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Executive Department
Functions
The Executive Department serves as the administrative department of the governor. Through this department, the governor supervises the activities of all other constitutional departments. The department consists of the Office of the Governor and a number of divisions, offices, boards, commissions, councils, and agencies providing policy advice and assistance to the governor and conducting activities according to statute.
History
The Executive Department resulted from the constitutional reorganization of State government in 1925. Prior to reorganization, the executive branch of the government had grown to include nearly 200 administrative departments, boards, and commissions. Constitutional amendments in 1925 and 1927 abolished or significantly consolidated these offices and expanded the power of the executive office. In 1925 an amendment provided for the consolidation of all administrative agencies into not more than twenty State departments, including an Executive Department.
Legislation of 1926 (Chapter 546) provided statutory basis for the Executive Department, directing it to assist and carry out duties assigned by the governor. Five divisions were established within the department and their functions and duties defined: Budget, Military and Naval Affairs, Standards and Purchase, State Police, and Inter-Departmental Relations. The governor was empowered to establish, consolidate, or abolish Executive Department divisions as deemed necessary.
Legislation of 1928 (Chapter 676) abolished the Division of Inter-Departmental Relations, but the informal "governor's cabinet," consisting of the governor as chair, lieutenant governor, secretary to the governor, and heads of State departments who meet at the call of the governor, continued to coordinate interdepartmental activities. Since 1928, numerous Executive Department divisions, offices, commissions, councils, and agencies have been established, altered, consolidated, or eliminated. The department currently consists of over thirty such subdivisions supervising numerous areas, including housing, human rights, energy, parks and historic sites, consumer protection, veterans' affairs, elections, cable television, and the arts.
