1998 Florida Code
TITLE XXXI LABOR
Chapter 443 Unemployment Compensation  
443.191   Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund; establishment and control.

443.191  Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund; establishment and control.--

(1)  There is established, as a special fund separate and apart from all public moneys or funds of this state, an Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, which shall be administered by the division exclusively for the purposes of this chapter. This fund shall consist of:

(a)  All contributions collected under this chapter;

(b)  Interest earned upon any moneys in the fund;

(c)  Any property or securities acquired through the use of moneys belonging to the fund;

(d)  All earnings of such property or securities; and

(e)  All money credited to this state's account in the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund pursuant to s. 903 of the Social Security Act, as amended.

All moneys in the fund shall be mingled and undivided.

1(2)  The Treasurer is the ex officio treasurer and custodian of the fund and shall administer the fund in accordance with the directions of the division. All payments from the fund must be approved by the division or by a duly authorized agent and must be made by the Treasurer upon warrants issued by the Comptroller, except as hereinafter provided. The Treasurer shall maintain within the fund three separate accounts:

(a)  A clearing account;

(b)  An Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund account; and

(c)  A benefit account.

All moneys payable to the fund, including moneys received from the United States as reimbursement for extended benefits paid by the division, upon receipt thereof by the division, must be forwarded to the Treasurer, who shall immediately deposit them in the clearing account. Refunds payable under s. 443.141 may be paid from the clearing account upon warrants issued by the Comptroller. After clearance, all other moneys in the clearing account must be immediately deposited with the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the account of this state in the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund established and maintained under s. 904 of the Social Security Act, as amended, any provisions of the law in this state relating to the deposit, administration, release, or disbursement of moneys in the possession or custody of this state to the contrary notwithstanding. The benefit account shall consist of all moneys requisitioned from this state's account in the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund. Except as otherwise provided, moneys in the clearing and benefit accounts may be deposited by the Treasurer, under the direction of the division, in any bank or public depository in which general funds of the state may be deposited, but no public deposit insurance charge or premium may be paid out of the fund. If any warrant issued against the clearing account or the benefit account is not presented for payment within 1 year after issuance thereof, the Comptroller must cancel the same and credit without restriction the amount of such warrant to the account upon which it is drawn. When the payee or person entitled to any warrant so canceled requests payment thereof, the Comptroller, upon direction of the division, must issue a new warrant therefor, to be paid out of the account against which the canceled warrant had been drawn.

(3)  Moneys shall be requisitioned from the state's account in the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund solely for the payment of benefits and extended benefits and in accordance with rules prescribed by the division, except that money credited to this state's account pursuant to s. 903 of the Social Security Act, as amended, shall be used exclusively as provided in subsection (5). The division, through the Treasurer, shall from time to time requisition from the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund such amounts, not exceeding the amounts standing to this state's account therein, as it deems necessary for the payment of benefits and extended benefits for a reasonable future period. Upon receipt thereof, the Treasurer shall deposit such moneys in the benefit account in the State Treasury and warrants for the payment of benefits and extended benefits shall be drawn by the Comptroller upon the order of the division against such benefit account. All warrants for benefits and extended benefits shall be payable directly to the ultimate beneficiary. Expenditures of such moneys in the benefit account and refunds from the clearing account shall not be subject to any provisions of law requiring specific appropriations or other formal release by state officers of money in their custody. All warrants issued for the payment of benefits and refunds shall bear the signature of the Comptroller as above set forth. Any balance of moneys requisitioned from the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund which remains unclaimed or unpaid in the benefit account after the expiration of the period for which such sums were requisitioned shall either be deducted from estimates for, and may be utilized for the payment of, benefits and extended benefits during succeeding periods, or, in the discretion of the division, shall be redeposited with the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, to the credit of this state's account in the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, as provided in subsection (2).

