Florida Senate - 2025                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for SB 1678
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì3937063Î393706                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  04/02/2025           .                                
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       The Committee on Appropriations (Leek) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 62 - 177
    4  and insert:
    5         215.4725 Prohibited investments by the State Board of
    6  Administration; companies and other entities that boycott
    7  Israel.—
    8         (1) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term:
    9         (a) “Agency” means any of the various state officers,
   10  departments, boards, commissions, divisions, bureaus, and
   11  councils and any other unit of organization, however designated,
   12  of the executive branch of state government.
   13         (b) “Boycott Israel” or “boycott of Israel” means refusing
   14  to deal, terminating business activities, or taking other
   15  actions to limit commercial relations with Israel, or persons or
   16  entities doing business in Israel or in Israeli-controlled
   17  territories, in a discriminatory manner. A statement by a
   18  company, an educational institution, a nonprofit organization,
   19  an agency, a local governmental entity or unit thereof, or a
   20  foreign government that it is participating in a boycott of
   21  Israel, or that it has initiated a boycott in response to a
   22  request for a boycott of Israel or in compliance with, or in
   23  furtherance of, calls for a boycott of Israel, may be considered
   24  by the State Board of Administration to be evidence that a
   25  company or other entity is participating in a boycott of Israel.
   26  The term includes taking adverse action, including changes to
   27  published commercial financial ratings, risk ratings, and
   28  controversy ratings based on nonpecuniary factors, to inflict
   29  economic harm on Israel or persons or entities doing business in
   30  Israel or in Israeli-controlled territories. The term includes
   31  trade practices that are prohibited by federal regulations
   32  issued in compliance with 50 U.S.C. s. 4842 and does not include
   33  trade practices that are preempted by federal law. The term also
   34  includes an academic boycott of Israel in which an educational
   35  institution enacts or implements restrictive policies, or
   36  otherwise participates in activities having the object or effect
   37  of restricting ongoing or potential academic relationships, on
   38  the basis of ties to the State of Israel or its academic,
   39  educational, or research institutions, or by holding
   40  researchers, students, prospective students, guest lecturers,
   41  and artists-in-residence or institutions collectively liable for
   42  any alleged objectionable conduct by the State of Israel. An
   43  educational institution is deemed to have engaged in an academic
   44  boycott of Israel if any of its departments, centers, or other
   45  organs engages in a boycott, or, in the case of a foreign
   46  educational institution, if any faculty union recognized by that
   47  institution engages in a boycott.
   48         (c)(b) “Company” means an a sole proprietorship,
   49  organization, an association, a corporation, a partnership, a
   50  joint venture, a limited partnership, a limited liability
   51  partnership, a limited liability company, or other entity or
   52  business association, including all wholly owned subsidiaries,
   53  majority-owned subsidiaries, and parent companies, or
   54  affiliates, having more than 10 full-time employees. The term
   55  does not include a natural person or a sole proprietorship that
   56  exists for the purpose of making profit.
   57         (d)(c) “Direct holdings” in a company means all securities
   58  of that company that are held directly by the public fund or in
   59  an account or fund in which the public fund owns all shares or
   60  interests.
   61         (e)(d) “Indirect holdings” in a company means all
   62  securities of that company that are held in a commingled fund or
   63  other collective investment, such as a mutual or index fund, in
   64  which the public fund owns shares or interests, together with
   65  other investors not subject to this section or which are held in
   66  an index fund.
   67         (f)“Local governmental entity” means a county,
   68  municipality, special district, or other political subdivision.
   69         (g)“Other entity” means an educational institution, a
   70  nonprofit organization, an agency, a local governmental entity
   71  or unit thereof, or a foreign government, including any of its
   72  public investment funds, public pension funds, sovereign wealth
   73  funds, or other government-sponsored investment funds.
   74         (h)(e) “Public fund” means all funds, assets, trustees
   75  trustee, and other designates under the State Board of
   76  Administration pursuant to part I of chapter 121.
   77         (i)(f) “Scrutinized companies or other entities” means
   78  companies or other entities that boycott Israel or engage in a
   79  boycott of Israel.
   80         (2) IDENTIFICATION OF COMPANIES OR OTHER ENTITIES.—
   81         (a) The public fund shall make its best efforts to identify
   82  all scrutinized companies or other entities in which the public
   83  fund has direct or indirect holdings or could possibly have such
   84  holdings in the future. Such efforts include:
   85         1. To the extent that the public fund finds it appropriate,
   86  reviewing and relying on publicly available information
   87  regarding companies or other entities that boycott Israel,
   88  including information provided by nonprofit organizations,
   89  research firms, international organizations, and government
   90  entities;
   91         2. Contacting asset managers contracted by the public fund
   92  for information regarding companies or other entities that
   93  boycott Israel; or
   94         3. Contacting other institutional investors that prohibit
   95  such investments or that have engaged with companies or other
   96  entities that boycott Israel.
   97         (b) By the first meeting of the public fund following the
   98  identification of scrutinized companies in accordance with
   99  paragraph (a), the public fund shall compile and make available
  100  the “Scrutinized Companies or Other Entities that Boycott Israel
  101  List.”
  102         (c) The public fund shall update and make publicly
  103  available quarterly the Scrutinized Companies or Other Entities
  104  that Boycott Israel List based on evolving information from,
  105  among other sources, those listed in paragraph (a).
  106         (3) REQUIRED ACTIONS.—The public fund shall adhere to the
  107  following procedures for assembling companies or other entities
  108  on the Scrutinized Companies or Other Entities that Boycott
  109  Israel List.
  110         (a) Engagement.—
  111         1. The public fund shall immediately determine the
  112  companies or other entities on the Scrutinized Companies or
  113  Other Entities that Boycott Israel List in which the public fund
  114  owns direct or indirect holdings. The Department of Management
  115  Services shall work with the public fund to determine the
  116  companies or other entities with which the state currently
  117  contracts or has a grant agreement, as detailed under ss.
  118  287.135 and 265.286, respectively.
  119         2. For each company or other entity newly identified under
  120  this paragraph, the public fund shall send a written notice
  121  informing the company or other entity of its scrutinized company
  122  status and that it may become subject to investment prohibition
  123  or divestment by the public fund. The Department of Management
  124  Services shall also notify each company or other entity newly
  125  identified under this paragraph that it may be barred from
  126  future contracts or grants awarded by the state. The notices
  127  notice must
  128  
  129  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  130  And the title is amended as follows:
  131         Delete line 14
  132  and insert:
  133         other entities on such list; requiring the Department
  134         of Management Services to work with the public fund to
  135         determine the companies or other entities with which
  136         the state contracts or has grant agreements; requiring
  137         the department to notify certain companies that they
  138         may be barred from future contracts with the state;
  139         requiring the public fund