a general fiscal

leans, as the general fiscal agent of the State, the president of Providing for which institution shall likewise be a member of the board of agent. liquidation, the duties of which fiscal agent shall be as follows, viz.:

Duties of the

Custody of blank bonds fiscal agent.

confided to

First-The said fiscal agent shall receive, keep and hold in its possession and be responsible for all the bonds prepared ac- fiscal agent. cording to law for funding the State debt in conformity to this act, and shall deliver the same to no person or persons, except upon the written requisition of said board, issued in the form of a resolution passed by the board, attested and signed by the president and secretary, specifying the amount and denominations of the bonds required, and detailing minutely the bonds of the State or other valid liabilities in exchange for which it is intended to use the bonds for which such requisition has been issued. Should the fiscal agent deliver any of the said bonds to any person or persons, except upon such formal and detailed requisition, the said agent shall be held, ipso facto, removed from the said agency, and be responsible to the State for all missing bonds, and for the amount they represent. Upon such malfeasance occurring, it shall be the duty of the board of liquidation Delinquency of fiscal agent forthwith to select and elect another fiscal agent, and inform provided for. the Attorney General of the change, and the reason therefor; and it shall be the duty of the Attorney General, without any delay, to institute an action against said removed agent, coupled curring. with such conservatory process as may be necessary for the recovery of the amount of all the bonds which may have been given up, without proper authority by said agent, and for the transfer to the newly selected agent of all the property and effects held by the said destituted agent, belonging to the State. It shall be the duty of the fiscal agent, immediately after the passage of Duty of At torney General. this law, to publish in the official journal of the State a full statement, at its own expense, of all the unused blank bonds on hand, specifying their denominations, and the total of each de- required of fisnomination; and thereafter, annually on the first day of Janu- cal agent. ary, to publish in like manner similar statements of the then unapplied bonds, and so continue to do until the whole State debt shall have been liquidated and funded in conformity to this act.

Filling of vacancy when oo

Publication

Fiscal agent

How Treas

Second-To receive and hold on deposit all the funds, assets and moneys of the State, classifying and specifying particularly, depositary of and opening separate and distinct accounts for each fund with of the State. the State, in the name of the State Treasurer, which Treasurer is hereby required to deposit all moneys and assets of every description arising from taxation, licenses and every other source of revenue, as well as all trust funds, with the said fiscal agent; and he, the said Treasurer, shall be and is hereby authorized, in conformity to law, to draw for or on the same only by arer shall draw cheque, specifying on the face thereof out of which fund the sum moneys, etc. is to be paid; in such manner that each fund shall always be kept separate and distinct, and so that the State officers consti- Each fund to tuting the board of liquidation, or any one of them, may always be rate. informed by applying to said fiscal agent of the exact condition of the funds, assets and moneys of the State in the treasury, board of liquida and be enabled to give the public full information on the sub- tion to examine ject. And the said board of liquidation, or any member thereof,

be kept sepa

Authority of

books.

Same au.

thority re

mittee thereof.

Bond to be

agent.

as well as any committee appointed by the General Assembly, or served to either by either house thereof, shall, at all times during business hours, honse or com. have free access to the books of said agent relating to said accounts, with a view of examining the same and verifying their correctness. Before entering on the discharge of its duties the given by fiscal fiscal agent shall give bond, with adequate security, in the full sum of one hundred thousand dollars, in favor of the Governor of the State and his successors in office, for the faithful performance of all the duties now or which may hereafter be imposed by law on the said agent, and for the prompt payment and delivery, when legally called upon, of all funds, assets and moneys of the State; which security shall be either personal or by deposit of assets to an amount sufficient to cover the security required; which bond shall be accepted by the Governor, and, when so accepted, be by him deposited for safe-keeping with the assets, if any are accepted, in the office of the Auditor.

Duty of the

Governor.

Power to remove fiscal agent.

pointing su

cessor.

removed.

Third-The fiscal agent shall be removable for cause by a majority of the board of liquidation, and upon such removal, the said removed agent shall immediately transfer and deliver to its designated successor in the office of fiscal agent, all funds, assets Mode of ap- and effects in its possession or under its control belonging to the State, upon the order of said board of liquidation, signed and attested by the president and secretary of said board of liquidDuty of fiscal ation, and failing therein, shall be subject to a penalty and fine agent on being of one thousand dollars for every day of delay, assessed and Penalty for accepted by said agent as liquidated damages, recoverable before any court of competent jurisdiction. Upon such removal the board of liquidation shall notify the Auditor and Treasurer of Duty of Audi. the change, and thereupon it shall be the duty of these officers to transact no other business with the removed agent, and to transfer all the business of the State to the newly selected fiscal agent, under penalty of a fine of one thousand dollars for each day they, or either of them, shall continue business with the removed agent, recoverable before a court of competent jurisdiction as a fiue and liquidated damages.

non-compli

ance.

tor and Teasarer on removal occurring.

