REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES. By the Committee on Judiciary: A bill to provide for formulating and establishing a uniform system of accounting in the several departments of the State government, including State institutions, and in every county office in each county in the State; providing for examinations into the financial affairs of such departments, institutions and county offices, and for the appointment of a public examiner, prescribing his powers and duties, and repealing allacts or parts of acts contravening any of the provisions of this act; With the accompanying substitute therefor, haying the following title: A bill to provide for formulating and establishing a uniform system of accounting and reporting in the several departments of the State gov ernment, including State institutions and boards, and in all county offices charged with the keeping of accounts throughout the State, under the supervision of the Auditor General; to provide for the examination of the books and accounts of the several State departments including State institutions and boards and county officers charged with the keeping of accounts, and to further provide for annual reports showing all receipts and expenditures of the several State departments, State institutions and boards and county offices, and for the tabulation and publication of comparative statistics of the receipts and expenditures of said State departments, State institutions and boards and county offices, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts contravening any of the provisions of this act; Recommend that the substitute be concurred in, and that the bill as substituted, pass. CHARLES E. WHITE, Chairman. The report was accepted and adopted and the committee discharged. Mr. White moved that the Senate concur in the substitute recommended by the committee. The motion prevailed. The bill was then referred to the committee of the whole and placed on the general orders. The following is the substitute: A bill to provide for formulating and establishing a uniform system of accounting and reporting in the several departments of the State government, including State institutions and boards, and in all county offices charged with the keeping of accounts throughout the State, under the supervision of the Auditor General; to provide for the examination of the books and accounts of the several State departments including State institutions and boards and county officers charged with the keeping of accounts, and to further provide for annual reports showing all receipts and expenditures of the several State departments, State institutions and boards and county offices, and for the tabulation and publication of comparative statistics of the receipts and expenditures of said State departments, State institutions and boards and county offices, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts contravening any of the provisions of this act; The People of the State of Michigan enact: Section 1. It shall be the duty of the Auditor General, as soon thereafter as may be after the taking effect of this act, to formulate and prescribe a uniform system of book-keeping and accounting in the several departments of the State government, including State institutions and boards and county treasurers, or such other county officers as are charged with the keeping of accounts. Sec. 2. Said accounts shall show all sources of income, the amounts due and received from each source, and all receipts, vouchers and other documents required to be kept which may be necessary to prove the validity of every transaction pertaining to the administration of the affairs of said State departments, State institutions and boards and county offices. Separate accounts shall be kept for every appropriation made to or received by said State departments, State institutions and boards and county officers and shall show the date and manner of each payment made out of the funds provided by such appropriation, the name and address of the person or association of persons to whom paid and for what purpose paid. Sec. 3. In order to facilitate the establishment of such uniform system of accounting, it shall be the duty of the Auditor General to make a thorough study and examination of the methods now employed in the several State departments, State institutions and boards and county offices in respect to the keeping of books and accounts, and for that purpose all State and county officers, heads of departments and institutions and all clerks in the employ thereof shall afford access to all books, papers, accounts and transactions, relating to the keeping of accounts of such departments, State institutions and boards and county offices. Sec. 4. After such uniform system of accounting has been formulated and established it shall be the duty of the Auditor General to make or cause to be made a thorough examination of the business and financial affairs of each State department, State institution and board and of each county officer charged with the keeping of accounts. Such examination shall be made at least once in each year, or as often as in the judg ment of the Auditor General it shall be for the public good. Said Auditor General and every person duly appointed by him to install said uniform system of accounting and make the examinations herein provided shall have and may exercise all the authority to issue subpoenas and compulsory process and to direct the service thereof by any police officer to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books and papers before him at any time and place; to administer oaths and to punish for disobedience of subpoenas or refusal to be sworn or to answer as a witness, or to produce books and other documents which now confer upon courts or officers authorized to take depositions. A report of each examination shall be made, in duplicate, one copy to be filed with the Governor and one in the office of the Auditor General. If any such examination discloses malfeasance, misfeasance or nonfeasance in office on the part of any officer or employe of any State department, State institution or board, or on the part of any officer or employe of any county office charged with the keeping of accounts, an additional copy of such report shall be filed with the Attorney General whose duty it shall be to proceed in the matter as provided by law. Refusal or neglect to do so on the part of the Attorney General or the prosecuting attorney of any county in the State when so directed by the Attorney General shall be sufficient cause for their removal from office by the Governor. Sec. 5. Each department of the State government including State institutions and boards and county officers charged with the keeping of accounts shall make an annual report in accordance with forms and methods prescribed by the Auditor General and shall show in detail for each fiscal year ending June thirty, receipts from all sources and their disposition, all accounts due and uncollected, all expenditures for every purpose and by what authority authorized and the balance of funds on hand. Said report shall be in duplicate, one copy of which shall, not later than August first of each fiscal year, be filed with the Governor and one in the office of the Auditor General. Sec. 6. The substance of the reports required to be filed under the provisions of this act shall be arranged by the Auditor General in such form as shall exhibit the indebtedness, receipts from various sources of revenue and the cost of the several branches of government which shall be published in an annual statement of comparative statistics as a