The Florida Legislature plans to send to Gov. Rick Scott a bill to enable the Florida State Board of Administration to raise its international investment allocation to 50%.
The Senate and House expect to certify the wording of the bill and send it to Mr. Scott for his signature by next week, said Ryan Duffy, spokesman for Will W. Weatherford, speaker of the Florida House.
The bill, HB 811, passed the Senate May 1 and the House April 25, both unanimously.
Mr. Scott's spokesmen couldn't be reached for comment on whether he will sign the legislation.
Mr. Scott, who is a member of the board, and the other two FSBA trustees approved unanimously the FSBA legislative agenda that sought to raise the limit.
“We don't foresee any issue with the governor,” said John Kuczwanski, communications manager.
The Tallahassee-based FSBA's total assets include the $145.4 billion Florida Retirement System defined benefit plan, which had a 29.76% combined allocation to international investments, including private equity, as of Feb 28.
“We don't have any plans to bump up” the allocation, Mr. Kuczwanski said. “But (the raise) gives us headroom in event of market fluctuations” to operate without having to make rebalancing allocation changes.
A component of the bill not affecting FSBA asset allocations requires insurance companies under state regulation to disclose annually to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation all investments in companies that do business in Sudan or in Iran's energy sector as identified in the FSBA's scrutinized list.
The bill would take effect July 1.