Advance re

agent.

$300,000 to

Fourth-During the first quarter of the fiscal year, to wit: quired of fiscal from the 1st of January to the 31st of March of each year, the said fiscal agent shall and obligates itself to advance to the State on cash credit account, to be drawn against as provided by law, for the payment of the per diem and mileage of the members and contingent expenses of the General Assembly of the State, the payment of legal warrants issued for salaries of the constitutional State officers for said quarter, and the appropriation herein made for the contingent expenses of the board of liquidation, the sum of three hundred thousand dollars to the credit of the general fund pay contingent of the State, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be evidenced by the appropriation bill or bills which may have been or may be passed at each session by the Legislature, at an interest which shall not exceed five per cent. per annum, to be reimbursed out Re-imburse of the first moneys collected for the State at credit of the general fund. If the fiscal agency shall have been removed to another bank before such advance and over-draft shall have been covered, it shall be the duty of the State Treasurer to continue depositing with said removed agent to the credit of the general fund until the said advances and the interest accrued thereon shall have

expenses, etc,

Rate of interest.

ment of ad

vance.

Duty of Treaurer.

to be drawn till

imbursed.

complying with

1868.

Appropria

been re-imbursed and paid in full, and no longer. No warrants, Warrants not except as above provided, shall be drawn against the general advance is re fund of any year until a sum shall have been thus deposited adequate in amount to liquidate and pay in full the amount which may have been so advanced and the accrued interest. For the purpose of complying with article 111 of the State constitution Provision of 1868, and of securing to the said fiscal agent the reimburse- article 111 State ment of whatever amount may be advanced, as aforesaid, and constitution, of the interest accruing thereon, an appropriation of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be neces- tion to cover sary, is hereby made annually, payable out of the first moneys advance. collected by the State at credit of the general fund. For the purpose of enabling the said board of liquidation to continue its Appropria operation and complete the funding of the remainder of the out- board of liqui standing debt of the State legally fundable, an appropriation of dation to confive thousand dollars is hereby made, or so much thereof as may tions. be necessary, payable out of the general fund annually, to meet and cover the contingent expenses which may be incurred by said der annual aoboard, of which expenses the said board shall annually make and count. submit to the General Assembly on the first week of its session a full and detailed statement, accompanied by proper vouchers.

tion to enable

tinue opera

Board to ren

Bouds and

coupons-how

SEC. 2469. The bonds authorized by section 2467 shall be 1874-39. signed by the Governor, Auditor and Secretary of State, and the coupons shall be signed by the Auditor and Treasurer, and when signed and exso prepared said bonds shall be exchanged by the board of changed. liquidation for all valid outstanding bonds of the State and all valid warrants drawn previous to the passage of this act by the respective Auditors of Public Accounts of the State on the Treasurer thereof, except warrants issued by the Auditor in payment of the constitutional officers of the State, at the rate of sixty cents in consolidated bonds for one dollar in outstanding bonds and all valid warrants; provided, That the holder of any bond or valid warrant rejected by a majority of said board may apply by petition to the proper court for relief, and if final judg ment shall be rendered in his favor against said board, it shall be the duty of said board to fund his said claim in bonds at the rate provided by this act; and provided further, That if any member of said board of liquidation shall knowingly audit and fund any illegal claim against the State, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction, be fined not less than five thousand dollars, and be imprisoned not less than Penalty for two years, at the discretion of the court, and any person know- auditing illegal ingly procuring the same to be done shall be subject to the same penalty.

claims.

bonds-where effected.

SEC. 2470. The exchange of the bonds or valid warrants Exchange of authorized by this act shall be effected by said board of liquidation in the cities of New Orleans and New York.

Bonds-for what purpose

SEC. 2471. The consolidated bonds herein authorized shall be held and used by said board of liquidation only for the purpose used. of exchange as aforesaid; said bonds shall be used for no other purpose or purposes than as authorized by this act, and any member of the board of liquidation using or attempting to use, or attempting to induce any person or persons to use, said bonds or any of them for any other purpose or purposes shall, on conviction

thereof, be punished by a fine of not less than five thousand dollars and by imprisonment at hard labor for not less than one year. SEC. 2472. Notice of the adoption of this act shall be pubadoption to be lished by said board in one or more journals of New Orleans, New York, London, Paris and Amsterdam.

Notice of

published.

1877-77.

board of liquida. tion.

