Senate Bill sb1016e2

    SB 1016                                 Second Engrossed (ntc)



  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to proceeds from the tobacco

  3         settlement; amending s. 569.21, F.S.;

  4         prescribing duties of the Governor and other

  5         officers with respect to monitoring the

  6         revenues from the tobacco settlement; providing

  7         for verification of payment amounts; requiring

  8         reports; authorizing fund transfers to repay

  9         certain costs; providing an effective date.

10

11  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

12

13         Section 1.  Present subsections (2) through (12) of

14  section 569.21, Florida Statutes, are renumbered as

15  subsections (3) through (13), respectively, and a new

16  subsection (2) is added to that section to read:

17         569.21  Expenditure of tobacco settlement

18  proceeds.--The following guidelines shall be applied to the

19  expenditure of all funds paid to the State of Florida as a

20  result of litigation entitled The State of Florida et al. v.

21  American Tobacco Company et al., Case #95-1466AH, in the

22  Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, in and for

23  Palm Beach County:

24         (2)  The Governor, in consultation with the Attorney

25  General, shall request information from the tobacco industry

26  with respect to calculating the annual tobacco settlement

27  payments. The Comptroller or Chief Financial Officer, in

28  consultation with the Auditor General, shall verify whether

29  the annual tobacco settlement payments received conform to the

30  terms of the tobacco settlement. Such verification shall

31  include, but not be limited to, applying the terms of the


                                  1

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    SB 1016                                 Second Engrossed (ntc)



  1  tobacco settlement to the information received from the

  2  tobacco industry and identifying inconsistencies in the

  3  calculation or information. The Comptroller or Chief Financial

  4  Officer may obtain contractual services necessary to analyze

  5  and verify the information received from the tobacco industry.

  6         (a)  If the Comptroller or Chief Financial Officer, in

  7  consultation with the Auditor General, determines that there

  8  has been an underpayment by a settling defendant pursuant to

  9  the tobacco settlement, the Comptroller or Chief Financial

10  Officer shall notify the Governor, the Attorney General, the

11  President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of

12  Representatives of such underpayment.

13         (b)  The Auditor General shall annually review the

14  state's process for verifying the annual tobacco settlement

15  payments as provided in this section. The Auditor General

16  shall annually report the results of such review to the

17  President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of

18  Representatives, the Governor, the Attorney General, and the

19  Comptroller or Chief Financial Officer.

20         Section 2.  The Governor is authorized to submit a

21  budget amendment to the Legislative Budget Commission to

22  transfer funds from the Tobacco Settlement Clearing Trust

23  Fund, or any of the agency Tobacco Settlement Trust Funds, to

24  the appropriate trust funds of the Governor, Attorney General,

25  and Comptroller or Chief Financial Officer to cover costs

26  incurred to ensure that tobacco settlement receipts comport

27  with the tobacco settlement. This section authorizes transfers

28  between agencies, pursuant to the requirements of section

29  216.292(1)(a), Florida Statutes.

30         Section 3.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

31  law.


                                  2

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.