§ 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.