Section 43-28-11 - ABLE Trust Fund created; Trust Fund accounts(1) There is created a Mississippi Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Trust Fund as an instrumentality of the state to be administered by the Department of Rehabilitation Services in consultation with the Treasury Department. The ABLE Trust Fund shall consist of state appropriations, monies acquired from other governmental or private sources and money remitted in accordance with ABLE participation agreements, and shall receive and hold all payments, contributions and deposits intended for it as well as gifts, bequests, endowments or federal, state or local grants and any other public or private source of funds and all earnings on the fund until disbursed as provided under this section. The amounts on deposit in the trust fund shall not constitute property of the state. Amounts on deposit in the trust fund may not be commingled with state funds, and the state may have no claim to or interest in such funds. ABLE participation agreements or any other contract entered into by or on behalf of the trust do not constitute a debt or obligation of the state, and no account owner is entitled to any amounts except for those amounts on deposit in or accrued to their account. The ABLE Trust Fund shall continue in existence as long as it holds any funds belonging to an account owner or otherwise has any obligations to any person or entity until its existence is terminated by the Legislature based on the recommendation of the Mississippi ABLE Board, and remaining assets on deposit in the fund are returned to account owners or transferred to the state in accordance with unclaimed property laws.
(2) There are created the following three (3) separate accounts within the ABLE Trust Fund: (a) The administrative account, which shall accept, deposit and disburse funds for the purpose of administering and marketing the program;(b) The endowment account, which shall receive and deposit accounts received in connection with the sales of interests in the ABLE Trust Fund other than amounts for the administrative account and other than amounts received pursuant to a participation agreement. Amounts on deposit in the endowment account may be applied as specified by the board for any purpose related to the program; and(c) The program account, which shall receive, invest and disburse amounts pursuant to participation agreements.(3) Payments received by the board on behalf of account owners from other payors or any other source, public or private, shall be placed in the ABLE Trust Fund, or in the event ABLE accounts are established in other states pursuant to an agreement entered into with a contracting state or consortium state, and the board shall cause there to be maintained separate records and accounts for individual account owners, as may be required under Section 529A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and any other applicable federal law.(4) Account owners and any other payors or contributors shall be permitted only to contribute cash or any other form of payment or contribution as is permitted under Section 529A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and approved by the board.(5) The account owner retains ownership of all amounts on deposit in his or her account with the Mississippi ABLE Program up to the date of withdrawal of qualified disability expense transactions. Earnings derived from investment of the contributions shall be considered to be held in trust in the same manner as contributions, except as applied for purposes of maintaining and administrating the program as provided in this chapter. Amounts on deposit in an account owner's account shall be available for expenses and penalties imposed by the board for the program as disclosed in the ABLE participation agreement.(6) The assets of the ABLE Trust Fund shall be preserved, invested and expended solely pursuant to and for the purposes of this chapter and shall not be loaned or otherwise transferred or used by the state for any other purpose.Added by Laws, 2017, ch. 350, SB 2311, 6, eff. 3/20/2017.