FEDERAL TRUST FUND - 17101

Chapter 1284, Statutes of 1978, created the Federal Trust Fund effective July 1, 1979. The purpose of this fund is to provide a single depository for all federal funds received by the state from individual federal agencies and programs. This fund has the capability to track federal funds from the authorization process to the receipt and disbursement process.

All state agencies/departments receiving money directly from the federal government must deposit the money in the Federal Trust Fund.  See Government Code sections 16360-16365.5.  An exception applies to those state agencies/departments with specific statutory authority to maintain federal funds outside the State Treasury. 

Per Government Code section 16362, whenever any law provides for the payment and deposit of money received from the federal government into a specific fund in the State Treasury, the federal funds shall first be credited to the Federal Trust Fund.  The funds can then transferred or disbursed to the specific State Treasury fund to fulfill the purpose for which the money was collected or received.  For the definition of federal funds, see SAM section 17105.