The Special Programs Fund shall be held separate and apart from all public moneys or funds of this State. All moneys that may be received by the State for the payment of trade readjustment allowances or alternative trade adjustment assistance for older workers under the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, or disaster unemployment assistance under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as amended, or for the payment of any other benefits where the Department will pay the benefits as an agent of the United States Department of Labor or its successor agency pursuant to federal law (except benefits payable through the State’s account in the federal Unemployment Trust Fund established and maintained pursuant to the federal Social Security Act, as amended), shall be deposited into the Special Programs Fund, together with any moneys that may otherwise be directed for deposit into that Fund. No such moneys shall be paid or expended except upon the direction of the Director who, as ex officio custodian of the Special Programs Fund, shall expend such moneys only in accordance with the directions of the United States Department of Labor or its successor agency, as an agent of the United States Department of Labor or its successor agency. Moneys in the Special Programs Fund shall not be commingled with other State funds, but they shall be deposited as required by law and maintained in a separate account on the books of a savings and loan association, bank, or other qualified financial institution. All interest earnings on amounts within the Special Programs Fund shall accrue to the Special Programs Fund. The Director shall be liable on her or his general official bond for the faithful performance of her or his duties in connection with the moneys in the Special Programs Fund. Such liability on her or his official bond shall exist in addition to the liability upon any separate bond given by her or him. All sums recovered for losses sustained by the Special Programs Fund shall be deposited into the Fund.
     This amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly is not intended to alter processes or requirements with respect to the Special Programs Fund from those in existence immediately prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly.