§ 37-527 — Trust land management fund

A. The trust land management fund is established. The fund consists of up to ten percent of the annual proceeds of:

1. Each beneficiary's trust lands granted to this state by the United States.

2. All sales of timber, mineral, gravel or other natural products or property from each beneficiary's trust lands granted to this state by the United States.

B. The commissioner shall determine the percentage of trust land proceeds to be deposited in the fund each fiscal year. The percentage shall be the same for all beneficiaries. The commissioner shall notify the joint legislative budget committee and the governor's office of strategic planning and budgeting of the determination on or before September 1 of the preceding fiscal year.

C. The monies in the fund:

1. Are subject to legislative appropriation. The department may retain an amount of monies from the fund that is sufficient to pay the department's costs for contracting with a qualified third-party reviewer as prescribed in section 37-132, subsection A, paragraph 12.

2. Shall be used exclusively to manage trust lands as prescribed by law.

D. The commissioner shall administer the fund. On notice from the commissioner, the state treasurer shall invest and divest monies in the fund as provided by section 35-313, and monies earned from investment shall be credited to the fund.

E. Monies in the fund are exempt from the provisions of section 35-190 relating to lapsing of appropriations, but if the balance in the fund at the end of any fiscal year exceeds two times the budget of the department for the management of trust lands for the next fiscal year, the excess amount shall be credited proportionately to the several permanent funds based on the last fiscal year's deposits.

F. This section does not prevent the legislature from appropriating state general fund monies for the purposes described in this section.