Florida Statutes Title IV. Executive Branch § 17.41. Department of Financial Services Tobacco Settlement Clearing Trust Fund

(1) The Department of Financial Services Tobacco Settlement Clearing Trust Fund is created within that department.

(2) Funds to be credited to the Tobacco Settlement Clearing Trust Fund shall consist of payments received by the state from settlement of State of Florida v. American Tobacco Co., No. 95-1466AH (Fla. 15th Cir. Ct. 1996).  Moneys received from the settlement and deposited into the trust fund are exempt from the service charges imposed under s. 215.20.

(4) Net proceeds of the sale of the tobacco settlement agreement received by the state shall be immediately deposited into the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund, created in s. 215.5601, without deposit to the Tobacco Settlement Clearing Trust Fund.

(5) The department shall disburse funds, by nonoperating transfer, from the Tobacco Settlement Clearing Trust Fund to the tobacco settlement trust funds of the various agencies or to the Biomedical Research Trust Fund in the Department of Health, as appropriate, in amounts equal to the annual appropriations made from those agencies' trust funds in the General Appropriations Act.

(6) Pursuant to the provisions of s. 19(f)(3), Art. III of the State Constitution, the Tobacco Settlement Clearing Trust Fund is exempt from the termination provisions of s. 19(f)(2), Art. III of the State Constitution.