Florida Statutes § 402.18 — Welfare trust funds; creation, use.

402.18 Welfare trust funds; creation, use.—(1) All moneys now held in any auxiliary, canteen, welfare, donated, or similar fund in any state institution under the jurisdiction of the Department of Children and Families shall be deposited in a welfare trust fund, which fund is hereby created in the State Treasury, or in a place which the department shall designate. The money in the fund of each institution of the department, or which may accrue thereto, is hereby appropriated for the benefit, education, and general welfare of clients in that institution. The general welfare of clients includes, but is not limited to, the establishment of, maintenance of, employment of personnel for, and the purchase of items for resale at canteens or vending machines maintained at the state institutions and for the establishment of, maintenance of, employment of personnel for, and the operation of canteens, hobby shops, recreational or entertainment facilities, sheltered workshops, activity centers, farming projects, or other like facilities or programs at the institutions. (2) All moneys now held in any auxiliary, canteen, welfare, donated, or similar fund in any district of the department shall be deposited in a welfare trust fund which is hereby created in the State Treasury, or in a place which the department shall designate. Money in the fund of each district of the department, or which may accrue thereto, is hereby appropriated for the purpose for which the donor intended. Absent specific intentions of donor, such moneys shall be used for programs for the benefit, education, and general welfare of all clients of the department. All sales taxes collected by the department in a district for the Department of Revenue may be deposited into the district trust fund to facilitate preparing consolidated sales tax returns and remittals of sales tax to the Department of Revenue. (3) The department shall deposit in a welfare trust fund all receipts from the operation of canteens, vending machines, hobby shops, sheltered workshops, activity centers, farming projects, and other such facilities designated as accruing to a specific welfare trust fund, and any moneys which may be assigned to a specific welfare trust fund by clients or others. Separate revenue and expense accounts shall be maintained in the department’s accounting system for each such facility. Annually, the net proceeds, after providing an allowance for depreciation, shall be determined for such facility and made available for expenditures for the benefit and welfare of the clients of the department. The moneys of said fund shall constitute a trust held by the department for the benefit and welfare of the clients of the department. (4) Any contraband found upon, or in the possession of, any client of the department shall be confiscated and liquidated, and the proceeds thereof shall be deposited in a welfare trust fund. (5) The department may invest in the manner authorized by law for fiduciaries any money in a welfare trust fund which is not necessary for immediate use. Such investments may include, but shall not be limited to, investments in savings share accounts of any credit union chartered under the laws of the United States and doing business in this state, and savings share accounts of any credit union chartered under the laws of this state, provided the credit union is insured under the federal share insurance program or an approved state share insurance program. The interest earned and other increments derived from such investments of such money shall be deposited in the welfare trust fund. Moneys required for current use may be deposited in any bank, credit union, or savings and loan association authorized to do business in this state, provided such deposits are insured under a federal depository or share insurance program or under a state-approved depository or share insurance program, and provided such moneys are available on demand. (6) The department shall maintain accounts in the welfare trust fund for the sale of goods, services, or products resulting from sheltered workshop, activity center, and agricultural project operations carried out in the rehabilitation of the department’s clients, each project being accounted for separately in accordance with cost standards established by the department, but the cost of such projects shall not include any wage or salary expenditures funded by a general revenue appropriation applicable to such rehabilitative activities. The cost of materials incorporated in such products sold, if funded by an appropriation of general revenue, shall be restored to general revenue unallocated at the end of the fiscal year of sale from the proceeds of such sales; provided, however, that the cost of inventories on hand June 30, 1984, shall be accounted for as part of the working capital authorized for such activities. The department may extend credit for the sale of products produced in such activities, and for those sales made for its clients through its hobby shops, to purchasers of demonstrated credit standing sufficient to warrant the amount of credit extended after prudent evaluation of information relating to such credit standing. The department may obtain credit reports from reputable credit reporting agencies to assure prudence in the extending of credit, except when payment is made by credit card, charge card, or debit card as authorized by s. 215.322. The department shall provide an allowance for doubtful accounts for credit sales and record an expense in a like amount based on a good faith estimate, such provision being recorded as a cost of such sales. The net revenue after such provision shall be retained in the welfare trust fund and used only for the benefit of the department’s clients for whom the trust fund was established.