(a) There is created a fund to be known as the Georgia Cotton Producers Indemnity Fund of 1999. The Commissioner shall be the custodian of the fund, shall administer the fund, and may invest the resources of the fund in the same manner and fashion that an insurer authorized to issue contracts of life insurance is authorized to invest its resources.

(b) The fund shall consist of $5 million of federal moneys received pursuant to section 1121 of the federal Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1999, Public Law 105-277; all moneys appropriated by the General Assembly as required by section 1121 of the federal Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1999, Public Law 105-277, for the purpose of compensating claimants under this chapter; any other moneys made available to the fund; and any interest or earnings on such moneys accruing to the fund.

(c) All funds appropriated to or otherwise paid into the fund shall be presumptively concluded to have been committed to the purpose for which they have been appropriated or paid and shall not lapse.

(d) The Commissioner is authorized, subject to the limitations contained in this chapter, to disburse the appropriate indemnity payments to the persons eligible for such payments under this chapter from the Georgia Cotton Producers Indemnity Fund of 1999.

(e) Following the receipt of all claims, the investigation of each claim, as necessary, and the making of a determination that an award should or should not be paid for each claim filed, the Commissioner is authorized to draw warrants upon the Georgia Cotton Producers Indemnity Fund of 1999 to pay the indemnity amounts granted to eligible recipients from such fund. If the total amount of all claims approved for payment exceeds the total amount available in the fund for such payments, a pro rata payment shall be made to each approved claimant in the proportion that such claimant's approved claim amount bears to the total of all approved claims.

(f) If more than $5 million has been paid to cotton producers prior to January 1, 2000, any excess funds in the Georgia Cotton Producers Indemnity Fund of 1999 shall be expended as provided in Code Section 2-19-5.1.