§ 1325.Purposes For Which Money In Fund Continuously Appropriated to Controller For Expenditure

Ordinarily, spending state money requires a fresh appropriation each fiscal year. This section takes the Unclaimed Property Fund out of that cycle. Notwithstanding the Government Code's general appropriation rule, all money in the Fund is continuously appropriated to the Controller, without regard to fiscal years, for spending on a defined list of purposes.

That list covers refunding amounts deposited in error, including overpayments; the cost of title searches and appraisals on real or personal property the Fund holds; bond costs needed to replace lost ownership certificates; payments the state owes as trustee, bailee, or successor under a trust deed, mortgage, or other lien on real property the Fund holds; upkeep and repair of property the Fund holds; official advertising tied to selling that property; payments to taxing agencies out of amounts the Controller deducted from allowed claims; transfers to the Inheritance Tax Fund for taxes a claimant owes; payment and delivery of money or property to claimants themselves; and transfers to the General Fund once property becomes permanently escheated. Each expenditure gets charged against the specific account holding the property involved, and if that account runs short, the shortfall can be covered from the Controller's own General Fund support appropriation or, for advertising costs, from money set aside for that purpose, to be repaid once the property is eventually sold.