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