Hon. Paul H. Brown Fire Insurance Commissioner Board of Insurance Commissioners 

### 815Brazos Austin, Texas Opinion No. 

### V-1425 Re: Numberof persons for whom travel expense funds have been appropriated to attend out-of-State meetings of the National Association of Dear Sir: Insurance Commissioners.

Youhave requested the opinion of this office on the question of the legality of paying the expenses of more than three persons from current appropriations to the Insurance Department incurred while attending out-of-State meetings of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

The Insurance Department has several travel ;;ppszhap roprlations (H.B. 

### 426 Acts 52ndLeg., R.S. h

. 

### [99$p. 1228, at p. 1360 et seq.). The problem or decis onwhenpersonnel of the Insurance Department are traveling out of the State isthe appllcabib ity of the following general limitation on oti+of-State travel:

“d. Notraveling expenses shall be incurred by any employee of any of the departments, or other agencies of the government, outside of the boundaries of the State of Texas, except for State business andno such expenses shall be paid from State appropriations or out of any local or auxiliary funds by the State Comptroller to an employee of any agency of the government until andunless awritten statement, signed by the Attorney General, advising that the purpose of the proposed trip in his opinion, is for said Eiia;e business purposes;

. . . J.nno e n shall more than three (31 oersons from any.--

Hon. Paul H. Brown, page 2 (V-1425)

m (1) deoartment be aon o ed for travel to anv one (1) conie&ion or meeting of a similar nature.” Sec.

;: 

### 1"36. ‘1 Art. III, H.B. 426, supra, at

(Emphasis added.) You state that the objects of the Association, and of their meetings, are:

nn 0e to promote uniformity in legislation affecting insurance; to encourage uniformity In departmental rulings under the insurance laws of the several states; to disseminate information of.value to insurance supervisory officials in the performance of their duties and to establish ways and means of fully protecting the interests of insurance policyholders of the various states, territories and insular possessions of the United States.” Weassume, of course, that the proposed attendance of meetings of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners is in furtherance of State business. Therefore, the problem is limited to &etk this is a “convention or meeting of a similar nature.” If it is, the Legislature has appropriated travel expense moneyfor only three persons. Att’y Gen. Op. 

### v-1376 (192).

Themeetings you propose to attend are not

“conventions” under the decisions of this office. It has been repeatedly held that the word llconvention’l as used by the Legislature in like appropriation bill limitation provisions refers to “a meeting of members or delegates of a private organization, party, club, society, or the like, for the accomplishment of some commonobject

.‘I 

### 2664 (1940). Attly Gen. Ops. 

### O-1737 (1939)and OFollowing the above decisions of this office holding 19meetlngscalled by agencies of government for the purpose of accompli hing the functions of government imposed upon them”9 not to be “conventions,” attendance of a meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners is not attendance of a “converition.n

JJ Opinion 

### O-1737 (1939)Hon. Paul H. Brown, page 

### 3 (V-1425)

Thus, the question is narrowed to a determination of whether the meeting in question is a llmeetlng of a similar nature.”

These words standing alone are not free from ambiguity, but it is obvious that the Legislature intended the words “meeting of a similar nature” ~toenlarge the restriction which would have been imposed if only the single word “convention” hadbeen used. It seems apparent that the Legislature sought expressly to embrace at least those meetings which might themselves have been considered to be “convenition were it not for the prior decisions of this office above cited. In other words, webelieve the legislative intent In adding this phrase was to embrace meetings of organizations, whether adjuncts of governmental agencies or not, which are conducted in the form, manner, andmethod ascribed to %onventions” in commonparlance.

Webster’s NewInternational Dictionary (2nd Ed. 

### 1938)defines “similar” as follows:

“1

. Nearly corresponding; resembling in manyrespects j somewhatlike, having a general likeness.” In 

### 39Words and Phrases (Perm. Ed.) 302-306, several cases are cited construing the word U1similar’8 appearing in contracts, wills, ordinances, and statutes, the general tenor of which is to accord the commonly accepted meaning to the term as distinguished from the term “identical.” These cases point out that unless the context indicates a more restricted meaning of the word “similar,” the generally accepted meaning as commonlyused is the one that should be adopted.

The context here requires, as has been pointed out above, that ~~conventions” and “meetings of a similar nature” be held not to be identical. Therefore, weare of the opinion that this added phrase was intended at least to cover formal meetings of organized groups that meet only for discussion, exchange of ideas, and dissemination of information. Wecannot attempt to lay down a categorical definition as to what are “meetings of a similar nature,‘I since wecannot foresee every character of gathering which maybe brought into question andwe cannot knowwhat fact situation maybe presented in the future. Weare of the opinion, however, that meetings_ -

Hon. Paul H. Brown, page 4 (v-1425)

of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners are within the restriction, and travel expenses are appropriated for the travel of a maximumof three persons from the Insurance Department to any one of such meetings. SUMMARY

Meetings of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners are not conventions .within the restrictions limiting out-of-State travel expense appropriations to three persons from one department to a "convention or meeting of a similar nature" (Sec. 12(d), Art. III, H.B, 426 Acts 52nd Lege 1436j, R-S. 1951 ch. 499, p. 1238, at pO but they'are "meetings of a similar nature'" j andthere is a travel expense appropriation for a maximumof three persons from the Insurance Department to any of such meetings. APPROVED: C. K. Richards Trial Gc

Appellate Division E. Jacobson Reviewing Assistant Charles D. Mathews First Assistant EWT:wb Yours very truly, PRICED,ANIEL Attorney General

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