The Florida Senate

The Chief Financial Officer of this state, using generally accepted auditing procedures for testing or sampling, shall examine, audit, and settle all accounts, claims, and demands, whatsoever, against the state, arising under any law or resolution of the Legislature, and issue a warrant directing the payment out of the State Treasury of such amount as he or she allows thereon.

The Chief Financial Officer may establish dollar thresholds applicable to each invoice amount and other criteria for testing or sampling invoices on a preaudit and postaudit basis. The Chief Financial Officer may revise such thresholds and other criteria for an agency or the unit of any agency as he or she deems appropriate.

The Chief Financial Officer may adopt and disseminate to the agencies procedural and documentation standards for payment requests and may provide training and technical assistance to the agencies for these standards.

The Chief Financial Officer shall have the legal duty of delivering all state warrants and shall be charged with the official responsibility of the protection and security of the state warrants while in his or her custody. The Chief Financial Officer may delegate this authority to other state agencies or officers.

The Chief Financial Officer, as the constitutional officer responsible for settling and approving accounts against the state and keeping all state funds pursuant to s. 4, Art. IV of the State Constitution, shall be the head of and appoint members to a task force established to develop a strategic business plan for a successor financial and cash management system. The task force shall include the executive director of the Agency for Enterprise Information Technology and the director of the Office of Policy and Budget in the Executive Office of the Governor. Any member of the task force may appoint a designee.

The strategic business plan for a successor financial and cash management system must:

State agency administrative services directors, finance and accounting officers, and budget directors within all branches of state government shall fully cooperate with the task force in its development of the strategic plan. The task force shall submit to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a strategic business plan that includes, but is not limited to:

It shall be the duty of the Chief Financial Officer to adjust and settle, or cause to be adjusted and settled, all accounts and claims heretofore or hereafter reported to it by the Auditor General, the appropriate county or district official, or any person against all county and district officers and employees, and against all other persons entrusted with, or who may have received, any property, funds, or moneys of a county or district or who may be in anywise indebted to or accountable to a county or district for any property, funds, moneys, or other thing of value, and to require such officer, employee, or person to render full accounts thereof and to yield up such property, funds, moneys, or other thing of value according to law to the officer or authority entitled by law to receive the same.

On the failure of such officer, employee, or person to adjust and settle such account, or to yield up such property, funds, moneys, or other thing of value, the Chief Financial Officer shall direct the attorney for the board of county commissioners, the district school board, or the district, as the case may be, entitled to such account, property, funds, moneys, or other thing of value to represent such county or district in enforcing settlement, payment, or delivery of such account, property, funds, moneys, or other thing of value. The Chief Financial Officer may enforce such settlement, payment, or delivery pursuant to s. 17.20.

Should the attorney for the county or district aforesaid be disqualified or unable to act, and no other attorney be furnished by the county or district, or should the Chief Financial Officer otherwise deem it advisable, such account or claim may be certified to the Department of Legal Affairs by the Chief Financial Officer, to be prosecuted by the Department of Legal Affairs at county or district expense, as the case may be, including necessary per diem and travel expense in accordance with s. 112.061, as now or hereafter amended. Such expenses, when approved by the Chief Financial Officer, shall be paid forthwith by such county or district.

If it appears to the Chief Financial Officer that any criminal statute of this state has or may have been violated by such defaulting officer, employee, or person, such information, evidence, documents, and other things tending to show such a violation, whether in the hands of the Chief Financial Officer, the Auditor General, the county, or the district, shall be forthwith turned over to the proper state attorney for inspection, study, and such action as may be deemed proper, or the same may be brought to the attention of the proper grand jury.

No such account or claim, after it has been certified to the Chief Financial Officer, may be settled for less than the amount due according to law without the written consent of the Chief Financial Officer, and any attempt to make settlement in violation of this subsection shall be deemed null and void. A county or district board desiring to make such a settlement shall incorporate the proposed settlement into a resolution, stating that the proposed settlement is contingent upon the Chief Financial Officer’s approval, and shall submit two copies of the resolution to the department. The Chief Financial Officer shall return one copy with his or her action endorsed thereon.

