Bill Text: GA SB343 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: State Accounting Office; designate as the Comptroller General; transfer the office

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 5-0)

Status: (Passed) 2012-07-01 - Effective Date [SB343 Detail]

Download: Georgia-2011-SB343-Introduced.html

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12 LC 28 5964-EC

Senate Bill 343

By: Senators Heath of the 31st, Hill of the 32nd, Miller of the 49th, Chance of the 16th and Jackson of the 24th

AS PASSED

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT

To amend Chapter 5B of Title 50 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the State Accounting Office, so as to designate the state accounting officer as the Comptroller General; to transfer the office, functions, duties, and responsibilities of the Comptroller General from the Commissioner of Insurance to the State Accounting Office; to provide for related matters; to amend Chapter 14 of Title 45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the Commissioner of Insurance, so as to conform such provisions to reflect the change in the transfer of the position and duties of the Comptroller General to the state accounting officer; to provide effective dates; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:

SECTION 1.

Chapter 5B of Title 50 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the State Accounting Office, is amended by designating the existing provisions as Article 1 and adding a new article to read as follows:

"ARTICLE 2

50-5B-20.

(a) There shall be in the office of the State Accounting Office the office of the Comptroller General of the State of Georgia. The state accounting officer shall be the Comptroller General.

(b) It shall be the duty of the Comptroller General:

(1) To keep an account showing the several appropriations authorized by law, the time when the same are drawn from the treasury, in whose favor they are drawn, and to what fund they are charged;

(2) To examine, check, and countersign all warrants upon the treasury drawn by the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives and to charge the amount thereof to the funds on which they may be respectively drawn prior to their being presented to the Office of the State Treasurer for payment;

(3) To audit all accounts against the state and to allow or reject the same before they are submitted to the Governor;

(4) To see that no draft or warrant shall be countersigned by him or her to be paid out of any appropriated fund after the fund has been exhausted; and, in such case, or in any case of illegal payments from the treasury upon warrants countersigned by the Comptroller General, the Comptroller General and the state treasurer with all their securities shall be jointly and severally liable upon their several bonds for the repayment of such amounts with all expenses of prosecution to the state;

(5) To receive and keep safely and collect all evidences of debt due to the state from any source other than taxes and to pay over the same to the state treasurer as soon as collected;

(6) To keep a book in which to enter all bonds taken and to file the originals in his or her office;

(7) To have made suitable indexes to the record books in his or her office; and

(8) To certify under his or her official seal at all times when necessary for public use and, on application and payment of his or her legal fees therefor, for private use, copies of any papers kept in his or her office.

50-5B-21.

The Comptroller General is authorized and directed to designate one of his or her employees as deputy comptroller general. In the event the Comptroller General is sick or for any other reason is absent from his or her office for three or more days, the deputy comptroller general shall examine, check, and countersign any warrants during the absence of the Comptroller General.

50-5B-22.

The Comptroller General shall keep in his or her office a bound book in which shall be entered in alphabetical order the full amount of all annual appropriations, setting forth the amounts under their several heads; all warrants that he or she may check and pass, together with the fund on which they are drawn and the time, amount, and in whose favor drawn; and all entries necessary for a true exhibit of the finances of the state.

50-5B-23.

The Comptroller General shall make an annual report to the Governor, which report shall show, from his or her books, a current account of all receipts and payments between the Office of the State Treasurer and the state, including the amount paid on the drafts of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives as reported to him or her by the Office of the State Treasurer.

50-5B-24.

The Comptroller General shall have an official seal of such design as he or she shall select with the approval of the Governor."

SECTION 2.

Chapter 14 of Title 45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the Commissioner of Insurance, is amended by revising Code Section 45-14-3, relating to duties of Commissioner of Insurance as Safety Fire Commissioner, Industrial Loan Commissioner, and Comptroller General, as follows:

"45-14-3.

The Commissioner of Insurance shall be the Safety Fire Commissioner, and the Industrial Loan Commissioner, and the Comptroller General."

SECTION 3.

Said chapter is further amended by revising Code Section 45-14-5, relating to the seal of the Commissioner of Insurance, Safety Fire Commissioner, Industrial Loan Commissioner, and the Comptroller General, as follows:

"45-14-5.

The Commissioner of Insurance, Safety Fire Commissioner, and Industrial Loan Commissioner, and the Comptroller General shall have an official seal for each office of such design as he or she shall select with the approval of the Governor. Every certificate and other document or paper executed by the Commissioner of Insurance, Safety Fire Commissioner, or Industrial Loan Commissioner, or the Comptroller General in the pursuance of any authority conferred upon that office by law and sealed with the seal of that office and all copies or photographic copies of papers certified by him or her and authenticated by said seal shall in all cases be evidence 'in equal and like manner' as the original thereof and in all cases be primary evidence of the contents of the original and shall be admissible in any court in this state."

SECTION 4.

Said chapter is further amended by revising Code Section 45-14-5, relating to the seal of the Commissioner of Insurance, Safety Fire Commissioner, Industrial Loan Commissioner, and the Comptroller General, as follows:

"45-14-5.

The Commissioner of Insurance, Safety Fire Commissioner, and Industrial Loan Commissioner, and the Comptroller General shall have an official seal for each office of such design as he or she shall select with the approval of the Governor."

SECTION 5.

Said chapter is further amended by repealing Article 2, relating to the Comptroller General.

SECTION 6.

This Act shall become effective on July 1, 2012, except for Sections 3 and 4. Section 3 shall become effective on July 1, 2012, and shall remain effective until December 31, 2012. Section 4 shall become effective on January 1, 2013.

SECTION 7.

All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.