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LAWS OF DELAWARE
VOLUME 83
CHAPTER 391
151st GENERAL ASSEMBLY
FORMERLY
SENATE BILL NO. 260
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 6 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE CONSUMER PROTECTION FUND.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:
Section 1. Amend Chapter 25, Title 6 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:
§ 2527. Consumer Protection Fund.
(a) All money received by the State as a result of actions brought by the Attorney General pursuant to subchapter II of Chapter 25 of Title 29 or pursuant to the state or federal antitrust laws shall be credited by the State Treasurer to a fund to be known as the “Consumer Protection Fund.”
(b) The Consumer Protection Fund will be a revolving fund and shall consist of funds transferred to the revolving fund pursuant to actions brought pursuant to subchapter II of Chapter 25 of Title 29 or an antitrust action, gifts or grants made to the revolving fund and funds awarded to the State or any agency thereof for the recovery of costs and attorney fees in a consumer fraud or an antitrust action; provided, however, that to the extent that such costs constitute reimbursement for expenses directly paid from constitutionally dedicated funds, such recoveries shall be transferred to the constitutionally dedicated fund.
(c) Money in the Consumer Protection Fund shall be used for the payment of expenses incurred by the Attorney General in connection with activities under subchapter II of Chapter 25 of Title 29, this chapter, laws prohibiting financial fraud, or the state or federal antitrust laws or, if approved by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Controller General, for other Department of Justice expenses resulting from General Fund deficits. At the end of any fiscal year, if the balance in the Consumer Protection Fund exceeds $3,000,000, $10,000,000, the excess shall be withdrawn from the Consumer Protection Fund and deposited in the General Fund.
(d) The Attorney General is authorized to expend from the Consumer Protection Fund such moneys as are necessary for the payment of salaries, costs, expenses and charges incurred in the preparation, institution and maintenance of consumer protection, financial fraud, and antitrust actions under state or federal antitrust laws.
(e) When it is legally established that the State, or agencies thereof, public bodies of the State or individuals have a right to a portion of funds in the Consumer Protection Fund, the Attorney General is authorized to approve release of such funds to the appropriate fund, entity or recipient.
(f) From time to time as determined by the Delaware State Clearinghouse Committee, the Attorney General shall submit a detailed report to members of the Committee of revenues, expenditures and program measures for the fiscal period in question. Such report shall also be sufficiently descriptive in nature so as to be concise and informative. The Committee may cause the Attorney General to appear before the Committee and to answer such questions as the Committee may require.
Approved August 4, 2022