The Georgia Senate approved a bill that would allow the $80.2 billion Georgia Teachers' Retirement System, Atlanta, to invest up to 5% of its assets in alternatives.
The Senate approved the bill 34-19 on Tuesday. It is headed to the state House of Representatives.
The bill, SB294, removes the exception for the Teachers' Retirement System in the Employees' Retirement System Enhanced Investment Authority Act, which was effective July 1, 2012, and allowed all other public retirement systems in the state to "invest retirement system assets in certain types of alternative investments, private placements, and other private investments," according to that bill's text.
At the time, the teachers' system was excepted from the bill because its board had not yet addressed the legislation.
The teachers' system has had a 5% target allocation to alternatives cited in its last several consolidated financial annual reports, but had yet to make any investments as of June 30, when the system's actual allocation was 70.2% equities and 29.8% fixed income, according to the most recent report.
The teachers' retirement system is the largest in the state. The next largest, the $16.7 billion Georgia Employees' Retirement System, Atlanta, had an actual allocation to private equity of 1.8% as of June 30, according to its most recent CAFR.
State Sen. Ellis Black, sponsor of the bill, and L.C. "Buster" Evans, the system's executive director, could not be immediately reached to provide further information.
