§12-3-1. Manner of payment from treasury; form of checks.

(a) Every person claiming to receive money from the treasury of the state shall apply to the Auditor for a warrant for same. The Auditor shall thereupon examine the claim, and the vouchers, certificates and evidence, if any, offered in support thereof, and for so much thereof as he or she finds to be justly due from the state, if payment thereof is authorized by law, and if there is an appropriation not exhausted or expired out of which it is properly payable, the Auditor shall issue his or her warrant on the treasurer, specifying to whom and on what account the money mentioned therein is to be paid, and to what appropriation it is to be charged. The Auditor shall present to the treasurer daily reports on the number of warrants issued, the amounts of the warrants and the dates on the warrants for the purpose of effectuating the investment policies of the State Treasurer and the Investment Management Board. On the presentation of the warrant to the treasurer, the treasurer shall ascertain whether there are sufficient funds in the treasury to pay that warrant, and if he or she finds it to be so, he or she shall in that case, but not otherwise, endorse his or her check upon the warrant, directed to some depository, which check shall be payable to the order of the person who is to receive the money therein specified.

(b) If a check is not presented for payment within six months after it is drawn, it is the duty of the treasurer to credit it to the depository on which it was drawn, to credit the "Treasurer's Stale Check Fund," which is hereby created in the State Treasury, and immediately notify the Auditor to make corresponding entries on the Auditor's books. If the State Treasurer determines any funds deposited in the stale check account are federal funds, the State Treasurer shall notify the spending unit authorizing the payment. Within six months following issuance of the notice, the spending unit shall inform the State Treasurer of the amount of federal funds included in the check, the account from which the federal funds were disbursed, and the current fiscal year account to which the federal funds are to be transferred. After receiving the information, the State Treasurer shall transfer the amount of federal funds specified as a reimbursement to the current fiscal year account specified to receive federal funds by the spending unit. For a period of up to six months, the State Treasurer shall endeavor to pay the money in the stale check account to the payee. The treasurer shall credit the money that has been in the stale check account for six months, or for a shorter period as determined by the treasurer, to the unclaimed property fund pursuant to the provisions of article eight, chapter thirty-six of this code, and shall immediately notify the Auditor to make corresponding entries on the Auditor's books.

(c) No state depository may pay a check unless it is presented within six months after it is drawn and every check shall bear upon its face the words "Void, unless presented for payment within six months."

(d) Any information or records maintained by the treasurer concerning any check not presented for payment within six months of the date of issuance is confidential and exempt from disclosure under the provisions of article one, chapter twenty-nine-b of this code, and is disclosable only to the state spending unit authorizing the check, or to the payee, his or her personal representative, next of kin or attorney-at-law.

(e) All claims required by law to be allowed by any court, and payable out of the State Treasury, shall have the seal of the court allowing or authorizing the payment of the claim affixed by the clerk of the court to his or her certificate of its allowance. No claim may be audited and paid by the Auditor unless the seal of the court is thereto attached as aforesaid. No tax or fee may be charged by the clerk for affixing his or her seal to the certificate, referred to in this section. The treasurer shall propose rules in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code governing the procedure for such payments from the treasury.