N.Y. Workers' Compensation Law § 109-b: Custody and investment of fund

§ 109-b. Custody and investment of fund. 1. The fund created by this

article shall be separate and apart from any other fund so created and

from all other state moneys, and the faith and credit of the state of

New York is pledged for its safekeeping. The commissioner of taxation

and finance shall be the custodian of said fund; and all disbursements

from said fund shall be made by the commissioner of taxation and finance

upon vouchers signed by the superintendent of financial services, or his

deputy, as hereinafter provided. The moneys of said fund may be invested

by the commissioner of taxation and finance in the stocks or bonds of

the United States or of this state and in interest bearing certificates

of deposit of a bank or trust company located and authorized to do

business in this state or of a national bank located in this state

secured by a pledge of direct obligations of the United States or of the

state of New York, or in accordance with the provisions of section

ninety-eight-a of the state finance law, in an amount equal to the

amount of such certificates of deposit. The commissioner of taxation and

finance may sell any of the securities or certificates of deposit in

which said fund is invested, if advisable for its proper administration

or in the best interests of such fund, and all earnings from the

investments of such fund shall be credited to such fund.

2. (a) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the

superintendent of financial services shall annually no later than

November first in each year, submit to the director of the budget a

request for an appropriation of sixty-seven million dollars. The

governor shall include such amount in a budget bill for the next state

fiscal year. The state comptroller shall encumber the amount so

appropriated before the end of the fiscal year for which any such

appropriation is made. If for any fiscal year commencing on or after

April first, nineteen hundred eighty-three, the governor fails to submit

a budget bill containing an appropriation in the amount requested by the

superintendent of financial services or the legislature fails to

appropriate the amount in a budget bill submitted by the governor for

such fiscal year, the amount appropriated for and encumbered during the

preceding fiscal year shall be payable forthwith to the fund on the

first day of July of such year in the manner prescribed by law,

provided, however, that such amount shall not exceed the amount of

moneys transferred to the general fund from the fund pursuant to the

provisions of chapter fifty-five of the laws of nineteen hundred

eighty-two.

(b) It is hereby found and declared that any appropriation made as

provided for in paragraph (a) of this subdivision shall be deemed an

asset of the fund, and that any transfer of moneys from such fund to the

general fund in accordance with the provisions of chapter fifty-five of

the laws of nineteen hundred eighty-two is deemed a proper and prudent

legal undertaking for any state officer with the responsibility for the

custody or the investment of the assets of the fund, notwithstanding any

other provision of law to the contrary.