66-1334.

Agricultural Alcohol Fuel Tax Fund; created; use; investment.

(1) The Agricultural Alcohol Fuel Tax Fund is hereby created. The fund shall be administered by the board. The fund shall contain (a) transfers made pursuant to section 66-726, (b) all sums of money received from fees resulting from any conference or event held by the board, (c) gifts, grants, and contributions made by public or private entities, and (d) transfers as authorized by the Legislature. Any money in the fund available for investment shall be invested by the state investment officer pursuant to the Nebraska Capital Expansion Act and the Nebraska State Funds Investment Act.

(2) The fund shall be used for the following purposes:

(a) Establishment, with cooperation of private industry, of procedures and processes necessary to the manufacture and marketing of fuel containing agricultural ethyl alcohol;

(b) Establishment of procedures for entering blended fuel into the marketplace by private enterprise;

(c) Analysis of the marketing process and testing of marketing procedures to assure acceptance in the private marketplace of blended fuel and byproducts resulting from the manufacturing process;

(d) Cooperation with private industry to establish privately owned agricultural ethyl alcohol manufacturing plants in Nebraska to supply demand for blended fuel;

(e) Sponsoring research and development of industrial and commercial uses for agricultural ethyl alcohol and for byproducts resulting from the manufacturing process;

(f) Promotion of state and national air quality improvement programs and influencing federal legislation that requires or encourages the use of fuels oxygenated by the inclusion of agricultural ethyl alcohol or its derivatives;

(g) Promotion of the use of renewable agricultural ethyl alcohol as a partial replacement for imported oil and for the energy and economic security of the nation;

(h) Participation in development and passage of national legislation dealing with research, development, and promotion of United States production of fuels oxygenated by the inclusion of agricultural ethyl alcohol or its derivatives, access to potential markets, tax incentives, imports of foreign-produced fuel, and related concerns that may develop in the future; and

(i) As the board may otherwise direct to fulfill the goals set forth under the Ethanol Development Act, including monitoring contracts for ethanol program commitments and solicitation of federal funds.