No settlement of account of any such officer, employee, or person, with the county or district, or any of their officers or agents, made in an amount or manner other than as authorized by law or for other than a lawful county or district purpose, shall be binding upon such county or district unless and until approved by the Chief Financial Officer, or unless more than 4 years shall have elapsed from the date of such settlement.

Nothing in this section shall supersede the continuing duty of the proper county and district officers to require any officer, employee, or person to render full accounts of and to yield up according to law to the officer or authority entitled by law to receive the same, any property, funds, moneys, or other thing of value as to which such officer, employee, or person is in anywise indebted to or accountable to such county or district. The provisions of this section provide for collections and recoveries which the proper county or district officers have failed to make, and for correction of settlements made in an amount or manner other than as authorized by law.

The Chief Financial Officer, through the Department of Financial Services, may provide accounting and payroll services on a fee basis under contractual agreement with eligible entities, including, but not limited to, state universities, community colleges, units of local government, constitutional officers, and any other person or entity having received any property, funds, or moneys from the state. All funds collected by the department under these contracts shall be deposited into the General Revenue Fund.

The Department of Financial Services may adopt rules necessary to administer this section.

The Chief Financial Officer may demand and require full answers on oath from any and every person, party or privy to any account, claim, or demand against or by the state, such as it may be the Chief Financial Officer’s official duty to examine into, and which answers the Chief Financial Officer may require to be in writing and to be sworn to before the Chief Financial Officer or the department or before any judicial officer or clerk of any court of the state so as to enable the Chief Financial Officer to determine the justice or legality of such account, claim, or demand.

In exercising authority under this chapter, the Chief Financial Officer or his or her designee may:

Subpoenas shall be issued by the Chief Financial Officer or his or her designee under seal commanding such witnesses to appear before the Chief Financial Officer or his or her representative or the department at a specified time and place and to bring books, records, and documents as specified or to submit books, records, and documents for inspection. Such subpoenas may be served by an authorized representative of the Chief Financial Officer or the department.

In the event of noncompliance with a subpoena issued pursuant to this section, the Chief Financial Officer or the department may petition the circuit court of the county in which the person subpoenaed resides or has his or her principal place of business for an order requiring the subpoenaed person to appear and testify and to produce books, records, and documents as specified in the subpoena. The court may grant legal, equitable, or injunctive relief, including, but not limited to, issuance of a writ of ne exeat or the restraint by injunction or appointment of a receiver of any transfer, pledge, assignment, or other disposition of such person’s assets or any concealment, alteration, destruction, or other disposition of subpoenaed books, records, or documents, as the court deems appropriate, until such person has fully complied with such subpoena and the Chief Financial Officer or the department has completed the audit, examination, or investigation. The Chief Financial Officer or the department is entitled to the summary procedure provided in s. 51.011, and the court shall advance the cause on its calendar. Costs incurred by the Chief Financial Officer or the department to obtain an order granting, in whole or in part, such petition for enforcement of a subpoena shall be charged against the subpoenaed person, and failure to comply with such order shall be a contempt of court.

The Chief Financial Officer is authorized to establish the form or forms of state warrants which are to be drawn by him or her and of other orders for payment or disbursement of moneys out of the State Treasury and to change the form thereof from time to time as the Chief Financial Officer may consider necessary or appropriate. Such orders for payment may be in any form, but, regardless of form, each order shall be subject to the accounting and recordkeeping requirements applicable to state warrants.

The Chief Financial Officer shall adopt rules establishing accounting and recordkeeping procedures for all payments made by electronic transfer of funds or by any other means. Such procedures shall be consistent with the statutory requirements applicable to payments by state warrant.

As used in this section, the term “beneficiary” means any person who is drawing salary or retirement benefits from the state or who is the recipient of any lawful payment from state funds.

