A. There is hereby created in the State Treasury a revolving fund for the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission to be designated "Oklahoma Real Estate Education and Recovery Fund". The fund shall consist of monies received by the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission as fees assessed for the Oklahoma Real Estate Education and Recovery Fund under the provisions of this act. The revolving fund shall be a continuing fund not subject to fiscal year limitations and shall be under the administrative direction of the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission. The Oklahoma Real Estate Commission may invest all or part of the monies of the fund in securities offered through the "Oklahoma State Treasurer's Cash Management Program". Any interest or dividends accruing from the securities and any monies generated at the time of redemption of the securities shall be deposited in the Oklahoma Real Estate Education and Recovery Fund. All monies accruing to the credit of the fund are hereby appropriated and may be budgeted and expended by the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission for the purposes specified in Section 858-605 of this title. Expenditures from said fund shall be made pursuant to the laws of this state and the statutes relating to the said Commission, and without legislative appropriation. Warrants for expenditures from said fund shall be drawn by the State Treasurer, based on claims signed by an authorized employee or employees of the said Commission and approved for payment by the Director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services.

B. Monies in the fund shall be used to reimburse any claimant who has been awarded a judgment, subject to subsection C of this section, by a court of competent jurisdiction to have suffered monetary damages by an Oklahoma real estate licensee in any transaction for which a license is required under The Oklahoma Real Estate License Code because of an act constituting a violation of The Oklahoma Real Estate License Code.

C. In determining a claimant's eligibility to recover from the fund, the Commission may conduct an independent review of the merits, findings and damages involved in the underlying action and may conduct an evidentiary hearing to determine if a claim is eligible for recovery from the fund and the amount of damages awarded are due an act constituting a violation of The Oklahoma Real Estate License Code.

Added by Laws 1977, c. 182, § 6, eff. July 1, 1977. Amended by Laws 1992, c. 94, § 7, eff. July 1, 1992; Laws 1997, c. 105, § 1, eff. July 1, 1997; Laws 1998, c. 60, § 20, eff. Jan. 1, 1999; Laws 2005, c. 85, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2005; Laws 2012, c. 304, § 269.