(1) Under any contract made or awarded by the state or any county, city, or political subdivision thereof, or other public authority, the contractor may, from time to time, withdraw the whole or any portion of the amount retained for payments to the contractor pursuant to the terms of the contract, upon depositing with the Chief Financial Officer:

(a) United States Treasury bonds, United States Treasury notes, United States Treasury certificates of indebtedness, or United States Treasury bills;

(b) Bonds or notes of the State of Florida; or

(c) Bonds of any political subdivision in the state; or

(d) Cash delivered to the State Treasury for the Treasury Cash Deposit Trust Fund; or

(e) Certificates of deposit from state or national banks or state or federal savings and loan associations in the state. Certificates of deposit shall possess the eligibility characteristics defined in s. 625.52.

No amount shall be withdrawn in excess of the market value of the securities listed in paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) at the time of withdrawal or of the par value of such securities, whichever is lower.

(2) The Chief Financial Officer shall regularly collect all interest or income on the obligations so deposited, and shall pay the same, when and as collected, to the contractor who deposited the obligations. If the deposit is in the form of coupon bonds, the Chief Financial Officer shall deliver each coupon as it matures to the contractor.

(3) Any amount deducted by the state or by any county, city, or political subdivision thereof, or by other public authority, pursuant to the terms of the contract, from the amounts retained for payments due the contractor shall be deducted, first from that portion of the amounts retained for which no security has been substituted, then from the proceeds of any deposited security. In the latter case, the contractor shall be entitled to receive interest, coupons, or income only from those securities which remain after such amount has been deducted.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the state or any county, city, or political subdivision thereof, or other public authority, to allow the contractor to withdraw the whole or any portion of the amount retained for payments to the contractor except pursuant to the terms of the contract.

History.—s. 1, ch. 70-70; s. 1, ch. 74-253; s. 5, ch. 92-87; s. 274, ch. 2003-261.