The Chief Financial Officer shall establish a program for the direct deposit of funds to the account of the beneficiary of such a payment or disbursement in any financial institution equipped for electronic fund transfers, which institution is designated in writing by such beneficiary and has lawful authority to accept such deposits. Direct deposit of funds shall be by any electronic or other transfer medium approved by the Chief Financial Officer for such purpose.

The Chief Financial Officer may contract with an authorized financial institution for the services necessary to operate the program. In order to implement the provisions of this section, the Chief Financial Officer may deposit with that financial institution the funds payable to the beneficiaries, in lump sum, by Chief Financial Officer’s warrant to make the authorized direct deposits.

The written authorization of a beneficiary shall be filed with the department or its designee. Such authorization shall remain in effect until withdrawn in writing by the beneficiary or dishonored by the designated financial institution.

All direct deposit records made prior to October 1, 1986, are exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1). With respect to direct deposit records made on or after October 1, 1986, the names of the authorized financial institutions and the account numbers of the beneficiaries are confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution. Notwithstanding this exemption and the provisions of s. 119.071(5)(b), the department may provide a state university, upon request, with that university’s employee or vendor direct deposit authorization information on file with the department in order to accommodate the transition to the university accounting system. The state university shall maintain the confidentiality of all such information provided by the department.

To cover the department’s actual costs for processing the direct deposit of funds other than salary or retirement benefits, the department may charge the beneficiary of the direct deposit a reasonable fee. The department may collect the fee by direct receipt from the beneficiary or by subtracting the amount of the fee from the funds due the beneficiary. Such fees collected by the department shall be deposited into the Department of Financial Services Administrative Trust Fund.

Effective July 1, 2000, all new recipients of retirement benefits from this state shall be paid by direct deposit of funds. A retiree may request from the department an exemption from the provisions of this subsection when such retiree can demonstrate a hardship. The department may pay retirement benefits by state warrant when deemed administratively necessary.

The Chief Financial Officer shall make in all his or her future annual reports an exhibit stated from the record of disbursements made during the fiscal year, and the several heads of expenditures under which such disbursements were made.

The Chief Financial Officer shall also cause to have reported from the Florida Accounting Information Resource Subsystem no less than quarterly the disbursements which agencies made to small businesses, as defined in the Florida Small and Minority Business Assistance Act; to certified minority business enterprises in the aggregate; and to certified minority business enterprises broken down into categories of minority persons, as well as gender and nationality subgroups. This information shall be made available to the agencies, the Office of Supplier Diversity, the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Each agency shall be responsible for the accuracy of information entered into the Florida Accounting Information Resource Subsystem for use in this reporting.

The Chief Financial Officer is required to duplicate any Chief Financial Officer’s warrants that may have been lost or destroyed, or may hereafter be lost or destroyed, upon the owner thereof or the owner’s agent or attorney presenting the Chief Financial Officer the statement, under oath, reciting the number, date, and amount of any warrant or the best and most definite description in his or her knowledge and the circumstances of its loss; if the Chief Financial Officer deems it necessary, the owner or the owner’s agent or attorney shall file in the office of the Chief Financial Officer a surety bond, or a bond with securities, to be approved by one of the judges of the circuit court or one of the justices of the Supreme Court, in a penalty of not less than twice the amount of any warrants so duplicated, conditioned to indemnify the state and any innocent holders thereof from any damages that may accrue from such duplication.

The Chief Financial Officer is required to duplicate any Chief Financial Officer’s warrant that may have been lost or destroyed, or may hereafter be lost or destroyed, when sent to any payee via any state agency when such warrant is lost or destroyed prior to being received by the payee and provided the director of the state agency to whom the warrant was sent presents to the Chief Financial Officer a statement, under oath, reciting the number, date, and amount of the warrant lost or destroyed, the circumstances surrounding the loss or destruction of such warrant, and any additional information that the Chief Financial Officer shall request in regard to such warrant.

