(1) Employ administrative, professional, clerical and other personnel as may be required and organize the staff as may be appropriate to effectuate the purposes of this article.

(2) Have a seal and alter the same at pleasure, have perpetual succession, make, execute and deliver contracts, conveyances and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of its powers and make and amend bylaws.

(3) Procure insurance against any loss in connection with its property, assets or activities.

(4) Apply for, solicit, receive, establish priorities for, allocate, disburse, contract for, administer and spend funds in the fund and other funds that are made available to the authority from any source consistent with the purposes of this article.

(5) Make grants to and provide financial support for the Section of Insurance Fraud, the unit of insurance fraud in the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, other county district attorneys' offices, other government agencies, community, consumer and business organizations consistent with the purposes of this article and considering the extent of the insurance fraud problem in each county of this Commonwealth.

(6) Advise the State Treasurer in relation to the investment of any money held in the fund and any funds held in reserve or sinking funds and any money not required for immediate use or disbursement and to advise the State Treasurer in relation to the use of depositories for moneys of the fund.

(7) Assess the scope of the problem of insurance fraud, including areas of this Commonwealth where the problem is greatest, and review State and local criminal justice policies, programs and plans dealing with insurance fraud.

(8) Develop and sponsor the implementation of Statewide plans, programs and strategies to combat insurance fraud, improve the administration of the insurance fraud laws and provide a forum for identification of critical problems for those persons dealing with insurance fraud.

(9) Coordinate the development, adoption and implementation of plans, programs and strategies relating to interagency and intergovernmental cooperation with respect to insurance fraud law enforcement.

(10) Promulgate rules or regulations related to the expenditure of moneys held in the fund in order to assist and support those agencies, units of government, county district attorneys' offices and other organizations charged with the responsibility of reducing insurance fraud or interested and involved in achieving this goal.

(11) Audit at its discretion the plans and programs that it has funded in whole or in part in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the plans and programs and withdraw funding should the authority determine that a plan or program is ineffective or is no longer in need of further financial support from the fund.

(12) Report annually on or before the first day of April to the Governor and the General Assembly on the authority's activities in the preceding period of operation.

(13) Meet with the Section of Insurance Fraud on at least a quarterly basis in order to advise and assist it in implementing its statutory mandate.

(14) Advise the General Assembly on matters relating to insurance fraud and recommend to the General Assembly on an annual basis any changes to the operation of the Section of Insurance Fraud. The report shall be available for public inspection.

(15) Establish either alone or in cooperation with authorized insurance companies and licensed agents and producers a fund to reward persons not connected with the insurance industry who provide information or furnish evidence leading to the arrest and conviction of persons responsible for insurance fraud.

(16) Require as a condition of every application and request for financial support, including every application for ongoing renewal of a multiyear grant under section 1123(f),¹ that the applicant describe both the nature of and the amount of funding for the activities, if any, devoted to the investigation and prosecution of insurance fraud at the time of the application or request.

(17) Require as a condition of every application and request for financial support that every recipient of funding report annually within four months of the close of each funding cycle to the authority on the use of the funds obtained from the authority during the previous year, including a description of programs implemented and results obtained. The authority will include this information on the use of funds by grantees in its annual report under paragraph (12) and send a copy specifically to the chairman and the minority chairman of the standing committees of the Senate and the chairman and the minority chairman of the standing committees of the House of Representatives with jurisdiction over insurance matters.