RECORDS

The Office of the Secretary of State, head of the Department of State, is the official depository for a number of records. Here are filed corporation registration papers, trade names, trademarks, and all financial statements required by the Uniform Commercial Code. The office also issues commissions to state officers and notaries public.

The Secretary, appointed by the Governor with Senate consent for a term concurrent with that of the Governor, is traditionally a leading politician of the Governor's political party.

While the administration of elections is primarily the responsibility of the counties, papers pertaining to congressional elections and to elections by voters of more than one county are filed with this office. This includes the official results, as certified by the State Board of Canvassers, of elections for presidential electors, governor, United States Senators and Representatives, and state public questions.

This office also keeps official acts of the legislature, compiling them for publication in the official state annual volume,

Beginning in September 1969, the Division of Administrative Procedures, in the department, compiles all rules and regulations promulgated by each State agency in their operating procedures, and publishes them in a New Jersey Administrative Code. In addition, it publishes a monthly New Jersey Register, containing changes promulgated during the preceding month.

Semi-current State records are stored with the State Library. The Library also microfilms important State records, kept in an underground vault near Hudson, New York and maintains the collections of State records having permanent administrative or historical significance.

The management of each department is undertaken either by the office of its executive head or by a separate division of administration. Among its functions are those of fiscal management, personnel administration, purchasing, property management, public relations, coordination of programs and planning. The Division of Data Processing and Telecommunications in the Department of the Treasury, created in 1970, is in charge of developing and implementing all information processing and communications facilities of the State government.