Any duplicate Chief Financial Officer’s warrant issued in pursuance of the above provisions shall be of the same validity as the original was before its loss.

The Chief Financial Officer shall charge the state attorneys with the collection of all claims that are placed in their hands for collection of money or property for the state or any county or special district, or that it otherwise requires them to collect. The charges are evidence of indebtedness of a state attorney against whom any charge is made for the full amount of the claim, until the charges have been collected and paid into the treasury of the state or of the county or special district or the legal remedies of the state have been exhausted, or until the state attorney demonstrates to the Chief Financial Officer that the failure to collect the charges is not due to negligence and the Chief Financial Officer has made a proper entry of satisfaction of the charge against the state attorney.

The Chief Financial Officer may assign the collection of any claim to a collection agent or agents who are registered and in good standing pursuant to chapter 559, if the Chief Financial Officer determines the assignation to be cost-effective. The Chief Financial Officer may authorize the agent or agents to add a fee to the amount to be collected.

Each agency shall be responsible for exercising due diligence in securing full payment of all accounts receivable and other claims due the state.

Beginning October 1, 2010, and each October 1 thereafter, each agency shall submit a report to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Chief Financial Officer which includes:

Beginning December 1, 2010, and each December 1 thereafter, the Chief Financial Officer shall provide to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a report that details the following information for any contracted collection agent:

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in any contract providing for the location or collection of unclaimed property, the Chief Financial Officer may authorize the contractor to deduct its fees and expenses for services provided under the contract from the unclaimed property that the contractor has recovered or collected under the contract. The Chief Financial Officer shall annually report to the Governor, President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives the total amount collected or recovered by each contractor during the previous fiscal year and the total fees and expenses deducted by each contractor.

If any state warrant issued by the Chief Financial Officer or Comptroller against any fund in the State Treasury is not presented for payment within 1 year after the last day of the month in which it was originally issued, the Chief Financial Officer may cancel the warrant and credit the amount of the warrant to the fund upon which it is drawn. If the warrant so canceled was issued against a fund that is no longer operative, the amount of the warrant shall be credited to the General Revenue Fund. The Chief Financial Officer shall not honor any state warrant after it has been canceled.

The funds represented by a warrant canceled under subsection (1) are presumed abandoned by the payee or person entitled to the warrant and shall be reported and remitted as unclaimed property under s. 717.117, except that written notice to the apparent owner of the unclaimed property is not required before filing of the report. An action may not be commenced thereafter for recovery of funds represented by the warrant, except as provided by chapter 717. This subsection applies to all warrants issued on or after July 1, 1992.

When a warrant canceled under subsection (1) represents funds that are in whole or in part derived from federal contributions and disposition of the funds under chapter 717 would cause a loss of the federal contributions, the Governor shall certify to the Chief Financial Officer that funds represented by such warrants are for that reason exempt from treatment as unclaimed property. Obligations represented by warrants are unenforceable after 1 year from the last day of the month in which the warrant was originally issued. An action may not be commenced thereafter on the obligation unless authorized by the federal program from which the original warrant was funded and unless payment of the obligation is authorized to be made from the current federal funding. When a payee or person entitled to a warrant subject to this subsection requests payment, and payment from current federal funding is authorized by the federal program from which the original warrant was funded, the Chief Financial Officer may, upon investigation, issue a new warrant to be paid out of the proper fund in the State Treasury, provided the payee or other person executes under oath the statement required by s. 17.13 or surrenders the canceled warrant.

If a valid obligation of the state is due, owing, and unpaid and it becomes unenforceable for any reason because of the provisions and limitations contained in this section, the person entitled to payment on the obligation may present a claim for relief to the Legislature, provided the claim is made within the time limitations presently provided by law.

This section does not extend any applicable statute of limitations or revive any barred claim with respect to any state obligation outstanding and unpaid on July 1, 1995.

