CHAPTER 18. EDUCATION.

ARTICLE 30A. WEST VIRGINIA JUMPSTART SAVINGS ACT.

§18-30A-8. West Virginia Jumpstart Savings Program Trust and Trust Fund created; administrative account.

(a) There is hereby established the Jumpstart Savings Program Trust, a public instrumentality of the State of West Virginia. The Jumpstart Savings Program Trust shall offer and issue interests in the trust to eligible members of the public.

(b) There is hereby also established a Jumpstart Savings Program Trust Fund Account, titled the Jumpstart Savings Trust Fund, within the accounts held by the Treasurer or with a financial institution, an investment manager, a fund manager, the West Virginia Investment Management Board, the Board of Treasury Investments, or any other person for the purpose of managing and investing the trust fund. Assets of the Jumpstart Savings Program Trust are held in trust for account owners and beneficiaries.

(c) The Jumpstart Savings Trust Fund shall receive all moneys from account owners on behalf of beneficiaries or from any other source, public or private. Earnings derived from the investment of the moneys in the Jumpstart Savings Trust Fund shall remain in the fund, held in trust in the same manner as contributions, except as refunded, applied for purposes of the beneficiaries, and applied for purposes of maintaining and administering the program.

(d) The corpus, assets, and earnings of the Jumpstart Savings Trust Fund do not constitute public funds of the state and are available solely for carrying out the purposes of this article. Any contract entered into by, or any obligation of the board on behalf of and for the benefit of the program, does not constitute a debt or obligation of the state but is solely an obligation of the Jumpstart Savings Trust Fund.

(e) All interest derived from the deposit and investment of moneys in the Jumpstart Savings Trust Fund shall be credited to the fund. At the end of any fiscal year, all unexpended and unencumbered moneys in the trust fund may not be credited or transferred to the State General Fund or to any other fund.

(f) In order to fulfill the charitable and public purposes of this article, neither the earnings nor the corpus of the Jumpstart Savings Trust Fund is subject to taxation by the state or any of its political subdivisions.

(g) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, money in the Jumpstart Savings Trust Fund is exempt from creditor process and not subject to attachment, garnishment, or other process; is not available as security or collateral for any loan, or otherwise subject to alienation, sale, transfer, assignment, pledge, encumbrance, or charge; and is not subject to seizure, taking, appropriation, or application by any legal or equitable process or operation of law to pay any debt or liability of any account owner, beneficiary, or successor in interest.

(h) The College and Jumpstart Savings Administrative Account, established in §18-30-8 of this code, shall receive all fees, charges, and penalties collected by the board. All expenses incurred by the board or the Treasurer in developing and administering the program shall be payable from the College and Jumpstart Savings Administrative Account.

§18-30A-8. West Virginia Jumpstart Savings Program Trust and Trust Fund created; administrative account.