Section 18969.

(a) There is hereby created in the State Treasury a fund which shall be known as the State Children's Trust Fund. The fund shall consist of funds received from a county pursuant to Section 18968, funds collected by the state and transferred to the fund pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 103625 of the Health and Safety Code and Article 2 (commencing with Section 18711) of Chapter 3 of Part 10.2 of Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, grants, gifts, or bequests made to the state from private sources to be used for innovative and distinctive child abuse and neglect prevention and intervention projects and money appropriated to the fund for this purpose by the Legislature. The State Registrar may retain a percentage of the fees collected pursuant to Section 10605 of the Health and Safety Code, not to exceed 10 percent, in order to defray the costs of collection.

(b) Money in the State Children's Trust Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, shall be allocated to the State Department of Social Services for the purpose of funding child abuse and neglect prevention and intervention programs. The department may not supplant any federal, state, or county funds with any funds made available through the State Children's Trust Fund.

(c) The department may establish positions as needed for the purpose of implementing and administering child abuse and neglect prevention and intervention programs that are funded by the State Children's Trust Fund. However, the department shall use no more than 5 percent of the funds appropriated pursuant to this section for administrative costs.

(d) No State Children's Trust Fund money shall be used to supplant state General Fund money for any purpose.

(e) It is the intent of the Legislature that the State Children's Trust Fund provide for all of the following:

(1) The development of a public-private partnership by encouraging consistent outreach to the private foundation and corporate community.

(2) Funds for large-scale dissemination of information that will promote public awareness regarding the nature and incidence of child abuse and the availability of services for intervention. These public awareness activities shall include, but not be limited to, the production of public service announcements, well designed posters, pamphlets, booklets, videos, and other media tools.

(3) Research and demonstration projects that explore the nature and incidence and the development of long-term solutions to the problem of child abuse.

(4) The development of a mechanism to provide ongoing public awareness through activities that will promote the charitable tax deduction for the trust fund and seek continued contributions. These activities may include convening a philanthropic roundtable, developing literature for use by the State Bar for dissemination, and whatever other activities are deemed necessary and appropriate to promote the trust fund.

(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 62, Sec. 335. Effective January 1, 2004.)