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 SENATE
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.