Section 109-B. Custody and investment of fund

1. The fund created by this
  article shall be separate and apart from any other fund so  created  and
  from  all  other  state moneys, and the faith and credit of the state of
  New York is pledged for its safekeeping. The  commissioner  of  taxation
  and  finance  shall be the custodian of said fund; and all disbursements
  from said fund shall be made by the commissioner of taxation and finance
  upon vouchers signed by the superintendent of insurance, or his  deputy,
  as  hereinafter provided. The moneys of said fund may be invested by the
  commissioner of taxation and finance in  the  stocks  or  bonds  of  the
  United  States  or of this state and in interest bearing certificates of
  deposit of a bank or trust company located and authorized to do business
  in this state or of a national bank located in this state secured  by  a
  pledge of direct obligations of the United States or of the state of New
  York,  or in accordance with the provisions of section ninety-eight-a of
  the state finance law,  in  an  amount  equal  to  the  amount  of  such
  certificates  of  deposit.  The commissioner of taxation and finance may
  sell any of the securities or certificates of deposit in which said fund
  is invested, if advisable for its proper administration or in  the  best
  interests  of  such  fund, and all earnings from the investments of such
  fund shall be credited to such fund.
    2. (a) Notwithstanding any provision  of  law  to  the  contrary,  the
  superintendent  of insurance shall annually no later than November first
  in each year, submit to the director of the  budget  a  request  for  an
  appropriation of sixty-seven million dollars. The governor shall include
  such  amount  in a budget bill for the next state fiscal year. The state
  comptroller shall encumber the amount so appropriated before the end  of
  the  fiscal  year  for  which any such appropriation is made. If for any
  fiscal year  commencing  on  or  after  April  first,  nineteen  hundred
  eighty-three,  the  governor fails to submit a budget bill containing an
  appropriation in the amount requested by the superintendent of insurance
  or the legislature fails to appropriate the  amount  in  a  budget  bill
  submitted  by the governor for such fiscal year, the amount appropriated
  for and encumbered during the preceding fiscal  year  shall  be  payable
  forthwith  to  the  fund  on  the  first day of July of such year in the
  manner prescribed by law, provided, however, that such amount shall  not
  exceed  the  amount  of  moneys transferred to the general fund from the
  fund pursuant to the provisions of chapter fifty-five  of  the  laws  of
  nineteen hundred eighty-two.
    (b)  It  is  hereby  found and declared that any appropriation made as
  provided for in paragraph (a) of this subdivision  shall  be  deemed  an
  asset of the fund, and that any transfer of moneys from such fund to the
  general  fund in accordance with the provisions of chapter fifty-five of
  the laws of nineteen hundred eighty-two is deemed a proper  and  prudent
  legal  undertaking for any state officer with the responsibility for the
  custody or the investment of the assets of the fund, notwithstanding any
  other provision of law to the contrary.