2020 Georgia Code
Title 50 - State Government
Chapter 5A - Office of State Treasurer
§ 50-5A-7. (See Editor's notes.) Duties of Office of the State Treasurer Generally; Investments Through Treasurer

1. It shall be the power and duty of the Office of the State Treasurer:
   1. To receive and keep safely all moneys which shall from time to time be paid to the treasury of this state, and to pay all warrants legally drawn on the treasury by the Governor and countersigned by the comptroller general or, in the comptroller general's absence, by the deputy comptroller general, and to pay all drafts of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives for sums lawfully due the members and officers of their respective bodies;
   2. To keep good and sufficient accounting records of every sum of money received into, or disbursed from, the state treasury, utilizing an accounting system in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles and approved by the state accounting officer;
   3. To keep a true and faithful record of all warrants drawn by the Governor on the treasury and all drafts drawn on the treasury by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives;
   4. To keep a true and faithful record of the accounts with all designated state depositories in which the state's money is deposited, showing the principal amount and the interest earned in each depository;
   5. To keep safely certificates of stock, securities, state bonds, and other evidences of debt and to manage and control the same for the purposes to which they are pledged;
   6. To invest all state and custodial funds, subject to the limitations of subsection (b) of this Code section and Chapter 17 of this title;
   7. To invest all health insurance funds, subject to the limitations of subsection (b) of this Code section and Chapter 17 of this title;
   8. To invest all self-insurance, liability, indemnification, tort claims, workers' compensation, or related funds, subject to the limitations of subsection (b) of this Code section and Chapter 17 of this title;
   9. To invest all other funds in its possession, subject to the limitations of subsection (b) of this Code section and Chapter 17 of this title; and
   10. To lend securities in its possession, subject to the limitations of subsection (b) of this Code section and Chapter 17 of this title.
2. Pursuant to an investment policy adopted by the State Depository Board, the Office of the State Treasurer shall invest funds through the state treasurer. The state treasurer shall invest all funds with the degree of judgment and care, under circumstances then prevailing, which persons of prudence, discretion, and intelligence exercise in the management of their own affairs, not for speculation, but for investment, considering first the probable safety of their capital and then the probable income to be derived.

(Laws 1799, Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 1022; Laws 1839, Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 1031; Laws 1843, Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 1033; Laws 1845, Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 1035; Ga. L. 1853-54, p. 9, § 10; Ga. L. 1859, p. 67, §§ 2, 3; Code 1863, §§ 89, 105; Code 1868, §§ 86, 103; Ga. L. 1869, p. 12, § 1; Code 1873, §§ 92, 111; Ga. L. 1876, p. 126, §§ 12, 13; Ga. L. 1878-79, p. 88, §§ 2, 4, 5; Code 1882, §§ 97, 111; Civil Code 1895, §§ 199, 218; Civil Code 1910, §§ 228, 252; Code 1933, § 40-1101; Ga. L. 1956, p. 802, § 1; Ga. L. 1972, p. 1015, §§ 408B, 2104; Code 1981, §50-5-8; Ga. L. 1982, p. 843, § 2; Ga. L. 1992, p. 6, § 50; Code 1981, §50-5A-7, as redesignated by Ga. L. 1993, p. 1402, § 2; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1474, § 1; Ga. L. 2004, p. 319, § 1; Ga. L. 2005, p. 694, § 3/HB 293; Ga. L. 2010, p. 863, § 1/SB 296; Ga. L. 2013, p. 141, § 50/HB 79.)

The 2013 amendment, effective April 24, 2013, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, revised capitalization in paragraph (a)(1).

- Powers and duties of Office of State Treasurer regarding local government investment pool, T. 36, C. 83.

Payment to Office of State Treasurer of taxes, penalties, interest, and other moneys collected pursuant to revenue and licensing laws, § 48-2-17.

For application of this statute in 2020, see Executive Order 03.31.20.02.

A listing of Executive Orders issued in 2020 can be found at https://gov.georgia.gov/executive-action/executive-orders/2020-executive-orders.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Use of interest on state funds.

- So much of the opinion in Renfroe v. Colquitt, 74 Ga. 618 (1885), which states that the treasurer's earning of interest on state money was not receiving money by virtue of treasurer's office was obiter as being entirely unnecessary to the opinion in that case. Puckett v. Chambers, 66 Ga. App. 513, 18 S.E.2d 20 (1941), aff'd sub nom. Puckett v. Walker, 194 Ga. 401, 21 S.E.2d 713 (1942).

§ 50-5A-7 as exclusive remedy. - This section provided an exclusive remedy when enacted, and when a statute creates a new offense and announces the penalty, or gives a new right and declares the remedy, the punishment or the remedy can be only that which the statute prescribes. Puckett v. Chambers, 66 Ga. App. 513, 18 S.E.2d 20 (1941), aff'd sub nom; Puckett v. Walker, 194 Ga. 401, 21 S.E.2d 713 (1942).

- State treasurer is authorized to pay out funds of the state in the treasurer's hands only upon warrants signed by the Governor and countersigned by the Comptroller General, or upon drafts signed by the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives for sums due to the members and officers of their respective bodies; and a petition seeking a writ of mandamus directing the state treasurer to honor and pay, when and if presented, a warrant which the petition failed to show had been executed as required by law, so that there was no failure of the treasurer to perform the treasurer's official duty in paying a warrant properly executed and presented to the treasurer, alleged no cause of action, and was properly dismissed. Barwick v. Roberts, 188 Ga. 655, 4 S.E.2d 664 (1939) (decided prior to Executive Reorganization Act of 1972).

Cited in Gregory v. Hamilton, 215 Ga. 735, 113 S.E.2d 395 (1960).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Treasurer authorized but not required to make advance payments.

- State treasurer is not required to make payment under this section but is "authorized" to make payment under the statute; further, if payments are made semi-monthly, the mid-month payment should not exceed the 75 percent limitation. 1971 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 71-59.

- Office of the State Treasurer is empowered to enter into repurchase agreements and reverse repurchase agreements in connection with fulfilling its role related to managing the investment and liquidity needs of the state. 2012 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 12-1.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 12 Am. Jur. 2d, Bonds, §§ 6, 7. 63C Am. Jur. 2d, Public Officers and Employees, §§ 230 et seq., 241, 346, 363, 492. 72 Am. Jur. 2d, States, Territories, and Dependencies, § 66.

- 67 C.J.S., Officers and Public Employees, §§ 66, 67, 68, 73, 74, 149, 411 et seq. 73 C.J.S., Public Administrative Law and Procedure, §§ 24, 25. 81A C.J.S., States, §§ 235 et seq., 252, 373 et seq., 393.

- Particularity of specification of purpose required in appropriation bill, 20 A.L.R. 981.