public document, and shall be transmitted by the Auditor General to the Legislature at each regular session. Copies of such report shall be furnished to each State department, State institution and board and each county officer charged with the keeping of accounts. Sec. 7. For the purpose of conducting the examinations of the State departments, State institutions and boards and county offices, the Auditor General is hereby empowered to prepare the forms and blanks for reports and books required by the provisions of this act and he shall direct the installing of the uniform system of keeping and examining of said accounts. The Auditor General shall appoint such assistant accountants and examiners as may be necessary to prepare said forms and blanks for reports and books, and the installing of said uniform system of accounting by State departments, State institutions and boards and county officers charged with the keeping of accounts, and perform such duties as may be required or prescribed by the Auditor General. Said accountants and examiners shall receive such compensation as shall be allowed by the Board of State Auditors after approval by the Auditor General, not exceeding two thousand dollars per annum for each of said accountants or examiners and in addition to said compensation, they shall each receive their necessary traveling expenses. The auditing of accounts of all State departments, State institutions and boards and county officers charged with the keeping of accounts shall be under the direct supervision of the Auditor General, his deputy or general accountant and they shall each be allowed their necessary traveling expenses while engaged in the performance of their duties under the provisions of this act. All books and records necessary for the keeping of county accounts shall be purchased and paid for by the county. Sec. 8. The expenses incurred in the installing of the uniform system of accounting for State departments, State institutions and boards and county officers charged with the keeping of accounts, together with the cost of tabulating and publishing reports and all other office expenses shall be a charge against the State to be paid out of the general fund from any money not otherwise appropriated. Sec. 9. The provisions of this act shall not apply to any county except where such county, by its board of supervisors or board of county auditors (in counties having a board of county auditors) adopt a resolution requesting that such uniform system of accounting and auditing be established in such county. Sec. 10. All acts or parts of acts contravening the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. By the Committee on State Affairs: The Committee on State Affairs reports House bill No. 490 (file No. 261), entitled A bill to regulate the operation of steam engines and boilers within the jurisdiction of this State, except boilers on railway locomotives, boilers on automobiles, boilers on steam fire engines, boilers carrying pressures of less than fifteen pounds per square inch, which are equipped with safety devices approved by the chief inspector, boilers under the jurisdiction of the United States, and boilers inspected and approved by the boiler insurance companies whose inspectors are duly licensed under the provisions of this act; With the following amendments thereto : 1. By striking out of line 23 of section 4 after the word "years" the word "next." 2. By inserting in line 1 of section 24 after the word "revoked" the words "by the Governor." 3. By inserting in line 28 of section 4 after the word "years" the following words: "Any inspector may be removed by the Governor for misconduct in office or a violation of the rules promulgated under the provisions of this act on cause shown and after a hearing had thereon." 4. By adding a new section to stand as section 27 and to read as follows: "Any city in the State of Michigan of two hundred thousand population or over now regulating the inspection of steam boilers and licensing of engineers shall be exempt from the operation of this act." 5. By adding a new section to be known as section 28 and to read as follows: "Every provision of this act, every section and every part of every section is hereby declared to be independent in so far as this relation shall be necessary to the validity of this act, and the fact that any provision, section or part of any section is void shall not be held to invalidate any other provision of this act;" Recommend that the amendments be concurred in, and that when so amended the bill pass. F. B. KLINE, Chairman. The report was accepted and adopted and the committee discharged. Mr. Kline moved that the Senate concur in the amendments made to the bill by the committee. The motion prevailed. The bill was then referred to the committee of the whole and placed on the general orders. Mr. Kingman moved that the Senate resolve itself into the committee of the whole on the GENERAL ORDERS OF THE DAY. The motion prevailed. The President called Mr. F. D. Scott to the chair. After some time spent therein, the committee rose, and through its chairman made the following report: The committee has had under consideration the following: House bill No. 331 (file No. 170), entitled A bill to authorize and permit the Board of Control of the Michigan School for the Blind to grant and convey to the city of Lansing real estate for street purposes in said city; Also: House bill No. 332 (file No. 163), entitled A bill to repeal Act No. 246 of the Public Acts of 1895, entitled "An act to establish a permanent State weather service in this State, co-operating with the weather bureau, United States department of agricul ture, for the purpose of the collection and compilation of climatic and meteorologic data, the accurate and rapid dissemination of daily weather forecasts, also frost and cold wave warnings and weather crop conditions; the same to be used for the benefit of the agricultural, commercial and scientific interests of the State, and making an appropriation therefor," as amended by Act No. 103 of the Public Acts of 1899; Also: House bill No. 174 (file No. 160), entitled A bill to amend sections 5 and 12 of Act No. 177 of the Session Laws of 1859, approved February 14, 1859, being compiler's sections 3540 and 3547 of the Compiled Laws of 1897, entitled "An act further to preserve the purity of elections, and guard against the abuse of the elective fran chise by a registration of electors;" Also: House bill No. 119 (file No. 91), entitled A bill to amend sections 2 and 3 of Act No. 105 of the Public Acts of 1991, entitled "An act to prohibit the conducting, establishing or maintaining, or carrying on without a license of any maternity hospital, lyingin asylum, or other place for the receiving, caring for, or treating of females during pregnancy, or during or after delivery, and to provide for the licensing and regulation of the same," and to repeal section 5 of the same act; Also: House bill No. 322 (file No. 176), entitled A bill to amend section 14 of Act No. 156 of the Public Acts of 1851, as amended by Act No. 36 of the Public Acts of 1909, same being section 2487 of the Compiled Laws of 1897, relating to the organization, vacation, division or alteration of townships; Also: House bili No. 318 (file No. 146), entitled A bill to allow insurance companies transacting the business of insuring motor cars and other vehicles against loss or damage by fire, loss or damage while being transported in any conveyance by land or water, loss or damage by theft, robbery or pilferage, loss or damage sustained by collision with any object, moving or stationary, and loss |