A. In acquiring, investing, reinvesting, exchanging, retaining, selling, and managing property for the benefit of the Plan, the Board, and any person, investment manager, or committee to whom the Board delegates any of its investment authority, shall act as trustee and shall exercise the judgment of care under the circumstances then prevailing, which persons of prudence, discretion, and intelligence exercise in the management of their own affairs, not in regard to speculation but to the permanent disposition of funds, considering the probable income as well as the probable safety of their capital. If the annual accounting and audit required by § 23-38.85 reveal that there are insufficient funds to ensure the actuarial soundness of the Plan, the Board shall be authorized to adjust the terms of subsequent prepaid tuition contracts, arrange refunds for current purchasers to ensure actuarial soundness, or take such other action the Board deems appropriate.
B. The assets of the Plan shall be preserved, invested, and expended solely pursuant to and for the purposes of this chapter and shall not be loaned or otherwise transferred or used by the Commonwealth for any other purpose. Within the standard prescribed in subsection A, the Board, and any person, investment manager, or committee to whom the Board delegates any of its investment authority, is authorized to acquire and retain every kind of property and every kind of investment, specifically including but not limited to (i) debentures and other corporate obligations of foreign or domestic corporations; (ii) common or preferred stocks traded on foreign or domestic stock exchanges; (iii) not less than all of the stock or 100 percent ownership of a corporation or other entity organized by the Board under the laws of the Commonwealth for the purposes of acquiring and retaining real property that the Board is authorized under this chapter to acquire and retain; and (iv) securities of any open-end or closed-end management type investment company or investment trust registered under the federal Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, including such investment companies or investment trusts which, in turn, invest in the securities of such investment companies or investment trusts, which persons of prudence, discretion, and intelligence acquire or retain for their own account. Within the limitations of the foregoing standard, the Board may retain property properly acquired, without time limitation and without regard to its suitability for original purchase. This section shall not be construed to prohibit the investment of the Plan, by purchase or otherwise, in bonds, notes, or other obligations of the Commonwealth or its agencies and instrumentalities.All provisions of this subsection shall apply to the portion of the Plan assets attributable to savings trust account contributions and the earnings thereon.
C. The selection of services related to the operation and administration of the Plan, including, but not limited to, contracts or agreements for the management, purchase, or sale of authorized investments or actuarial, recordkeeping, or consulting services, shall be governed by the foregoing standard and shall not be subject to the provisions of the Virginia Public Procurement Act (§ 2.2-4300 et seq.).
D. No Board member nor any person, investment manager, or committee to whom the Board delegates any of its investment authority who acts within the standard of care set forth in subsection A shall be held personally liable for losses suffered by the Plan on investments made pursuant to this chapter.
E. To the extent necessary to lawfully administer the Plan and in order to comply with federal, state, and local tax reporting requirements, the Plan may obtain all necessary social security account or tax identification numbers and such other data as the Plan deems necessary for such purposes, whether from a contributor or purchaser or from another state agency.
History
1994, c. 661; 1996, c. 508; 1997, cc. 785, 861; 1999, cc. 485, 518; 2000, cc. 382, 400; 2009, cc. 827, 845; 2015, cc. 227, 311.
