropriation El11 nassed by the 46th Legislature. We understand from your letter, however, that you do not ccntemolate a trensfer of an employee but rather you contemolate utll1zir.g R cart of the bookkeec- er sr,d bond clerk’s time to el3. the reg2ila.r excminerz ?n their work; that the ssl;?ry of the bookkeeper and bored Hon. Lee Brsdy - Page 3 clerk ~111 be paid as in the Approprlatlon Bill conttm- plated, but that hla travellng expenses alone are wlth- in the ecopt of your Inquiry. Ii the question of traveling txptneee of the bookkeeper-bond clerk were not Involved, the question propounded by you would undoubtedly be oontrolled by our holding in Oplnlon No. 04139, wherein It was aald: ‘The above-quoted rider on salary pay- ments (The 1937 Approprlatlon Bill) doe6 not prohibit a servlct or duty, but It requires that he actually perform the duties for which he 1s pald, If he perform6 the duties for which he 16 being paid, and Is able, in ad- dition thereto, to a6616t other ntot66ary activities of the department, we find noth- Ing in the bill which would prevent the dt- partmtnt heed from 60 directing. It is com- mon knowledge that the volume of work on various desks in the dirrtrtnt department6 fluctuates from time to tlmt, and we do not thlnk It wae the intention of the Ltglrlature to prohibit the head of a department from dl- rtcting an employee to perform additional du- ties or asslet with other work where the clr- cumetancee require. Thle 16 a eltuatlon to which the rule of reason must be applltd." Item 7 under the heading of Loan and Brokerage Division (1mDroperly placed, apparently,) of the current approprlatlon for the State Banking Department Is as fol- lows: “Traveling expense, Banking Depart- ment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19,000.00." In the very nature of this Item it contemslE.tes oayaent of the trsvel exgenet of eny person belonging tc the Banking Deoertment necessarily Incurred in trznrect- lng State bueiness connected with that department. We think the Appropriation Act ltselr should be liberally construed with a view to effectuating the purpose6 for which the Leglsleture thus made prevision. Much 1s left, of course, to the sound, offlclel discretion of the 98nk- Hon. Let Brady - page 4 Ing Commlesloner as to when such travel txpenet Ir necessary or proper. When, however, he determiner In the txtrclee of that sound, offlclal dlecrttlon that a given strvlce and the lncldental travel tx- penat connected therewith art ntcersary in the per- rof?nanct of hl6 official duties, and he la able and wllllng to make the necessary affidavit that the services have been perrozbtd, or more expllcltly, that the expense har been incurred In the prostou- tlon or State busInt8s by,tht employee or hi6 de- partnent, the lttm may properly be paid rrom the traveling expense approprleted in Item 7 above. The ImmtdIatt cast unmistakably rhows a moet commendable purpose on your part, as Baaklng Commlrsloner, to conserve the services of the em- ploytt6 now in the department, and to obtain the maxlmum strvlce from each, In the most economical method available. This purpose 16 not only commtnd- able but well within the splrlt of the law. Truetlng that this will have answered your lnqulry, we are Very truly your8 ATTORNEY GENERALOF TEXAS BY (6lgntd) Ocle Speer ASSiSte~nt 0 9-m AF:ROVEDNCA’1, 1940 Gersld C. Mann [s/ ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS