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Jacob Williams
Corporate Governance Manager
1801 Hermitage Blvd
Tallahassee, Florida 32308
(850) 413-1013

Protecting Florida's Investments Act

On June 8, 2007 the Protecting Florida's Investments Act ("PFIA") was signed into law. The PFIA requires the SBA, acting on behalf of the Florida Retirement System Trust Fund (the "FRSTF"), to assemble and publish a list of "Scrutinized Companies" that have prohibited business operations in Sudan or Iran.

Once placed on the list of Scrutinized Companies, the SBA and its investment managers will be prohibited from acquiring those companies' securities and may be required to divest those securities if the companies do not cease the prohibited activities or take certain compensating actions.

The implementation of the PFIA by the SBA will not affect the FRSTF investments in U.S. companies. The PFIA will solely affect foreign companies with certain business operations in Sudan and Iran involving the petroleum or energy sector, oil or mineral extraction, power production, or military support activities.

 

Scrutinized Companies that Boycott Israel

The SBA is directed by state law to create a "scrutinized companies" list, composed of companies that participate in a boycott of Israel including actions that limit commercial relations with Israel or Israeli-controlled territories. The SBA is prohibited from acquiring direct holdings of the companies on this list. The law requires the SBA to use best efforts in identifying companies that boycott Israel, publish the list on a quarterly basis, send written notice to the companies, engage with the SBA's external managers concerning holdings of the companies on the list, and publish a list of the SBA's directly-held securities and certain other information.

MacBride Principles & Northern Ireland

The SBA is directed by state law to notify publicly traded companies of the SBA’s support for the MacBride Principles, inquire regarding actions a company has taken in support of or furtherance of the MacBride Principles, and encourage publicly traded companies with certain business operations in Northern Ireland to adopt the MacBride Principles. The law also requires the SBA to demonstrate support for the MacBride Principles through its proxy voting authority.

Cuba/Syria Proxy Voting Safeguards

The Free Cuba Act of 1993 was passed by the Florida Legislature in accordance with federal law. The law prohibits the SBA from investing in any institution or company domiciled in the United States, or foreign subsidiary of a company domiciled in the United States, doing business in or with Cuba, or with agencies or instrumentalities thereof in violation of federal law; and any institution or company domiciled outside of the United States if the President of the United States has applied sanctions against the foreign country in which the institution or company is domiciled. The law further states the SBA may not be a fiduciary with respect to voting on, and may not have the right to vote in favor of, any proxy resolution advocating expanded U.S. trade with Cuba or Syria. In order to comply with this law, the U.S. State Department and/or the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) are contacted periodically to confirm that no sanctions have been implemented. Since the Act’s inception, sanctions have never been issued against any country.