SEC. 2473. It shall be deemed a felony for the fiscal agent or any officer of the State or board of liquidators to divert the interest fund from its legitimate channel, and upon conviction the said party shall be liable to imprisonment for not more than ten years nor less than two, at the discretion of the court. If there shall, during any year, be a surplus arising from said tax after paying all interest falling due in that year, such surplus shall be used for the purchase and retirement of bonds authorized by this act, said purchases to be made by the said board of liquidation, from the lowest offers, after due notice; provided, That the total tax for interest and all other State purposes shall never hereafter exceed six mills on the dollar. The interest tax aforesaid shall be a continuing annual tax until the said consolidated bonds shall be paid or redeemed, principal and interest; and the said appropriation shall be a continuing annual appropriation during the same period, and this levy and appropriation shall authorize and make it the duty of the Auditor and Treasurer, and the said board, respectively, to collect said tax annually, and pay said interest and redeem the said bonds until the same shall be fully discharged.

SEC. 2474. The bonds and valid warrants outstanding at the time of the passage of this act, shall, as fast as they are received in exchange for consolidated bonds, be canceled and destroyed by the said board of liquidation, and consolidated bonds purchased as provided for in section 7 of this act shall be canceled and destroyed after public notice has been given of the same in the official journal of the State, in the presence of as many citizens as may desire to be present, in like manner and within ten days after such destruction; in each case, a proces verbal of the same shall be published, and a report made to the General Assembly on the first Monday of every year by said board.

SEC. 2475. First-It shall be and is hereby made the duty of Duties of the the board of liquidation, immediately after the passage of this act, to investigate and ascertain accurately the exact amount, character and description of the valid bonds, warrants and other liabilities of the State contemplated in act number 3 of 1874 to be funded and exchanged for consolidated bonds which have not yet been funded and converted, and to publish the same in the official journal of the State for the space of ten consecutive days, with a statement of the total amount of consolidated bonds already issued, to the end that the total debt of the State may be officially established, known and promulgated.

Publication

ith a view of ring the pub

debt.

Quarterly publication required.

Second-Thereafter, and until the liquidation and funding shall have been completed, it shall be the duty of the board of liquidation to publish in the official journal of the State, on the first days of January, April, July and October of each year, a

full and detailed statement of all the consolidated bonds issued under this act for the quarter preceding the statement, giving their numbers and denominations; and a like statement of all the bonds and other valid obligations of the State which have been funded and converted in lieu and place of the consolidated bonds issued during the preceding quarter.

nual five and a

and separate

Duty of State

tax.

Third-Immediately after the passage of this act the board of Ascertainliquidation shall ascertain, by examination of the books of the ment of the anAuditor and Treasurer, what have been the proceeds separately, half mills tax each year, of the five and a half mills tax imposed for the years accounts to be 1874, 1875 and 1876, respectively, of which various taxes it shall kept. be the duty of the Treasurer, the Auditor and the fiscal agent to keep separate and distinct accounts for each year. It shall be and is hereby made the duty of the State Treasurer to report Treasurer. immediately, in writing, to the said board the amount and a detailed description of the coupons which have been paid out of the proceeds of the tax of each of said years. This investigation completed and report received from the Treasurer, the said board Publication shall publish in the official journal of the State, for ten consecu- regarding five tive days, a condensed statement of the result of their examina- and a half mills tion, showing the surplus or deficit, as the case may be, in the collection of the annual interest tax for each year, compared with and taking into account the matured interest of the unpaid coupons of consolidated bonds already issued, and those yet to be issued in exchange for valid outstanding debts of the State intended to be funded according to this act and the constitutional amendment. Annually thereafter, on the 1st day of January, the said board shall publish a similar statement. The said lication reboard of liquidation is hereby authorized, whenever deemed necessary to carry out the provisions of the original law and this and clerical supplementary law, to employ and pay such accountants and force. clerical force as may be required. For affixing the seal of the Pay for affixState to the bonds to be issued under the provisions of this act, ing seal of State the said board shall pay to the Secretary of State ten cents for each bond sealed and delivered, and no more.

TREASURER.

Annual pub

quired.

Accountants

session.

fund created.

First-In addition to the duties already prescribed, it shall be 1877–113, extra the duty of the Treasurer to set apart annually, out of the pro- Redemption ceeds of the interest tax, an amount equal to the interest coupons of public debt maturing on the first day of July of said year and the first day of January next following, and the surplus, if any, remaining after said amounts shall have been collected and set aside, as well as the surplus, if any, resulting from the provisions of third amendment of the constitution of the State proposed January 24, 1874, and ratified at the general election held on the second of November, 1874, shall be deposited with the fiscal agent at credit of a separate and distinct fund, to be called and known as the "Redemption of the Public Debt Fund," and such amount as may remain at credit of the said redemption fund after deducting therefrom the sum necessary to cover matured coupons remaining in arrear shall be used exclusively, under the direction of said board of liquidation, for the retirement and sinking of consolidated bonds to be purchased from bidders offering the same at the lowest price, after thirty days notice in the official journal