Chapter 17 — Chapter 17

As provided in s. 4(c), Art. IV of the State Constitution, the Chief Financial Officer is the chief fiscal officer of the state and is responsible for settling and approving accounts against the state and keeping all state funds and securities.

For the purposes of this chapter, the term “department” means the Department of Financial Services.

The Chief Financial Officer of the state may appoint an assistant Chief Financial Officer to hold office during the pleasure of the Chief Financial Officer.

The Chief Financial Officer shall reside at the seat of government of this state and shall hold office in a room in the capitol.

(1) The Chief Financial Officer of this state, using generally accepted auditing procedures for testing or sampling, shall examine, audit, and settle all accounts, claims, and demands, whatsoever, against the state, arising under any law or resolution of the Legislature, and issu…

The Chief Financial Officer may engage the full-time services of two law enforcement officers, with power of arrest, to prevent all acts of a criminal nature directed at the property in the custody or control of the Chief Financial Officer. While so assigned, such officers shall …

The Chief Financial Officer, using generally accepted auditing procedures for testing or sampling, shall examine, audit, adjust, and settle the accounts of all the officers of this state, and any other person in anywise entrusted with, or who may have received any property, funds…

Except as otherwise provided by this section, information relative to an investigation conducted by the Chief Financial Officer pursuant to s. 17.04, including any consumer complaint, is confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State…

(1) It shall be the duty of the Chief Financial Officer to adjust and settle, or cause to be adjusted and settled, all accounts and claims heretofore or hereafter reported to it by the Auditor General, the appropriate county or district official, or any person against all county …

In order to facilitate their collection from third parties, the Chief Financial Officer may authorize the assignment of claims among the state, its agencies, and its subdivisions, whether arising from criminal, civil, or other judgments in state or federal court. The state, its a…

The Chief Financial Officer, through the Department of Financial Services, may provide accounting and payroll services on a fee basis under contractual agreement with eligible entities, including, but not limited to, state universities, community colleges, units of local governme…

(1) The Chief Financial Officer may demand and require full answers on oath from any and every person, party or privy to any account, claim, or demand against or by the state, such as it may be the Chief Financial Officer’s official duty to examine into, and which answers the Chi…

(1) The Chief Financial Officer is authorized to establish the form or forms of state warrants which are to be drawn by him or her and of other orders for payment or disbursement of moneys out of the State Treasury and to change the form thereof from time to time as the Chief Fin…

(1) As used in this section, the term “beneficiary” means any person who is drawing salary or retirement benefits from the state or who is the recipient of any lawful payment from state funds.(2) The Chief Financial Officer shall establish a program for the direct deposit of fund…

All accounts, vouchers, and evidence, upon which warrants have heretofore been, or shall hereafter be, drawn upon the treasury by the Chief Financial Officer shall be filed and deposited in the office of Chief Financial Officer or the office of the Chief Financial Officer’s desig…

All public officers who are entitled to salaries in this state, shall make their application for warrants in writing, stating for what terms and the amount they claim, which written application shall be filed by the Chief Financial Officer as vouchers for the warrants issued ther…

The Chief Financial Officer shall cause to be entered in the warrant register a record of the warrants issued during the previous month, and shall make such entry in the record so required to be kept as shall show the number of each warrant issued, in whose favor drawn, and the d…

(1) The Chief Financial Officer shall make in all his or her future annual reports an exhibit stated from the record of disbursements made during the fiscal year, and the several heads of expenditures under which such disbursements were made.(2) The Chief Financial Officer shall …

Whenever it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Chief Financial Officer from examination of the books of his or her office that the tax collector or the sheriff for any county in this state has paid into the State Treasury, through mistake or otherwise, a larger or greater su…

(1) The Chief Financial Officer is required to duplicate any Chief Financial Officer’s warrants that may have been lost or destroyed, or may hereafter be lost or destroyed, upon the owner thereof or the owner’s agent or attorney presenting the Chief Financial Officer the statemen…

The Chief Financial Officer may prescribe the forms of all papers, vouchers, reports and returns and the manner of keeping the accounts and papers to be used by the officers of this state or other persons having accounts, claims, or demands against the state or entrusted with the…

The office of the Chief Financial Officer shall have an official seal by which its proceedings are authenticated.

