The Secretary of State is ex-officio Commissioner of Corporations.  All State and foreign corporations are required to file an annual statement in his office.  He is also the official who passes upon the legality of all stocks, bonds, debentures, and other securities offered for sale in the State of Georgia.  He is the legal officer of the State who issues licenses for automobiles.  The Secretary of State is ex-officio Surveyor-General who acts in disputed boundary lines of counties.  He is the officer to whom election returns of all officers elected by the people are submitted for certification.  He keeps a record in his office of the subdivisions of the State into counties, and all records pertaining to the original subdivisions of the State into counties and land districts.

The State Treasurer has custody of all State funds, and pays out moneys only on warrants issued by the Governor.  The members of the General Assembly receive their pay from the Treasurer upon drafts drawn by the Speaker of the House or President of the Senate.  He has control of the funds pledged to the payment of the public debt, and keeps accounts of all receipts and expenditures.  He acts also as State Bank Examiner.

The Comptroller-General audits all accounts against the State.  He examines the digests of all tax returns, receives and collects all evidences of debts due the State from any other source than taxes, issues executions against defaulting tax collectors, and countersigns all warrants drawn on the Treasury by the Governor.  He must keep a record of all tax collectors’ and receivers’ bonds.  He must make an annual report to the Governor, showing the currents account between the Treasurer and the State.  The report must include a statement of taxes paid in by each county, the annual income from the educational fund, and the amounts paid out of said fund, the condition of the public debt, and accounts of all officers and agents disbursing public money.  For the use of the members of the General Assembly he must prepare a table of the taxable property in each county of the State, a table of the polls and number of voters in each county, the number of children in each county returned for participation in the educational fund, and the amount drawn by each county out of that fund.  He is ex-officio Insurance Commissioner, and has general supervision over all insurance companies doing business in Georgia.

This properly ends the executive department as fixed by the Constitution, but there are other State officers whose duties are such that they really belong to the same class, and may be considered under this head.

The Attorney-General is the legal adviser of the executive department.  He represents the State in all capital felonies in the Supreme Court, and in all civil and criminal cases in any court when required to do so by the Governor.  He is elected by the people for a term of two years, and the same qualifications for this office apply as do those for judges of the Supreme Court.