The Department of Financial Services may destroy general correspondence files and also any other records which the department may deem no longer necessary to preserve in accordance with retention schedules and destruction notices established under rules of the Division of Library and Information Services, records and information management program, of the Department of State. Such schedules and notices relating to financial records of the department shall be subject to the approval of the Auditor General.

The Department of Financial Services may photograph, microphotograph, or reproduce on film such documents and records as it may select, in such manner that each page will be exposed in exact conformity with the original.

The Department of Financial Services may destroy any of such documents after they have been photographed and filed in accordance with the provisions of subsection (1).

Photographs or microphotographs in the form of film or prints of any records made in compliance with the provisions of this section shall have the same force and effect as the originals thereof would have, and shall be treated as originals for the purpose of their admissibility in evidence. Duly certified or authenticated reproductions of such photographs or microphotographs shall be admitted in evidence equally with the original photographs or microphotographs.

Procedures or policies relating to the processing of payments from salaries, other personal services, or any other applicable appropriation.

Procedures for processing interagency and intraagency payments that do not require the issuance of a state warrant.

Procedures or policies requiring that payments made by the state for goods, services, or anything of value be made by electronic means, including, but not limited to, debit cards, credit cards, or electronic funds transfers.

A method that reasonably accommodates persons who, because of technological, financial, or other hardship, may not be able to receive payments by electronic means. The Chief Financial Officer may make payments by state warrant if deemed administratively necessary.

On February 1 of each year, the Chief Financial Officer shall present to the Governor and the Legislature a report listing all trust funds as defined in s. 215.32. The report must contain the following data elements for each fund for the preceding fiscal year:

The report shall separately list all funds that received no revenues other than interest earnings or transfers from the General Revenue Fund or from other trust funds during the preceding fiscal year.

The report shall separately list all funds that had unencumbered balances in excess of $2 million in each of the 2 preceding fiscal years.

The Chief Financial Officer shall establish and operate a statewide toll-free telephone hotline to receive information or suggestions from the residents of this state on how to improve the operation of government, increase governmental efficiency, and eliminate waste in government.

The Chief Financial Officer shall operate the hotline 24 hours a day. The Chief Financial Officer shall advertise the availability of the hotline in newspapers of general circulation in this state and shall provide for the posting of notices in conspicuous places in state agency offices, city halls, county courthouses, and places in which there is exposure to significant numbers of the general public, including, but not limited to, local convenience stores, shopping malls, shopping centers, gasoline stations, or restaurants. The Chief Financial Officer shall use the slogan “Tell us where we can ‘Get Lean’” for the hotline and in advertisements for the hotline.

Each telephone call on the hotline shall be received by the office of the Chief Financial Officer, and the office of the Chief Financial Officer shall conduct an evaluation to determine if it is appropriate for the telephone call to be processed as a “Get Lean” telephone call. If it is determined that the telephone call should be processed as a “Get Lean” telephone call, a record of each suggestion or item of information received shall be entered into a log kept by the Chief Financial Officer. A caller on the hotline may remain anonymous, and, if the caller provides his or her name, the name shall be confidential. If a caller discloses that he or she is a state employee, the Chief Financial Officer, in addition to maintaining a record as required by this section, may refer any information or suggestion from the caller to an existing state awards program administered by the affected agency. The affected agency shall conduct a preliminary evaluation of the efficacy of any suggestion or item of information received through the hotline and shall provide the Chief Financial Officer with a preliminary determination of the amount of revenues the state might save by implementing the suggestion or making use of the information.

Any person who provides any information through the hotline shall be immune from liability for any use of such information and shall not be subject to any retaliation by any employee of the state for providing such information or making such suggestion.

The Chief Financial Officer shall adopt any rule necessary to implement the establishment, operation, and advertisement of the hotline.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Federal Law Enforcement Trust Fund is created within the Department of Financial Services. The department may deposit into the trust fund receipts and revenues received as a result of federal criminal, administrative, or civil forfeiture proceedings and receipts and revenues received from federal asset-sharing programs. The trust fund is exempt from the service charges imposed by s. 215.20.

Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 216.301 and pursuant to s. 216.351, any balance in the trust fund at the end of any fiscal year shall remain in the trust fund at the end of the year and shall be available for carrying out the purposes of the trust fund.

The Chief Financial Officer is authorized to operate a personal check-cashing service or a remote financial service unit at the capitol for the benefit of state employees or other responsible persons who properly identify themselves.

If a personal check is dishonored or a state warrant is forged and the Chief Financial Officer has made diligent but unsuccessful effort to collect and has forwarded the returned check for prosecution by the appropriate state attorney, then he or she may include such amount in his or her budget request to be considered during the next legislative session.

Hereafter during any period of time the Legislature of Florida may be in actual session, the Chief Financial Officer is empowered to employ additional persons to assist in performing the services required of the Chief Financial Officer in connection with s. 17.53(1). The salaries to be paid such employees of the Chief Financial Officer shall not be in excess of the highest salary paid by the House of Representatives or the state Senate for secretarial services; and the salaries for said employees shall begin with the convening of the Legislature in session and shall continue for not more than 7 days after the close of the legislative session; provided, that recesses of the Legislature not in excess of 3 days shall be considered as time during which the Legislature is actually in session.

In addition to the regular annual appropriations for the Chief Financial Officer, there is appropriated for use of the Chief Financial Officer from the General Revenue Fund, from time to time as necessary, sufficient sums to pay the salaries of the above-described employees.

The Chief Financial Officer, or other parties with the permission of the Chief Financial Officer, shall deposit the money of the state or any money in the State Treasury in such qualified public depositories of the state as will offer satisfactory collateral security for such deposits, pursuant to chapter 280. It is the duty of the Chief Financial Officer, consistent with the cash requirements of the state, to keep such money fully invested or deposited as provided herein in order that the state may realize maximum earnings and benefits.

The Chief Financial Officer shall make funds available to meet the disbursement needs of the state. Funds which are not needed for this purpose shall be placed in qualified public depositories that will pay rates established by the Chief Financial Officer at levels not less than the prevailing rate for United States Treasury securities with a corresponding maturity. In the event money is available for interest-bearing time deposits or savings accounts as provided herein and qualified public depositories are unwilling to accept such money and pay thereon the rates established above, then such money which qualified public depositories are unwilling to accept shall be invested in:

These investments may be in varying maturities and may be in book-entry form. Investments made pursuant to this subsection may be under repurchase agreement or reverse repurchase agreement. The Chief Financial Officer may hire registered investment advisers and other consultants to assist in investment management and to pay fees directly from investment earnings. Investment securities, proprietary investment services related to contracts, performance evaluation services, investment-related equipment or software used directly to assist investment trading or investment accounting operations including bond calculators, telerates, Bloombergs, special program calculators, intercom systems, and software used in accounting, communications, and trading, and advisory and consulting contracts made under this section are exempt from the provisions of chapter 287.

In the event the financial institutions in the state do not make sufficient loan funds available for a residential conservation program pursuant to any plan approved by the Florida Public Service Commission under the Florida Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act, the board may authorize the investment of state funds, except retirement trust funds, in such a loan program at rates not less than prevailing United States Treasury bill rates. However, prior to investment of such funds, the Florida Public Service Commission shall develop a plan which must be approved by the Legislature before implementation.

All earnings on any investments made pursuant to this section are hereby appropriated to the General Revenue Fund, except that earnings attributable to moneys made available pursuant to s. 17.61(3)(a) and (b) shall be credited pro rata to the funds from which such moneys were made available.

The fact that a municipal officer or a state officer, including an officer of any municipal or state agency, board, bureau, commission, institution, or department, is a stockholder or an officer or director of a bank or savings and loan association will not bar such bank or savings and loan association from being a depository of funds coming under the jurisdiction of any such municipal officer or state officer if it shall appear in the records of the municipal or state office that the governing body of such municipality or state agency has investigated and determined that such municipal or state officer is not favoring such banks or savings and loan associations over other qualified banks or savings and loan associations.

