§28-16 Litigation deposits trust fund. (a) There is created in the state treasury the litigation deposits trust fund. There shall be deposited into this fund all moneys received through any civil action in which the State is a party where the settlement amount is $100,000 or higher, except for those actions involving departments able to procure their own legal services as provided for by section 28-8.3 and where no other state statute or court order specifically provides for the deposit of moneys received through the action.

(b) The fund shall be administered by the department of the attorney general. The department shall maintain accounting records of fund moneys, including subsidiary records of individual litigation deposits and disbursements thereof. Moneys in the fund may be separated into subsidiary accounts; provided that one subsidiary account shall not be commingled with moneys from another account except for deposit or investment purposes under subsection (d).

(c) Disbursements from each account maintained under subsection (b) may include attorney's fees and other necessary expenses that the department determines to be reasonable and directly related to prosecution of the civil action for which the account is maintained; provided that in the case of moneys deposited as a result of recoveries by an agency to which a non-general fund applies, the moneys shall be held and disbursed intact for deposit to the credit of the non-general fund. Money deposited in the fund pursuant to an order of the court shall be disbursed in accordance with the order of the court. Any residual funds remaining in an account shall be transferred to the respective non-general or general fund with which the civil action is associated no later than thirty days after the civil action for which the account is maintained is closed and all costs of that civil action have been paid, unless otherwise provided for by statute.

(d) Moneys in the fund may be invested by the department in securities as provided by section 36-21. Investment earnings shall be deposited in the general fund.

(e) The department shall submit a report to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of each regular session on:

(1) The transactions, by subsidiary account, that take place in the fund for each fiscal year; and

(2) A summary of the collections made in any amount on behalf of other departments and agencies specifying the appropriate number of transactions and amount collected for each department and agency. [L 2002, c 178, §1]