1. To prescribe and require the installation of a uniform system of bookkeeping, accounting and reporting for the several departments; 2. To prescribe forms for accounts and financial reports and statements for the several departments; 3. To supervise and examine the accounts and financial reports and statements for the several departments; 4. To examine, at any and all times, into accuracy and legality of the accounts, receipts and expenditures of the public moneys and the disposition and use of the public property by the several departments; 5. To keep such summary and controlling accounts as may be necessary to determine the accuracy of the detail accounts and reports from the several departments, and to prescribe the manner and method of certifying that funds are available and adequate to meet all contracts and obligations; 6. To prescribe uniform rules governing specifications for purchases of supplies, the advertisement for proposals, the opening of bids and the making of awards, to keep a catalogue of prices current and to analyze and tabulate prices paid and quantities purchased; 7. To examine, at any and all times the accounts of every private corporation, institution, association or board receiving appropriations from the legislature; 8. To report to the attorney general for such action, civil or criminal, as the attorney general may deem necessary, all facts showing illegal expenditures of the public money or misappropriation of public property; 9. To examine and approve or disapprove, vouchers, bills and claims of the several departments and such as are by law made subject to the approval of the governor and referred to it by the governor, and no voucher, bill or claim of any department shall be allowed without its approval, and certified; 10. To prescribe the form of receipt, voucher, bill or claim to be filed by the several departments with it; 11. In settling accounts of the several departments, to inquire into and make an inspection of articles and materials furnished or work and labor performed, for the purpose of ascertaining that the prices, quality and amount of such articles or labor are fair, just and reasonable, and that all the requirements, expressed and implied. pertaining thereto have been complied with, and to reject and disallow any excess; 12. To prepare and report to the governor, when requested, estimates of the income and revenues of the state; 13. To publish, from time to time, for the information of the several departments and for the general public, bulletins of the work of the state government; 14. To investigate duplication of work of departments, and the efficiency of the organization and administration of departments, and to formulate plans for the better co-ordination of departments; 15. To prepare and submit to the governor biennially, not later than the fifteenth day of November next after the election of the governor, a state budget. The duties of the following boards and bureaus of the old administrative system have been taken over by the department of finance. DIVISION OF PURCHASES AND SUPPLIES HISTORY A territorial act approved March 15, 1855, provided that the secretary of the territory should print and distribute the laws and joint resolutions. On January 29, 1857, Robert W. Furnas was elected public printer, and an act approved February 13, 1857, authorized the printer to print the session laws and the journals of each house. The earliest state law in reference to state printing is one approved June 18, 1867. This act provided that the auditor, treasurer and secretary of state should advertise for bids for state printing. An act approved February 25, 1875, required state officers to deliver their reports to the state printer and have them ready for distribution at the beginning of the legislature. The earlier act was repealed by an act approved February 24, 1883, and a state printing board, consisting of the auditor, treasurer and secretary of state, with duties almost identical with those required by the early law, created. An act passed by the legislature of 1897 substituted a new act which required the printing board to let contracts for printing, stationery and supplies for all state departments, and allowed $1,000 a year as salary for an expert printer to attend to the actual duties of the board. An act approved April 3, 1909, provided that the printing board should consist of the governor, auditor and secretary of state and gave the governor power to appoint a secretary. The legislature of 1911 repealed the existing law and created a bureau of printing, and made the governor the commissioner of the bureau with power to appoint a deputy at a salary of $1,500 a year. The legislature of 1917 enacted a new public printing law similar to that of 1911. The functions of the bureau of printing are now discharged by the division of purchases and supplies. DUTIES AND POWERS To secure bids and award contracts for printing, stationery and office supplies required by the various state offices and institutions, except the university and the state normal schools. Division of Foods, Drugs and Oils Inspection. Bureau of Animal Industry.. Division of Inspection and Control. Hog Cholera Control. Bovine Tuberculosis Eradication. Bureau of Markets and Marketing... Division of Agricultural Statistics. Division of Agricultural News and Publicity. Division of Standardization and Inspection. Division of Game and Fish....... Division of Inspection and Control. Conservation and Distribution. Fish Culture. .D. D. Tobias William C. Andreas .George G. Koster DUTIES AND POWERS 1. To encourage and promote, in every practicable manner, the interests of agriculture, including horticulture, the live stock industry, dairying, cheese making, poultry, bee keeping, forestry, fishing, the production of wool, and all other allied industries; 2. To promote methods of conducting these several industries with a view to increasing the production and facilitate the distribution thereof at the least cost; 3. To collect and publish statistics relating to crop production, marketing and farm economics, the production and marketing of beef, pork, poultry, fish, mutton, wool, butter, cheese and other agricultural products