The Chief Financial Officer is designated the cash management officer for the state and is charged with the coordination and supervision of procedures providing for the efficient handling of financial assets under the control of the State Treasury and each of the various state agencies, and of the judicial branch, as defined in s. 216.011. This responsibility shall include the supervision and approval of all banking relationships. Pursuant to this responsibility, the Chief Financial Officer may obtain information from financial institutions regarding depository accounts maintained by any agency or institution of the State of Florida.

In addition to the deposits authorized under this section and notwithstanding any other provisions of law, funds that are not needed to meet the disbursement needs of the state may be deposited by the Chief Financial Officer in accordance with the following conditions:

There is created a Treasury Investment Committee within the Division of Treasury consisting of at least five members who must possess special knowledge, experience, and familiarity in finance, investments, or accounting. The members of the committee shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Chief Financial Officer. The committee shall annually elect a chair and vice chair from among its membership.

The committee shall administer the Treasury Investment Program consistent with policies approved by the Chief Financial Officer for deposits and investments of public funds. The committee shall also make recommendations regarding investment policy to the Chief Financial Officer.

The committee shall submit an annual report outlining its activities and recommendations to the Chief Financial Officer and the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee. The report shall be submitted on August 15, 2009, and annually thereafter.

All moneys collected by state agencies, boards, bureaus, commissions, institutions, and departments shall, except as otherwise provided by law, be deposited in the State Treasury. However, when the volume and complexity of collections so justify, the Chief Financial Officer may give written approval for such moneys to be deposited in clearing accounts outside the State Treasury in qualified public depositories pursuant to chapter 280. Such deposits shall only be made in depositories designated by the Chief Financial Officer. No money may be maintained in such clearing accounts for a period longer than approved by the Chief Financial Officer or 40 days, whichever is shorter, prior to its being transmitted to the Chief Financial Officer or to an account designated by him or her, distributed to a statutorily authorized account outside the State Treasury, refunded, or transmitted to the Department of Revenue. All depositories so designated shall pledge sufficient collateral to be security for such funds as provided in chapter 280.

Revolving funds authorized by the Chief Financial Officer for all state agencies, boards, bureaus, commissions, institutions, and departments may be deposited by such agencies, boards, bureaus, commissions, institutions, and departments in qualified public depositories designated by the Chief Financial Officer for such revolving fund deposits; and the depositories in which such deposits are made shall pledge collateral security as provided in chapter 280.

Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, clearing and revolving accounts may be established outside the state when necessary to facilitate the authorized operations of any agency, board, bureau, commission, institution, or department. Any of such accounts established in the United States shall be subject to the collateral security requirements of chapter 280. Accounts established outside the United States may be exempted from the requirements of chapter 280 as provided in chapter 280; but before any unsecured account is established, the agency requesting or maintaining the account shall recommend a financial institution to the Chief Financial Officer for designation to hold the account and shall submit evidence of the financial condition, size, reputation, and relative prominence of the institution from which the Chief Financial Officer can reasonably conclude that the institution is financially sound before designating it to hold the account.

Each department shall furnish a statement to the Chief Financial Officer, on or before the 20th of the month following the end of each calendar quarter, listing each clearing account and revolving fund within that department’s jurisdiction. Such statement shall report, as of the last day of the calendar quarter, the cash balance in each revolving fund and that portion of the cash balance in each clearing account that will eventually be deposited to the State Treasury as provided by law. The Chief Financial Officer shall show the sum total of state funds in clearing accounts and revolving funds, as most recently reported to the Chief Financial Officer by various departments, in his or her monthly statement to the Governor, pursuant to s. 17.55.

