Section 552-A. Re-employment service fund

1. There is hereby established in
  the  joint  custody  of the commissioner of taxation and finance and the
  state comptroller a fund to  be  known  as  the  "re-employment  service
  fund".
    2.  The  re-employment  service  fund  shall  consist  of  all  moneys
  collected and received by the commissioner from  employers  pursuant  to
  section  five  hundred  eighty-one-b of this article as well as interest
  and penalties associated with such collection. All moneys  collected  as
  contributions and interest relating to re-employment services under this
  article  shall  be deposited in a bank, trust company or industrial bank
  designated by the  state  comptroller.  Moneys  so  deposited  shall  be
  credited  immediately  to  the account of the re-employment service fund
  and shall be used for the purposes set forth  in  section  five  hundred
  ninety-eight of this article. Moneys in such fund may be invested by the
  state   comptroller   in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  section
  ninety-eight of the state  finance  law,  and  shall  be  used  for  the
  purposes  specified  herein. Any balance in such fund shall not lapse at
  any time but shall remain  continuously  available  for  such  purposes,
  provided,  however, that it shall be subject to the crediting provisions
  of subdivision five of this section.
    3. Moneys in the re-employment service fund  shall  be  kept  separate
  from and shall not be commingled with any other moneys in the custody of
  the  commissioner of taxation and finance and the state comptroller. All
  deposits of such moneys shall, if required by the state comptroller,  be
  secured  by  obligations of the United States or of this state of market
  value equal at all times to the amount of the deposit and all banks  and
  trust  companies  are  authorized  to  give  such  securities  for  such
  deposits.
    4. Moneys of the fund shall be used exclusively  for  the  purpose  of
  providing  additional  automated  systems  and staff to provide enhanced
  re-employment  services   and   claimant   management   activities   for
  unemployment  compensation  claimants  and for the payment of associated
  administrative costs relating to  unemployment  compensation  claimants.
  The moneys shall be paid out of the fund on the audit and warrant of the
  state comptroller on vouchers certified or approved by such commissioner
  or his or her duly designated officer.
    5.  The  re-employment  service  fund shall not be used in whole or in
  part for any purpose or  in  any  manner  which  (a)  would  permit  its
  substitution  for,  or  a corresponding reduction in, federal funds that
  would be available in  its  absence  to  finance  expenditures  for  the
  administration  of  this  article;  or  (b)  would cause the appropriate
  agency of the United States  government  to  withhold  any  part  of  an
  administrative grant which would otherwise be made.
    6.   On   or  before  January  thirty-first,  two  thousand  one,  the
  commissioner shall submit a report to the chairman of the assembly  ways
  and  means  committee,  the ranking minority member of the assembly ways
  and means committee, the chairman of the senate finance  committee,  the
  ranking  minority  member  of  the  senate  finance  committee,  and the
  director of the division  of  the  budget  regarding  the  re-employment
  services  fund  established  pursuant  to this section. The report shall
  contain the following information:
    (a) the amount of money deposited in the re-employment  services  fund
  for each year of its existence;
    (b)   the   number   of   department   employees  funded  through  the
  re-employment services fund;
    (c) the results of the activities engaged in by  department  employees
  funded through the re-employment services fund.