Since opening its first employee account roughly nine years ago, the FRS Investment Plan has become one of the largest optional public-sector defined contribution retirement plans in the US. The objective of Florida PRIME is to provide eligible participants a cost-effective investment vehicle for their surplus funds. Its investment strategy emphasizes, in order of importance, preservation of capital (safety), liquidity, and competitive yield. In response to the economic turmoil in the markets, the SBA changed its guidelines to ensure that Florida PRIME offers daily liquidity, making it possible for investors to convert 100% of any balance into cash. Legislative and policy changes require Florida PRIME to make conservative investments, purchasing short-term assets that have received independent high ratings. The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) was created in 1993 in response to the Florida property insurance crisis resulting from Hurricane Andrew. The purpose for this state tax-exempt trust fund was to encourage additional insurance capacity in the state by providing a stable and ongoing source of reimbursement to insurers for a portion of their catastrophic hurricane losses. The FHCF is financed by reimbursement premiums charged to participating insurers, investment earnings, and emergency assessments on property and casualty insurers. The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund finished the year in its healthiest financial position since its creation in 1993. According to the collective assets of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, it is the second largest mandate of the SBA. Changes made by the Florida Legislature continue to improve the program's ability to meet its potential needs by reducing optional program coverage and gradually increasing its pricing to better reflect future claims. Created by the Florida Legislature in 1999, the purpose of the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund (LCEF) is to invest a portion of the state's tobacco settlement monies to provide a perpetual source of enhanced funding for health maintenance and research programs related to tobacco use. The SBA has the statutory authority and responsibility for the investment of LCEF assets, subject to certain investment limitations and consistent with an Investment Policy Statement approved by the SBA Trustees. Florida law specifies that the LCEF shall be managed as an annuity, with an investment objective of long-term preservation of the real value of the principal. The law requires a specified annual disbursement of funds for biomedical research activities, until when cures are found for tobacco-related cancer and heart and lung disease. Five percent of the annual disbursement is dedicated to the biomedical research portion of the endowment and shall be reinvested and applied to that portion of the endowment's principal, with the remainder to be spent on biomedical research activities consistent with this section.