§41-15C-1. Creation; funding and distribution.

(a) There is hereby created the Alabama Senior Services Trust Fund as a separate fund in the State Treasury. The trust fund shall be administered by the Secretary/Treasurer of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, which shall be entitled to a reasonable fee for the administration. All investments shall be made pursuant to the same authority and restrictions that apply to the investment of funds of the Retirement Systems of Alabama.

(b) Funding to the Alabama Senior Services Trust Fund shall be from the distribution of tobacco settlement proceeds as enacted in Division 1 of Article 17 of Chapter 10 of this title. Distributions to the trust fund shall be made each fiscal year that the state receives proceeds from the tobacco settlement.

(c) Earnings in the trust fund shall not be subject to appropriation until the Legislature includes an appropriation in the general appropriations act from the trust fund to the Department of Senior Services or its successor. Appropriations by the Legislature from the trust fund to the Department of Senior Services or its successor shall equal 85 percent of the earnings of the prior year and shall be utilized to acquire maximum federal dollars available to be used to provide benefits and services to Alabama's elderly. The remaining 15 percent of the earnings shall be retained in the trust fund and reinvested as other monies are invested in the trust fund.

(d) Any funds appropriated pursuant to this section shall be additional funds distributed to the Alabama Department of Senior Services or its successor and shall not be used to supplant or decrease existing state or local support to the Alabama Department of Senior Services or its successor. Appropriations from the trust fund shall be used to both expand existing services and create new services for Alabama's elderly.

(e) No funds shall be withdrawn or expended from this fund except as budgeted and allotted according to the provisions of Sections 41-4-80 to 41-4-96, inclusive, and only in amounts as stipulated in the general appropriations act or other appropriations acts.

(Act 99-444, p. 1011, §1.)