The Chief Financial Officer shall administer a collateral management service for all state agencies as defined in s. 216.011, or any county, city, or political subdivision thereof, or other public authority that requires by statute, rule, or contract the deposit or pledge of collateral.

Eligible collateral listed in s. 17.57 may be deposited or pledged using the following collateral arrangements as approved by the Chief Financial Officer:

The Chief Financial Officer may adopt rules for the proper management and maintenance of the collateral management service.

The Chief Financial Officer may, in his or her discretion, establish a fee for processing, servicing, and safekeeping deposits and other documents or articles of value maintained by the Chief Financial Officer as requested by the various entities according to a service-level agreement or as provided for by law. Such fee shall be equivalent to the fee charged by financial institutions for processing, servicing, and safekeeping the same types of deposits and other documents or articles of value.

The Chief Financial Officer shall collect in advance, and persons so served shall pay to the Chief Financial Officer in advance, the miscellaneous charges as described in a service-level agreement.

All fees collected for the services described in this section shall be deposited in the Treasury Administrative and Investment Trust Fund.

There is created in the State Treasury the Treasury Cash Deposit Trust Fund. Cash deposits made pursuant to s. 17.59 shall be deposited into this fund.

Interest earned on cash deposited into this fund shall be prorated and paid to the depositing entities.

The Chief Financial Officer shall invest all general revenue funds and all the trust funds and all agency funds of each state agency, and of the judicial branch, as defined in s. 216.011, and may, upon request, invest funds of any board, association, or entity created by the State Constitution or by law, except for the funds required to be invested pursuant to ss. 215.44-215.53, by the procedure and in the authorized securities prescribed in s. 17.57; for this purpose, the Chief Financial Officer may open and maintain one or more demand and safekeeping accounts in any bank or savings association for the investment and reinvestment and the purchase, sale, and exchange of funds and securities in the accounts. Funds in such accounts used solely for investments and reinvestments shall be considered investment funds and not funds on deposit, and such funds shall be exempt from the provisions of chapter 280. In addition, the securities or investments purchased or held under the provisions of this section and s. 17.57 may be loaned to securities dealers and banks and may be registered by the Chief Financial Officer in the name of a third-party nominee in order to facilitate such loans, provided the loan is collateralized by cash or United States government securities having a market value of at least 100 percent of the market value of the securities loaned. The Chief Financial Officer shall keep a separate account, designated by name and number, of each fund. Individual transactions and totals of all investments, or the share belonging to each fund, shall be recorded in the accounts.

By and with the consent and approval of any constitutional board, the judicial branch, or agency now having the constitutional power to make investments and in accordance with this section, the Chief Financial Officer may make purchases, sales, exchanges, investments, and reinvestments for and on behalf of any such board.

The transfer of the powers, duties, and responsibilities of existing state agencies and of the judicial branch made by this section to the Chief Financial Officer shall include only the particular powers, duties, and responsibilities hereby transferred, and all other existing powers shall in no way be affected by this section.

Photographs, microphotographs, or reproductions on film of warrants, vouchers, or checks shall be deemed to be original records for all purposes; and any copy or reproduction thereof made from such original film, duly certified by the Division of Treasury as a true and correct copy or reproduction made from such film, shall be deemed to be a transcript, exemplification or certified copy of the original warrant, voucher, or check such copy represents, and shall in all cases and in all courts and places be admitted and received in evidence with the like force and effect as the original thereof might be.

The Division of Treasury may photograph, microphotograph, or reproduce on film, all records and documents of the division, as the Chief Financial Officer, in his or her discretion, selects; and the division may destroy any such documents or records after they have been photographed and filed and after audit of the division has been completed for the period embracing the dates of such documents and records.

Photographs or microphotographs in the form of film or prints of any records made in compliance with the provisions of this section shall have the same force and effect as the originals thereof would have, and shall be treated as originals for the purpose of their admissibility in evidence. Duly certified or authenticated reproductions of such photographs or microphotographs shall be admitted in evidence equally with the original photographs or microphotographs.