The office of Chief Financial Officer, and the books, files, documents, records, and papers shall always be subject to the examination of the Governor of this state, or any person the Governor may authorize to examine the same; and on the first day of January of each and every ye…

(1) The Chief Financial Officer shall charge the state attorneys with the collection of all claims that are placed in their hands for collection of money or property for the state or any county or special district, or that it otherwise requires them to collect. The charges are ev…

The Chief Financial Officer shall not audit or allow any claim which any state attorney may have against the state for services who shall fail to make any report which by law the state attorney is required to make to the Chief Financial Officer of claims of the state which it is …

Whenever the Chief Financial Officer forwards any bond or account or claim for suit to any state attorney, he or she shall advise the Department of Legal Affairs of the fact, giving it the amount of the claim and other necessary particulars for its full information upon the subje…

The Chief Financial Officer may certify, under his or her seal of office, copies of any record, paper, or document, by law placed in the Chief Financial Officer’s custody, keeping, and care; and such certified copy shall have the same force and effect as evidence as the original …

(1) If any state warrant issued by the Chief Financial Officer or Comptroller against any fund in the State Treasury is not presented for payment within 1 year after the last day of the month in which it was originally issued, the Chief Financial Officer may cancel the warrant an…

(1) The Department of Financial Services may destroy general correspondence files and also any other records which the department may deem no longer necessary to preserve in accordance with retention schedules and destruction notices established under rules of the Division of Lib…

The Chief Financial Officer may permit biweekly salary payments to personnel upon written request by a specific state agency.

The Chief Financial Officer may adopt rules pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54 to implement this chapter and the duties assigned by statute or the State Constitution. Such rules may include, but are not limited to, the following:(1) Procedures or policies relating to the proce…

The Chief Financial Officer may disseminate, in any form or manner he or she considers appropriate, information regarding the Chief Financial Officer’s official duties.

(1) On February 1 of each year, the Chief Financial Officer shall present to the Governor and the Legislature a report listing all trust funds as defined in s. 215.32. The report must contain the following data elements for each fund for the preceding fiscal year:(a) The fund cod…

(1) The Chief Financial Officer shall establish and operate a statewide toll-free telephone hotline to receive information or suggestions from the residents of this state on how to improve the operation of government, increase governmental efficiency, and eliminate waste in gover…

(1) The Department of Financial Services Tobacco Settlement Clearing Trust Fund, which shall be referred to as the “Lawton Chiles Trust Fund,” is created within that department.(2) Funds to be credited to the Tobacco Settlement Clearing Trust Fund shall consist of payments receiv…

(1) The Opioid Settlement Clearing Trust Fund is created within the department.(2) Funds to be credited to the Opioid Settlement Clearing Trust Fund shall consist of payments received by the state from settlements reached with distributors as part of In re Mallinckrodt PLC, Case …

(1) The Federal Law Enforcement Trust Fund is created within the Department of Financial Services. The department may deposit into the trust fund receipts and revenues received as a result of federal criminal, administrative, or civil forfeiture proceedings and receipts and reven…

The Chief Financial Officer shall, within 10 days before he or she enters upon the duties of office, take and subscribe an oath or affirmation faithfully to discharge the duties of office, which oath or affirmation must be deposited with the Department of State. The Chief Financi…

The Division of Treasury shall pay all warrants on the treasury drawn by the Chief Financial Officer or Comptroller and other orders by the Chief Financial Officer or Comptroller for the disbursement of state funds by electronic means or by means of a magnetic tape or any other t…

The Chief Financial Officer shall make a report in detail to the Governor, with a copy to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives as soon after the 1st day of July of each year as it is practicable to prepare same of the transactions of the Div…

The office of the Chief Financial Officer, and the books, files, documents, records, and papers thereof, shall always be subject to the examination of the Governor of the state, or any person he or she may authorize to examine same. The Chief Financial Officer shall exhibit to th…

The Division of Treasury shall keep a record of the warrants or other orders of the Chief Financial Officer which the Division of Treasury pays and shall account for all state funds and securities.

The Division of Treasury shall maintain all warrants drawn by the Chief Financial Officer and paid by the Division of Treasury for 10 years after the date on which a warrant was presented for payment.

(1)(a) As used in this subsection, the term “pecuniary factor” means a factor that the Chief Financial Officer, or other party authorized to invest on his or her behalf, prudently determines is expected to have a material effect on the risk or returns of an investment based on ap…

(1) There is created a Treasury Investment Council within the Division of Treasury consisting of at least five members, at least three of whom are professionals from the private sector, who must possess special knowledge, experience, and familiarity in finance, investments, or ac…

(1) All moneys collected by state agencies, boards, bureaus, commissions, institutions, and departments shall, except as otherwise provided by law, be deposited in the State Treasury. However, when the volume and complexity of collections so justify, the Chief Financial Officer m…

(1) The Chief Financial Officer shall administer a collateral management service for all state agencies as defined in s. 216.011, or any county, city, or political subdivision thereof, or other public authority that requires by statute, rule, or contract the deposit or pledge of …

(1) There is created in the State Treasury the Treasury Cash Deposit Trust Fund. Cash deposits made pursuant to s. 17.59 shall be deposited into this fund.(2) Interest earned on cash deposited into this fund shall be prorated and paid to the depositing entities. (1) There is crea…

(1) The Chief Financial Officer shall invest all general revenue funds and all the trust funds and all agency funds of each state agency, and of the judicial branch, as defined in s. 216.011, and may, upon request, invest funds of any board, association, or entity created by the …

Interest on state moneys deposited in qualified public depositories under s. 17.57 shall be payable to the Chief Financial Officer quarterly.