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STATE CLAIMS.

COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY.

IN THE MATTER

OF

THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT, TOUCHING
CLAIMS AGAINST THE STATE AND THE
BOARD OF CLAIMS.

To the Hon. Elihu Root, Chairman, and to the Committee:

The Board of Claims was created by chapter 205 of the Laws of 1883. It consists of three commissioners, appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Board has a clerk, one deputy clerk, a stenographer and marshal, the latter being also the messenger of the Board. The salary of each commissioner is $5,000, with an additional allowance of $500 each in lieu of traveling and other expenses. The salary of the clerk is $4,000; of the deputy clerk $2,500; of the stenographer $2,500; of the marshal $1,200. The Board is required to hold four stated sessions annually, at the Capitol, and such additional sessions as the business before it may require, and is required to hold sessions in various parts of the State in the vicinity where claims arise, and the commissioners are empowered to personally view real property for injury to which claims are presented.

Originally all claims against the State were presented directly to and passed upon by the Legislature. By section 19 of article 3 of the Constitution, as now in force, it is provided that "The legislature shall neither audit nor allow any private claim or account against the State, but may appropriate money to pay such claims as shall have been audited and allowed according to law." Prior to the creation of the Board of Claims, provision for the audit and allowance of private claims was made by vesting the Canal Appraisers with jurisdiction of canal claims, and the State Board of Audit and the Comptroller with jurisdiction as to

such other private claims as the Legislature, from time to time, transmitted to them. There were three Canal Appraisers at salaries of $5,000 each, and with clerks, stenographers, messengers, etc. The State Board of Audit was composed of the Comp. troller, State Treasurer and Attorney-General. These, as such Board of Audit, employed clerks, stenographers and other assistants. The Canal Commissioners were vested with appellate jurisdiction in cases presented to the appraisers. From the State Board of Audit appeals went to the General Term of the Supreme Court, and from there to the Court of Appeals. Under the present system all the jurisdiction heretofore exercised by the appraisers and State Board of Audit is vested in the Board of Claims, together with jurisdiction in such other cases as the Legislature from time to time provides. The Legislature has vested jurisdiction in the Board of Claims to determine claims of the State against certain counties for taxes, etc., and claims arising out of the action of the State Board of Health on account of the destruction of diseased animals, and, in special cases, by special acts, of claims resulting from acts of the National Guard of the State, and from injuries sustained by inmates in educational and other State institutions. The expense to the State incident to the audit and allowance of private claims against it is much less under the present system than under the former ones. The expense of the Canal Appraisers during the last year of their existence, as stated by Governor Cleveland in his message to the Legislature of 1883, was $39,639.20. For the same year the expense of the Canal Auditor's office was over seven thousand dollars, including Auditor's salary, while the expense of the State Board of Audit was over $2,000, and that of the Canal Commissioners at least $1,500, making, under the old system, the aggregate annual expense, incident to the disposition of private claims, over fifty thousand dollars. As against this, the expense under the present system, with a largely increased and extended jurisdiction, is $26,700. Under the old system as to these claims, the records were scattered through the offices of several departments and bureaus of the State, while at present they are preserved, properly filed and arranged, in the office of the Clerk of the Board of Claims.

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The volume and importance of the business transacted by the board since its organization, June 4, 1883, is shown by the fol lowing statement:

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.....

2,571

2,121

450

Total number of claims presented to board...
Total number of claims decided by board...
Total number of claims pending...

Total amount of claims pending, exclusive of
interest. . . .

Total amount claimed in claims decided to January 1, 1894, exclusive of interest.....

$1,334,517 22

4,083,786 91

Total number of claims filed since January 1, 1894, Total number of claims decided since January 1, 1894.

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Total amount allowed in claims decided to January 1, 1894, interest included.....

1,111,450 07

Total amount of claims filed since January 1, 1894, exclusive of interest... . . .

507,228 22

275

395

$100,563 77

561,218 35

123

22

3

Total amount of claims allowed since January 1,
1894, interest included...........

Total amount claimed, exclusive of interest, in
claims decided since January 1, 1894..
Total number of appeals to Court of Appeals since
organization of Board.....

Total number of reversals by Court of Appeals..
Total number of reversals on appeal by State....

Respectfully submitted,

WILBUR F. PORTER,
HUGH REILLY,

GEORGE M. BEEBE,

Commissioners of Claims.

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