Florida Senate - 2021                                    SB 1656
       
       
        
       By Senator Gruters
       
       
       
       
       
       23-01054A-21                                          20211656__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund;
    3         amending s. 215.5601, F.S.; requiring the Chief
    4         Financial Officer to annually certify the amount of
    5         unencumbered and undispersed endowment funds which
    6         reverts to the endowment’s principal by a specified
    7         date; allocating a portion of the reverted funds to
    8         the board of trustees of the University of South
    9         Florida; requiring that such funds be used to support
   10         the university’s Health Heart Institute; providing
   11         conditions for the use of the funds; prohibiting the
   12         funds from being used to secure debt; requiring the
   13         Chief Financial Officer to notify the university’s
   14         board of trustees if a balance transfer will not occur
   15         during a given year; providing an effective date.
   16          
   17  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   18  
   19         Section 1. Paragraph (e) of subsection (5) of section
   20  215.5601, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   21         215.5601 Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund.—
   22         (5) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS; USES.—
   23         (e) Notwithstanding s. 216.301 and pursuant to s. 216.351,
   24  all unencumbered balances of appropriations from each
   25  department’s respective Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund as of June
   26  30 or undisbursed balances as of September 30 shall revert to
   27  the endowment’s principal. Unencumbered balances in the
   28  Biomedical Research Trust Fund shall be managed as provided in
   29  s. 20.435(7)(b). By October 31, annually, the Chief Financial
   30  Officer must certify the amount that reverts to the endowment’s
   31  principal. If a balance reverts in any year, not including the
   32  Biomedical Research Trust Fund, the Chief Financial Officer must
   33  transfer 50 percent of the certified reverted balance by warrant
   34  by December 1 of that year to the board of trustees of the
   35  University of South Florida. The board of trustees must first
   36  expend any funds received pursuant to this paragraph to conduct
   37  and support cardiovascular disease research at the University of
   38  South Florida Health Heart Institute and may also use the funds
   39  for the annual operating costs of recruiting, retaining, and
   40  equipping researchers engaged in cardiovascular disease research
   41  and any other lawful uses of funds authorized under the
   42  university’s annual Education and General Activities
   43  appropriation in the General Appropriations Act. The board of
   44  trustees may not pledge any of the funds received pursuant to
   45  this paragraph to secure debt. If the Chief Financial Officer
   46  certifies that there is no reverted balance in any year, the
   47  Chief Financial Officer must notify the board of trustees of the
   48  University of South Florida by December 1 that a balance
   49  transfer pursuant to this paragraph will not occur that year.
   50         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.