&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 t4nng desoribed 

### 1999,iaa
deted September 7, 1939,

, above quoted,merely or September 6, 1939, in, pertainin(J

to the II&vain, were 

### state business pUrpoee8, aocordanowwlth the provision Oz Senate lar ~e88ion, 45th bgiektture. ‘fhe QU~Snot the meeting to be attendedby eueh at that tlme* *oonvention*wee not submittedby you

henae your inquiry of %vember 15, 2939, quoted above.

Prseumably, your request is prompted by the provleione oi the rlder to the departmental appropriationbill, or the 48th L@elature, whloh reeds:

“No moniee herein appropriated shall ever

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Ron. Joe Kunsabik, Comml~sion8r,Page 2

be spent to pay the traveling expense of any State employee to any type of conventionwithin the State or without the State." AeoonWtgly, our answer to the question propounded 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 annualmeeting of the National BoxlngAssooiation and the WationalWm& l~ngAssociatiou, % and oonvened in WashIngton, p. C., Septein er 11, 12 and 13, 19%; (2) it was attauQ8Q by the membem and repmsentatives or these assooldtlons; (3) the a sociationswere existing organizationsprior to the mee lng; (4) such a *\ meetingwas annuallyheld by the asaoolatfon; (5) the purposes of the neeting were ocnmnon to the membersof the assooiations; (6) ssssldns and seminarswem helQ, at which xnatteraoowuonto the associations and to themembers thereof,nem QlscusseQ) (71proposals brought before the meeting worn subjeot to being voted upon by the mpmsedatives In~attendanae.

The popular meaning of theword voonvention*via that, generally, 

### or a meeting 

### ormembers or representatives or delegates of.private orga&zations,.pa~les, olubs; sooietles,assoulations,and the like, for the aaocmplishnmnt or objeotlves oonmon to all, Indeed, Webster's New InternationalDictionary defines ~a*oonventlon" to be:

"A body or assembly of personsmeeting for 80~18

oommon purpos19.n Likewise, "a 'oonvention'is an organized body of delegates or representativesassembled for some speai**ried** purp0se.i.. The word *oonventlon*as employed in thla country in coauaon usage in statutes,political history, and oiril government,means and laplies a representative gathering or ,assemblage...."Stete vs. Giitord, 126 Pao. 1060, 1064.

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Eon. Joe Kunschlk, Commlssloner, Page 3

WIthout doubt, in our opinion, the annual n!,eetlng

of the national Boxing Asswiation an8 the %tional TreatllngUaoelatlon, 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 gatheringwas aalled a meeting, or a oonferenoe, or an asserably,

or words or like wage, the distlngulshfng aharaot8ristiosof a ?lonventionwwera present and oonalusively resolve the question. very **truly** yours