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in the bank, he then approves the voucher
and sends it over to the state treasurer
for payment.
That pre-checking on the actual outgo
of the money before it is paid by the treas-
urer is, the minority submits, a highly im-
portant function of the state treasurer,
and under the present setup of the law, the
state comptroller also supervises the audit-
ing of the accounts of the departments in
the state government.
The auditor, of course, is appointed by
the governor. The law provides that he
shall report to the comptroller, and the
comptroller shall supervise his work. One
of the most important functions, of course,
of the comptroller has been to sit on and
be a member of the Board of Public Works.
We submit that that function is extremely
important; the Board of Public Works that
we have heard so much about today is the
most important board in the State and is
the last check on whether or not the state's
money or any programs authorized by the
legislature are to be committed, contracts
given in accordance with the law. Now, I
submit there may have been some loose
thinking as to the governor's program, his
ability to put over a program. That is not
a matter for the Board of Public Works.
When a governor comes in or at any time
during his term, he must submit any pro-
gram that he desires to have inaugurated
to the legislature in the shape of requested
legislation. The legislature determines
whether or not any projected program of
the governor is to be approved by the
passing of a bill in the legislature and in-
deed by the provision of funds suggested
in the government budget. It is not the
Board of Public Works that determines
what is to become of the governor's pro-
gram. The function of the Board of Public
Works is to pass on the actual expenditure
of the money and the matter of accepting
the proper bids and whether or not to sell
this piece of land at this price or at a
higher price and whether to purchase any
given piece of land — engaging at least in
all those functions. I reiterate that the
Board of Public Works does not and is not
in a position to hamstring or hobble any
function or any program that the governor
has succeeded in getting passed by the
legislature.
In addition to the functions that we have
been talking about, the state comptroller
exercises two other functions, neither one
of which is administrative. The comptroller,
when he makes regulations for the divi-
sions in his office, Sales Tax, Commissions
Tax, Income Tax and the rest, is exercising
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a delegated legislative product, a power
delegated him by the legislature.
Likewise, when the governor or his desig-
nee in his office holds hearings on the ques-
tions that are very often raised as to the
application of any tax imposed by the
legislature or questions the applicability to
him of any such tax, the comptroller or
his designee must make findings of fact
and on those facts determine whether the
taxpayer is liable to pay the tax in ques-
tion. In doing that, in performing that
function, the comptroller performs a quasi-
judicial power, just the same as any quasi-
judicial board of the State. For instance,
the Maryland Tax Court performs a quasi-
judicial power so that the state comptroller
is not confined to administrative powers;
he also performs those delegated legislative
powers and quasi-judicial powers.
I submit, and I think it is fair to say that
the majority, both in their arguments here
and in their Report and Memorandum have
dealt in generalities as to the manner in
which the existence of an independent state
comptroller or indeed the functioning of
the Board of Public Works has placed
hobbles on the government, and has re-
duced the governor's administrative powers.
I have not heard of specific instances of
any such reduction in the power of the
governor. You all heard a great many gen-
eralities but nothing specific. The minority
feels that this plan which has been in ex-
istence so long entailing an independent
comptroller to handle the money of the
State, to collect it, to see that it is safely
kept and to manage it has been one of the
best collectors we have had.
Indeed, the governor would not be able,
would not have the time to give the close
supervision on the collection of the money
and the management of it that an inde-
pendent comptroller does.
When the matter came up in New York
in connection with the recent Constitutional
Convention The New York Times in an edi-
torial came out in favor of keeping the
chief fiscal officer elected, saying it is a
good thing to keep the chief fiscal officer
and comptroller independent. As a matter
of fact, the Baltimore News American has
taken the same stand, that the state comp-
troller or chief fiscal officer, and the at-
torney general should be elected by the
people; that that right to elect those high
offices should not be withdrawn from the
people.
As may have been said, forty-two states
in this country elect their chief fiscal offi-
cer, no matter what he is called. Forty-
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