§ 31-11-103. Trauma Care Network Trust Fund

1. 1. There shall be established a Trauma Care Network Trust Fund as a separate fund in the state treasury and all funds held in the Georgia Trauma Trust Fund previously established by this Code section shall be transferred to the Trauma Care Network Trust Fund. The executive director of the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission shall serve as the trustee of the fund. The moneys deposited into such fund pursuant to this article may be expended by the executive director with the approval of the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission for those purposes specified in Code Section 31-11-102.
   2. The state treasurer shall invest the money held in the Trauma Care Network Trust 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.
2. 1. Under the authority granted and subject to the conditions imposed by Article III, Section IX, Paragraph VI(r) of the Constitution of Georgia, for the period beginning on July 1, 2022, and ending on June 30, 2032, all of the money collected pursuant to Code Section 40-6-189 shall be annually appropriated to the Trauma Care Network Trust Fund, and such funds shall not lapse as otherwise required by Article III, Section IX, Paragraph IV(c) of the Constitution of Georgia. Each annual appropriation shall be made through the General Appropriations Act and shall include all of the money collected from such source during the most recently completed fiscal year.
   2. All of the money appropriated to the Trauma Care Network Trust Fund pursuant to this subsection shall be dedicated for use and expended in accordance with the purposes specified in Code Section 31-11-102.
   3. The executive director of the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission shall prepare an accounting of the funds expended pursuant to this subsection 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.
3. The Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission shall report annually no later than October 1 to the Office of Health Strategy and Coordination. Such report shall provide an update on state-wide trauma system development and the impact of fund distribution on trauma patient care and outcomes.

History. Code 1981, § 31-11-103 , enacted by Ga. L. 2007, p. 36, § 1/SB 60; Ga. L. 2012, p. 1177, § 1/SB 489; Ga. L. 2019, p. 148, § 2-9/HB 186; Ga. L. 2021, p. 761, § 12/HB 511.

The 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2019, substituted “no later than October 1 to the Office of Health Strategy and Coordination” for “to the House Committee on Health and Human Services and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee” in the first sentence of subsection (b).

The 2021 amendment, effective July 1, 2022, substituted the present provisions of subsection (a) for the former provisions, which read: “There is established the Georgia Trauma Trust Fund. The executive director of the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission shall serve as the trustee of the Georgia Trauma Trust Fund. The moneys deposited into such fund pursuant to this article may be expended by the executive director with the approval of the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission for those purposes specified in Code Section 31-11-102.”; added subsection (b); and redesignated former subsection (b) as present subsection (c).

Editor’s notes.

Ga. L. 2019, p. 148, § 2-1/HB 186, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This part shall be known and may be cited as ‘The Health Act.’”