TIXEATI-ORNIWGENIWAL OF TEXAS July 20, 1956 Hon., Tom Raavley t Opinion l&t,. S-209 Secrrtary of State Austin, Texas Rc: Payment of-travel expense and per diem to a State em- ployee in charge of the opera- tion of IBM machines while attehding a tratiing school in Dear Sir: the operation of such machines. In your letter of Ju&e 26, 1956, pou requestedan opinion from this office based on the following set of facts: “During July 23 through 27 of this year, the,I.B.I& Com- pany will conduct a training school at its Dallas offices to instruct operators of their accounting machine No. 402. This is the key rnakhihe in the tab room or .I.E.M Section of this offike. &carries a large volume of our work. Some of the jobb’performed with tts use tic?Iude’ posting franchise ledgers, running securities lidenses, preparation of money sheets and deposit sheets, ‘running notary commissions; preparation of‘ delinquent tax notices and remittantie sIips, etc. “This is a complicated machine and it is arranged to do different jobs through the device of a control panel where wiring connections are’changed. A complete knowledge of the intricacies of the machine is necessary for proper rewiringwhich enables the machine to perform different operations. “At the present time, Mr. Gordon Doty Is in dharge of this section of our office. Mr. Doty was transferred from his previous position as an auditor in the Fran- chise Tax Division. He has a very limited knowledge of the technicalities of these machines. He is interested and has put forth a splendid effort. When rewiring prob- lems arise, he calls on Mr, Steve Bishop of the I.B.M. Company, but this ts sometimes a slow way to handle needs. There is only so much of this burden that we can place upon the I.B.M. personnel.” your letter closed by asking if this person could be paid his travel expense and per diem while attending this training school. , - Hon. Tom Reavley. page 2 (s-209) Section 9a and lob of Article VI of the General Appropriation Bill of the 54th Legislature requires that all travel be for official state business. Considering, the situation as described by you, it is evident that the training given at this five-day school will be directly and sub- stantially used by the employee to’facilitate the operation of the I.B.M. machine in a more efficient manner. It will be poseible to handle the large work load of the entire off&e in a more advantageous manner without the delay and expenae caused by requesting the assistance of the local I.B.M. Company during rewiring operations. In reaching our conclusion, we have carefully considered Attorney General’s Opinions O-4387 (1942), O-1195 (1939), R-2128 (1950), O-5981 (1944). O-4167 (1941), O-4267 (1942) and 2993 (1933). It is our opinion that the facts in the present situation establish that the relation- ship between the purpose of the trip and the accomplishment of the functions of government entrusted to the employee is reasonable, sub- stantial and direct. Therefore, the employee may be allowed his travel expense and per diem. SUMMARY Payment of travel expense and per diem to-a State employee in charge of the operation of I.B.M. machines while attend&g a training school in the operation of such machines is authorined. APPROVED: Yours very truly, J. C. Davis, Jr. JOHN BEN SI-IEPPERD County Affairs Division Attorney General W. V. Geppert Reviewer By6Rc&$ &ti J. Arthur Sandlin Philip Sanders Reviewer Assistant John Reeves Reviewer Davis Grant First Assistant John Ban Shepperd Attorney General 1