so far as such statistical information may be of value to the agricultural and allied interests of the state; to co-operate with the federal government in the matter of collecting such statistical information. Such department shall include in its publications the reports of agricultural, horticultural and like societies, and of live stock associations. Such published statistics shall be the official agricultural statistics of the state; 4. To encourage the planting of trees and shrubs and the improvement of farm homes generally; 5. To produce and manufacture biological products to be distributed to live stock producers at the actual cost thereof; 6. To inquire into causes of contagious, infectious and communicable diseases among domestic animals, and the means for the prevention and cure of the same; 7. To take all measures necessary for the preservation, distribution, introduction and restoration of fish, game birds and other wild birds; "The department has published a bulletin (No. 121) describing the organization and activities of the department and all its sub-divisions. 8. To see that live stock and stock yards, and other like places where live stock is confined, housed or fed, are properly cared for; 9. To execute and enforce all laws relating to the inspection of foods, drugs, dairy products, oils, commission merchants, cider and vinegar, oleomargarine and butterine, sanitation of premises used for manufacturing and preparation of foods, cold storage warehouses, paints, seeds, commercial feeding stuffs, live stock remedies, hotels and inns, weights and measures and commercial fertilizers, and from time to time promulgate such rules and regulations and adopt such standards as are necessary and proper to enforce the provisions of the several laws governing the activities of the departments. The duties of the following boards and commissions of the old administrative system have been taken over by the department of agriculture. PUBLICATIONS Biennial report. BUREAU OF FOODS, DRUGS AND OILS HISTORY The legislature of 1899 created the food, drug and dairy commission. The governor was food commissioner, with power to appoint a deputy. This law was replaced by a more inclusive act in 1907. The office of oil inspector was created by the legislature of 1887. The inspector and deputies were appointed by the governor. The legislature of 1909 repealed the existing law and designated the governor as oil inspector with power to appoint a deputy. This office was supported by fees collected. The legislature of 1913 consolidated the pure food and oil inspection business of the state in one office, of which the governor was commissioner, with power to appoint a deputy, a state chemist, food inspectors and other employes. The legislature of 1911 created a hotel commission with the governor as commissioner. The legislature of 1917 abolished this commission and transferred all its functions to the food commission. The law requires the annual inspection and registration of all hotels, rooming houses, apartment houses, and restaurants in the state, and the enforcement of suitable rules and regulations. ACTIVITIES The bureau inspects food distributing establishments, drugs, oils, hotels, dairies, dairy manufacturing establishments, enforces the laws concerning all the subjects under its supervision, and makes chemical and physical analysis of food, drugs, oils, paints, feeds, fertilizers, liquors, live stock remedies. BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY HISTORY The live stock sanitary board was created by an act approved March 5, 1885. This act provided for a live stock sanitary commission of three members, and a state veterinary surgeon, all appointed by the governor. The legislature of 1887 made slight amendments to this original act. The legislature of 1901 repealed existing legislation and made the governor the state veterinarian, with power to appoint a deputy for the actual work of the office. The legislature of 1913 repealed this law and created a live stock sanitary board of five members appointed by the governor, who continued to be state veterinarian, and appointed a deputy upon nomination of the live stock sanitary board. The earliest stallion registration law was that approved March 12, 1909. It required the professor of animal husbandry of the University of Nebraska to approve and file registration certificates. The legislature of 1911 repealed this law and created a stallion registration board composed of the secretary of the state board of agriculture, the professor of animal husbandry in the University of Nebraska and the deputy state veterinarian. The legislature of 1913 amended this law so that the governor, treasurer and commissioner of public lands and buildings constituted the board, and the deputy state veterinarian acted as its secretary. The legislature of 1915 transferred all the functions of this board to the live stock sanitary board. ACTIVITIES The bureau inspects state and interstate shipments of live stock, stock yards, stallions, enforces quarantine regulations, works to eradicate scabies, hog cholera, bovine tuberculosis, and disposes of diseased animals. DIVISION OF GAME AND FISH HISTORY An act approved February 24, 1879, created a board of fish commissioners "for the propagation and distribution of fish in the public waters of Nebraska."The legislature of 1901 provided for a game and fish commission, of which the governor was the commissioner, with two deputies, one of whom should reside in Lincoln and manage the office, while the other managed the fish hatcheries at South Bend and Valentine. The duties of the commission are now discharged by the division of game and fish. DUTIES AND POWERS The division has charge of 1. The protection, propagation and breeding of such fish, game, song, insectivorous and other birds as may be deemed valuable to the people of the state. 2. The collection and distribution of statistics and information concerning the propagation and protection of fish and game. 3. The control of all state fish hatcheries. 4. Enforcement of laws for the protection of fish and game. The division also 1. Issues hunters' licenses. 2. Prosecutes offenders against the game laws. |