§ 36-17-3 — Duties Generally

The powers, functions, and duties of the Treasurer shall be:
(1) To receive all moneys due the state and deposit them in the proper accounts.
(2) To perform the functions and duties now authorized by law with respect to state depositaries.
(3) To pay all warrants duly executed by the Comptroller, and to pay for funds electronically transferred by the Comptroller in accordance with Section 41-4-50, upon the determination that there is sufficient money for the payment thereof in the fund upon which they are drawn. No warrant executed by any other person shall be honored. All checks drawn on the state funds shall be signed by the Treasurer, or the chief clerk in the office, and countersigned by the special assistant in the office of the Treasurer, who is appointed by the Treasurer with the approval of the Governor. Another employee may be designated by the Treasurer, with the approval of the Governor, to countersign checks in the absence of the special assistant. These signatures must be originals or facsimiles created by a controlled check signing machine. No checks shall be honored unless so signed and countersigned.
(4) To take receipts for all payments, to file the receipts and warrants, to number them in chronological order for each fiscal year and to keep account of the receipts and expenditures of the public money.
(5) To particularly enter in his or her books the amounts of money he or she receives for taxes, licenses, or on any other account of the state, so that the net receipts of the whole revenue as well as of every branch thereof and the amounts of disbursements shall distinctly appear.
(6) To give information, in writing, to the Legislature or either house thereof or to the Governor when required, reporting all matters pertaining to his or her office.
(7) To pay the principal and interest on the state debt and for the purpose of paying the interest on the bonded indebtedness of the state, and it is his or her particular duty to conform in all respects to the requirements of the law as set forth in this chapter.
(8) To have the custody of, and keep safe, all moneys, bonds, and other securities held in any sinking fund for the payments of bonds of the state and to do and perform the other duties with reference to state bonds and their redemption as are now, or may be, required by law.
(9) To have the custody of, and to keep safe, all moneys, bonds, mortgages, and other securities required or permitted by law to be deposited with the state or any officer thereof, by any bank, trust company, insurance company, mutual aid or benefit association, or other person or corporation, and also all securities held by the state, including those held for the account of any sinking fund, including those heretofore in the custody of their sinking fund commission. All of the moneys, bonds, mortgages, and other securities shall be guarded at all times by a bonded officer or employee while in the office of the Treasurer and shall, upon receipt, be deposited in a burglarproof and fireproof vault by the Treasurer. Until the state shall have acquired an adequate burglarproof and fireproof vault, the combinations to which shall be known only to the Treasurer and adequately bonded employees, all of the bonds, mortgages, and other securities shall be kept in safety deposit boxes or vaults in one or more banks or trust companies approved for that purpose by the Treasurer. In any event, however, whether any vault shall have been acquired by the state or not, when requested by any depositor, the Treasurer may authorize the deposit of any money, bonds, mortgages, or other securities by the depositor with a bank or trust company in the State of Alabama to be held in its safety deposit boxes or vaults, which bank or trust company shall have been approved in advance by the Treasurer (“authorized institution”); provided that securities pledged to secure state funds may be held by an authorized institution a. in the vault of any bank insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and located in a federal reserve bank city or b. through any clearing corporation which effects book-entry transfers of securities deposited with it. Any authorized institution accepting the deposits or holding the securities, either in its vault, safety deposit box, or through a bank or clearing corporation, shall have executed with the Treasurer a contract with respect to the safekeeping of the money, bonds, mortgages, or other securities, and the substitution therefor of other money, bonds, mortgages, or other securities. The contract shall be approved in writing by the depositor. When an authorized institution sends a written acknowledgment to the Treasurer that it holds, whether in its vault, safety deposit box, or through a bank or clearing corporation, securities for the state pursuant to a safekeeping contract, then at the time, for purposes hereof and for all purposes of the Alabama Commercial Code, Title 7, the state takes delivery of, is a holder of, and obtains a perfected security interest in the securities. Any charges in connection with the deposit shall be paid by the depositor. The Treasurer shall not be personally liable for the loss of money, bonds, mortgages, or other securities so deposited if he or she shall have used reasonable precaution in approving the authorized institution. When, in the opinion of the Governor, it is considered necessary, the Treasurer shall be required to give an additional bond in such a sum as is determined by the Governor, the premium thereon to be paid from the State Treasury.
(10) To serve as a member of the State Board of Adjustment and of the other boards and commissions of which he or she is by law made a member.
(11) To have access to all records and accounts relating to receipts and disbursements of the State Treasury in any other department, board, bureau, commission, agency, or office of the state, to enable him or her to better perform the functions and duties required of him or her by the constitution and laws of the state and protect himself or herself in the performance of those functions and duties.
(12) To make reports as are required by the constitution, which reports shall, however, be printed and bound with, and as a part of, the annual financial report of the state prepared by the Department of Finance and to make other reports as may be required by the Governor or the Legislature.
(13) To furnish to the Comptroller, on or before the tenth day of each month, a list of all outstanding warrants existing at the end of the month next preceding and from the beginning of the fiscal year as shown by the records of the Treasurer’s office.
(14) To take out security insurance for the safekeeping of bonds, robbery insurance, burglary insurance, or any other insurance as may be deemed necessary for the safeguarding of money and security, the premiums thereon to be paid from the State Treasury.
(15) To administer and enforce the provisions of the Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act, as codified under Chapter 12 of Title 35.
(16) To perform such other duties as are, or may be, by law required of him or her.

Legislative History

(Acts 1939, No. 450, p. 603, §1; Code 1940, T. 55, §211; Acts 1981, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 81-1138, p. 412, §1; Acts 1984, No. 84-472, p. 1092, §1; Acts 1985, 2nd Ex. Sess., No. 85-932, p. 231, §1; Acts 1996, No. 96-724, p. 1197, §1.)