&FICE OFTHE A’ITORNEY GENERAL• FTEXAB
AUSTIN
Hon. Joe IWneahik, Commlaeloner
Bureau or Labor Statlatlos
Auetln, Tesae
Dear 8lrt
nature and
be made., /i\ 1, ,v
rriae rfth your
t4nngdesoribed
1999,ia a
deted September 7, 1939,
, above quoted, merely
or September 6, 1939,
in, pertainin(Jto the
II&vain, were statebusiness pUrpoee8,
aocordanowwlth the provision Oz Senate
lar ~e88ion, 45th bgiektture. ‘fhe QU~S-
not the meeting to be attended by eueh
*oonvention* wee not submitted by you
at that tlme* henae your inquiry of %vember 15, 2939,
quoted above.
Prseumably, your request is prompted by the provl-
eione oi the rlder to the departmental appropriation bill,
or the 48th L@elature, whloh reeds:
“No moniee herein appropriated shall ever
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428
Ron. Joe Kunsabik, Comml~sion8r, Page 2
be spent to pay the traveling expense of any
State employee to any type of convention with-
in the State or without the State."
AeoonWtgly, our answer to the question pro-
pounded by you Is in the light of suah enaotment.
The meeting attended by kr. Swain, the subject
matter or your Inquiry, had the rollowlng oharaoterfstics:
(1) It was th annual meeting of the National
Boxlng Assooiation and the Wational Wm& l~ngAssociatiou,
% er 11, 12 and
and oonvened in WashIngton, p. C., Septein
13, 19%; (2) it was attauQ8Qby the membem and repmsenta-
tives or these assooldtlons; (3) the a sociations were
existing organizations prior to the mee
*\ lng; (4) such a
meetingwas annually held by the asaoolatfon; (5) the
purposes of the neeting were ocnmnonto the members of the
assooiations; (6) ssssldns and seminars wem helQ, at
which xnattera oowuonto the associations and to the mem-
bers thereof, nem QlscusseQ) (71 proposals brought before
the meeting worn subjeot to being voted upon by the mpm-
sedatives In~attendanae.
The popular meaning of the word voonvention* via
that, generally, or a meeting or members or representatives
or delegates of.private orga&zations,.pa~les, olubs;
sooietles, assoulations, and the like, for the aaocmplish-
nmnt or objeotlves oonmon to all, Indeed, Webster's New
International Dictionary defines ~a *oonventlon" to be:
"A body or assembly of persons meeting
for 80~18oommon purpos19.n
Likewise, "a 'oonvention' is an organized body
of delegates or representatives assembled for some speai-
ried purp0se.i.. The word *oonventlon* as employed in
thla country in coauaonusage in statutes, political history,
and oiril government, means and laplies a representative
gathering or ,assemblage...." Stete vs. Giitord, 126 Pao.
1060, 1064.
429
Eon. Joe Kunschlk, Commlssloner, Page 3
WIthout doubt, in our opinion, the annual
n!,eetlngof the national Boxing Asswiation an8 the
%tional Treatllng Uaoelatlon, whloh convened in
Washington, D.,C., September 11, 12 ant¶ 13, 1939 was
a naonvention*, withia the punier or the legislative
snsotment set out above. It matters not ii suoh snnusl
gathering was aalled a meeting, or a oonferenoe, or an
asserably,or words or like wage, the distlngulshfng
aharaot8ristios of a ?lonventionw wera present and oon-
alusively resolve the question.
very truly yours