Florida Senate - 2022                   (PROPOSED BILL) SPB 2520
       
       
        
       FOR CONSIDERATION By the Committee on Appropriations
       
       
       
       
       
       576-02468A-22                                         20222520pb
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to trust funds; creating s. 17.42,
    3         F.S.; creating the Department of Financial Services
    4         Opioid Settlement Clearing Trust Fund; providing for
    5         sources of moneys; providing an exemption from
    6         specified service charges; providing for the use of
    7         such moneys; providing for disbursement of funds to
    8         the opioid settlement trust funds of the various
    9         agencies; prohibiting the investment of such moneys;
   10         exempting the trust fund from constitutional
   11         termination; providing an effective date.
   12          
   13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   14  
   15         Section 1. Section 17.42, Florida Statutes, is created to
   16  read:
   17         17.42 Department of Financial Services Opioid Settlement
   18  Clearing Trust Fund.—
   19         (1) The Department of Financial Services Opioid Settlement
   20  Clearing Trust Fund is created within the department.
   21         (2) Funds to be credited to the Opioid Settlement Clearing
   22  Trust Fund shall consist of payments received by the state from
   23  settlements reached with distributors as part of In re
   24  Mallinckrodt PLC, No. 20-12522 (JTD) (Bankr. D. Del.) and any
   25  other such similar settlements in opioid-related litigation or
   26  bankruptcy. Moneys received from such settlements and deposited
   27  into the trust fund are exempt from the service charges imposed
   28  under s. 215.20.
   29         (3) Monies disbursed or transferred from the Opioid
   30  Settlement Clearing Trust Fund must be used by the state, its
   31  agencies, its contractors, and its subdivisions and their
   32  contractors in accordance with any applicable settlement
   33  agreement.
   34         (4) The department shall disburse funds by nonoperating
   35  transfer from the Opioid Settlement Clearing Trust Fund to the
   36  opioid settlement trust funds of the various agencies, as
   37  appropriate, in amounts equal to the annual appropriations made
   38  from those agencies’ trust funds in the General Appropriations
   39  Act.
   40         (5) Moneys in the fund may not be invested pursuant to s.
   41  17.61. Moneys shall be retained in the trust fund for
   42  investment. Any gains, profits, or interests accrued shall be
   43  deposited or retained in the trust fund.
   44         (6) Pursuant to s. 19(f)(3), Art. III of the State
   45  Constitution, the Opioid Settlement Clearing Trust Fund is
   46  exempt from the termination provisions of s. 19(f)(2), Art. III
   47  of the State Constitution.
   48         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.