(4)  The provisions of subsections (1), (2), and (3), to the extent that they relate to the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, shall be operative only so long as such unemployment trust fund continues to exist and so long as the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States continues to maintain for this state a separate book account of all funds deposited therein by this state for benefit purposes, together with this state's proportionate share of the earnings of such Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, from which no other state is permitted to make withdrawals. If and when such Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund ceases to exist, or such separate book account is no longer maintained, all moneys, properties, or securities therein belonging to the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund of this state shall be transferred to the Treasurer of the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, who shall hold, invest, transfer, sell, deposit, and release such moneys, properties, or securities in a manner approved by the division in accordance with the provisions of this chapter; however, such moneys shall be invested in the following readily marketable classes of securities: bonds or other interest-bearing obligations of the United States or of the state. Further, such investment shall at all times be so made that all the assets of the fund shall always be readily convertible into cash when needed for the payment of benefits. The Treasurer shall dispose of securities or other properties belonging to the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund only under the direction of the division.

(5)  MONEY CREDITED UNDER SECTION 903 OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT.--

(a)  Money credited to the account of this state in the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States pursuant to s. 903 of the Social Security Act may not be requisitioned from this state's account or used except for the payment of benefits and for the payment of expenses incurred for the administration of this law. Such money may be requisitioned pursuant to subsection (3) for the payment of benefits. Such money may also be requisitioned and used for the payment of expenses incurred for the administration of this law but only pursuant to a specific appropriation by the Legislature and only if the expenses are incurred and the money is requisitioned after the enactment of an appropriation law which:

1.  Specifies the purposes for which such money is appropriated and the amounts appropriated therefor;

2.  Limits the period within which such money may be obligated to a period ending not more than 2 years after the date of the enactment of the appropriation law; and

3.  Limits the amount which may be obligated during any 12-month period beginning on July 1 and ending on the next June 30 to an amount which does not exceed the amount by which the aggregate of the amounts credited to the account of this state pursuant to s. 903 of the Social Security Act during the same 12-month period and the 34 preceding 12-month periods, exceeds the aggregate of the amounts obligated for administration and paid out for benefits and charged against the amounts credited to the account of this state during such 35 12-month periods.

4.  Notwithstanding 2this paragraph, money credited with respect to federal fiscal years 1999, 2000, and 2001 shall be used solely for the administration of the unemployment compensation program and such money shall not otherwise be subject to the requirements of 2this paragraph when appropriated by the Legislature.

(b)  Amounts credited to this state's account in the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund under s. 903 of the Social Security Act which are obligated for administration or paid out for benefits shall be charged against equivalent amounts which were first credited and which are not already so charged, except that no amount obligated for administration during a 12-month period specified herein may be charged against any amount credited during such a 12-month period earlier than the 34th preceding such period. Any amount credited to the state's account under s. 903 which has been appropriated for expenses of administration, whether or not withdrawn from the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, shall be excluded from the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund balance for the purposes of s. 443.131(3).

(c)  Money appropriated as provided herein for the payment of expenses of administration shall be requisitioned as needed for the payment of obligations incurred under such appropriation and, upon requisition, shall be deposited in the Employment Security Administration Trust Fund from which such payments shall be made. Money so deposited shall, until expended, remain a part of the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund and, if it will not be expended, shall be returned promptly to the account of this state in the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund.

History.--s. 10, ch. 18402, 1937; s. 6, ch. 19637, 1939; CGL 1940 Supp. 4151(497); s. 1, ch. 24084, 1947; s. 11, ch. 25035, 1949; s. 6, ch. 29771, 1955; ss. 1, 2, 3, ch. 59-99; s. 2, ch. 61-119; s. 6, ch. 61-132; s. 1, ch. 61-172; ss. 1, 2, ch. 63-276; ss. 1, 2, 3, ch. 65-114; ss. 17, 35, ch. 69-106; ss. 1, 2, 3, ch. 70-265; s. 1, ch. 70-315; ss. 8, 9, ch. 71-225; s. 1, ch. 73-283; s. 1, ch. 77-174; s. 119, ch. 79-164; ss. 6, 8, 9, ch. 80-95; s. 1, ch. 84-278; s. 12, ch. 85-61; s. 143, ch. 97-103; s. 37, ch. 98-34; s. 3, ch. 98-154.

1Note.--Section 46, ch. 98-34, provides that "[t]he provisions of this act do not affect a cause of action that accrued before [July 1, 1998]."

2Note.--The term "this paragraph" was substituted for the term "subparagraph 1." by the editors.

Note.--Former s. 443.10.