(a) The Soldiers, Sailors and Marines Fund shall remain as established and shall be in the custody of the Treasurer as trustee of the fund and shall be administered by the American Legion. The Treasurer shall invest the fund and shall reinvest as much of the fund as is not required for current disbursement in accordance with the provisions of this section. The interest accumulations of the fund so held in trust or the corpus of the fund, to the extent that the interest accumulations of such fund are insufficient to carry out the purposes of this section shall be disbursed to the American Legion, which shall utilize such funds as specified in subsection (b) of this section, and the balance of said funds shall at the end of each fiscal year be added to the principal of the fund. Disbursements to the American Legion shall be made at such definite and stated periods as are necessary to meet the convenience of the American Legion and said trustee; but each disbursement shall be made upon the order of the American Legion, approved by at least two of its executive officers or of a special committee thereof thereunto specially authorized. The American Legion may consult with the Treasurer concerning investment of the fund.
(b) The Treasurer shall disburse not less than two million dollars annually to the American Legion in accordance with subsection (a) of this section. Such disbursement shall be made initially from interest accumulations of the fund. If such interest accumulations are less than two million dollars, the Treasurer shall disburse such amount of the corpus of the fund as is necessary to equal two million dollars. The American Legion shall utilize such amount for the purposes specified under section 27-140. None of such amount may be used by the American Legion for expenses of administering or operating the fund. The balance of any funds not expended by the end of each fiscal year shall be added to the corpus of the fund.
(c) The American Legion shall promptly turn over all gifts, bequests and donations received by it in support of the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines Fund to the Treasurer, and the amounts of such gifts, bequests and donations shall be added to the corpus of the fund.
(1949, Rev., S. 2957; 1949, S. 1648d; 1961, P.A. 578, S. 14; February, 1965, P.A. 574, S. 33; 1969, P.A. 337, S. 1; P.A. 74-338, S. 58, 94; P.A. 76-411, S. 2; P.A. 81-343, S. 5, 7; P.A. 97-47, S. 50; P.A. 07-187, S. 2; P.A. 11-48, S. 15; P.A. 13-247, S. 121; P.A. 14-217, S. 57.)
History: 1961 act provided for augmentation by finance advisory committee where funds were insufficient, with limitation; 1965 act deleted provision for augmentation of the fund by cigarettes taxes; 1969 act provided for reserve fund of $100,000; P.A. 74-338 substituted “investment advisory council” for “investment committee”; P.A. 76-411 deleted references to board of trustees and investment advisory council and qualified the treasurer “as trustee of said fund”, providing that the treasurer, instead of the board, administer the fund; P.A. 81-343 allowed reinvestments of moneys not needed for current disbursement in accordance with part I of Ch. 32 rather than reinvestments “in such securities as may be legal investments for trust funds”; P.A. 97-47 substituted “trustee” for “board of trustees”; (Revisor's note: In 2005 the Revisors editorially deleted the apostrophe from “Marines” in name of fund); P.A. 07-187 provided that treasurer of the American Legion, instead of State Treasurer, shall administer the fund and that State Treasurer shall invest the fund, and made technical changes, effective June 6, 2007; P.A. 11-48 designated existing provisions as Subsec. (a) and amended same by adding provision re repayment of amounts appropriated from General Fund, and added Subsec. (b) re when Comptroller may transfer interest to General Fund, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 13-247 deleted Subsec. (a) designator, replaced requirement that treasurer of American Legion administer the fund with requirement that American Legion administer the fund, deleted provision re order of Comptroller to pay interest accumulations, deleted provisions re Finance Advisory Committee to make appropriations from state General Fund, added provision authorizing American Legion to consult with the Treasurer concerning investment of the fund and to utilize up to $300,000 of interest accumulation to administer the fund, deleted former Subsec. (b) re transfer of interest to General Fund by Comptroller, and made conforming changes, effective July 1, 2014; P.A. 14-217 designated existing provisions as Subsec. (a) and amended same by adding provisions re disbursement of corpus of fund to American Legion, deleting provision re use of interest accumulation by American Legion to administer fund and making conforming changes, added Subsec. (b) re Treasurer to disburse not less than $2,000,000 annually to American Legion, re amount not to be used for administering or operating fund and re balance of unexpended funds to be added to corpus, and added Subsec. (c) re American Legion to turn over gifts, bequests and donations to Treasurer for addition to corpus of fund, effective July 1, 2014.
See Sec. 27-117 re disclosure of property of applicant.
Right of American Legion to take from income enough to pay for fair cost of management of fund. 97 C. 612.