GA Code § 50-4-3 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 50 - State Government|Chapter 4 - Organization of Executive Branch Generally|§ 50-4-3. Assignment for Administrative Purposes Only; Authorities to Retain Separate Identities

  An agency assigned to a department for administrative purposes only shall:   Exercise its quasi-judicial, rule-making, licensing, or policy-making functions independently of the department and without approval or control of the department;   Prepare its budget, if any, and submit its budgetary requests, if any, through the department; and   Hire its own personnel if authorized by the Constitution of this state or by statute or if the General Assembly provides or authorizes the expenditure of funds therefor.     The department to which an agency is assigned for administrative purposes only shall:   Provide record keeping, reporting, and related administrative and clerical functions for the agency;   Disseminate for the agency required notices, rules, or orders adopted, amended, or repealed by the agency;   Provide staff for the agency subject to paragraph (3) of subsection (a) of this Code section; and   Include in the departmental budget the agency's budgetary request, if any, as a separate part of the budget and exactly as prepared and submitted to the department by the agency.     Whenever any authority is assigned for administrative purposes, it means only that the state department through which the authority deals with the state shall be that department to which the authority is assigned. Any authority created by state law shall retain its separate identity as an instrumentality of the state and a public corporation. The department to which an authority is assigned is authorized, only with the approval of the authority, to perform for such authority any or all of the functions set forth in subsection (b) of this Code section.    (Ga. L. 1972, p. 1015, § 3.)   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   Hiring and discharging employees.   - State Board of Pardons and Paroles may hire and discharge employees required in performance of the board's quasi-judicial functions. 1975 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 75-35.   Department of Corrections without authority to assign staff to board.   - Since the State Board of Pardons and Paroles has statutory authority to hire the board's own personnel to assist the board in carrying out the board's quasi-judicial functions, the Department of Offender Rehabilitation (now Corrections) is not authorized to assign staff to the State Board of Pardons and Paroles as pre-parole investigators. 1975 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 75-35.   Staff to be provided to Children's Trust Fund Commission.   - Department of Human Resources is authorized to provide staff and existing departmental resources to the State Children's Trust Fund Commission whenever practicable. When it is not practicable for the department or other participating departments to provide staff or resources, then the commission, with the approval of the Governor, is authorized to employ and discharge the commission's own personnel. 1990 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 90-35.   Transfer of advisory council on vocational education by Governor.   - Governor may not transfer advisory council on vocational education from Department of Education for fiscal and administrative purposes to the Office of Planning and Budget. 1974 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U74-61.   Altering fiscal agent for advisory council.   - Function of fiscal agent for the advisory council on vocational education is a responsibility accruing to the Department of Education and alterable only by action of the General Assembly. 1974 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U74-61.   Preparation of affirmative action programs.   - Department of Public Safety is not responsible for preparing affirmative action programs for agencies assigned to the department for administrative purposes only. The essence of assignment is to benefit the assigned agency, which is normally smaller than the agency to which it is assigned. The assigned agency gets the benefit of the larger agency's financial and administrative staff, but does not lose any of the agency's independent authority or control with regard to carrying out the agency's duties. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 80-147.   RESEARCH REFERENCES   Am. Jur. 2d.   - 72 Am. Jur. 2d, States, Territories, and Dependencies, § 64.   C.J.S.   - 73 C.J.S., Public Administrative Law and Procedure, § 10 et seq. 81A C.J.S., States, §§ 73, 74, 157 et seq.