A. There is hereby created in the state treasury a special fund designated as the Imported Seafood Safety Fund, referred to hereafter in this Section as the “fund”. After allocation of money to the Bond Security and Redemption Fund as provided in La. Const. Art. VII, § 9(B) , the treasurer shall deposit in and credit to the fund monies collected pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 40:31.35(C). Monies in the fund shall be invested in the same manner as monies in the state general fund. Interest earned on investment of monies shall be deposited in and credited to the fund. Unexpended and unencumbered monies in the fund shall remain in the fund. Monies in the fund shall be appropriated to the office of public health of the Louisiana Department of Health and used exclusively as provided in this Section.

            B. The monies in the fund shall be appropriated and expended solely for the purpose of sampling, analysis, testing, and monitoring of raw seafood products of foreign origin that are imported into Louisiana and stored on the premises of any business holding a commercial seafood permit issued pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 40:31.35. The office of public health of the Louisiana Department of Health shall directly administer or contract for such sampling, analysis, testing, and monitoring functions. The office of public health shall employ such functions to detect in imported seafood products the presence of substances that are harmful to human health. The state health officer shall determine the specific types of such sampling, analysis, testing, and monitoring functions to be implemented as well as the frequency and scope of these activities, all of which he may modify based upon the availability of funding for these purposes.

            Acts 2021, No. 306, §1.