44-10-43. Farmland Conservation Fund created; investments; expenditures; accounting of expenditures.

1. (1)

   The state treasurer shall establish a separate trust fund in the state treasury that shall be known as the Georgia Farmland Conservation Fund, consisting of annual appropriations by the legislature to the fund, public or private grants, gifts, donations, or contributions dedicated to the fund for farmland conservation, and moneys from any other source, including proceeds from the sale of bonds, state, federal or private mitigation funds, or moneys from any local, state, or federal program dedicated to the fund for farmland conservation.#

2. (2)

   The state treasurer shall invest the money held in the Georgia Farmland Conservation Fund in the same manner in which state funds are invested as authorized by the State Depository Board pursuant to Article 3 of Chapter 17 of Title 50. Interest earned by the money held in the trust fund shall be accounted for separately and shall be credited to the trust fund to be disbursed as other moneys in the trust fund.#

Moneys in the Georgia Farmland Conservation Fund shall be expended by the Commissioner solely as provided in this article.#

The Commissioner shall prepare an accounting of the moneys expended pursuant to this Code section during the most recently completed fiscal year to be provided to the Office of Planning and Budget, the House Budget and Research Office, and the Senate Budget and Evaluation Office by January 1 of each year.#