Oregon Statutes 238.730 – Unfunded Actuarial Liability Resolution Program
(1) The Public Employees Retirement Board shall establish an Unfunded Actuarial Liability Resolution Program. Under the program, the board shall provide technical expertise to manage projected employer contribution rate changes. Funding plans developed under the program must be based on actuarial reports prepared under ORS § 238.605.
Terms Used In Oregon Statutes 238.730
- Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
- Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
- Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
- State Treasury: includes those financial assets the lawful custody of which are vested in the State Treasurer and the office of the State Treasurer relating to the custody of those financial assets. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
- Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
(2) A participating public employer shall participate in the program.
(3) The board may use moneys in the Employer Incentive Fund established in section 1, chapter 105, Oregon Laws 2018, for reasonable administrative costs incurred under this section. [2018 c.105 § 26; 2019 c.355 § 54; 2021 c.135 § 7]
The amendments to 238.730 by section 55, chapter 355, Oregon Laws 2019, become operative July 1, 2042. See section 64, chapter 355, Oregon Laws 2019. The text that is operative on and after July 1, 2042, including amendments by section 8, chapter 135, Oregon Laws 2021, is set forth for the user’s convenience.
(1) The Public Employees Retirement Board shall establish an Unfunded Actuarial Liability Resolution Program. Under the program, the board shall provide technical expertise to manage projected employer contribution rate changes. Funding plans developed under the program must be based on actuarial reports prepared under ORS § 238.605.
(2) A participating public employer shall participate in the program.
(Employer Incentive Fund)
Sections 1 to 3, chapter 105, Oregon Laws 2018, provide:
(1) The Employer Incentive Fund is established in the State Treasury, separate and distinct from the General Fund. Interest earned by the Employer Incentive Fund shall be credited to the fund. Interest earned by the fund may be used under section 2, chapter 105, Oregon Laws 2018, to match lump sum payments made under ORS § 238.229.
(2) Moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated to the Public Employees Retirement Board for the purposes described in sections 2 and 26 [238.730], chapter 105, Oregon Laws 2018.
(3) Moneys in the fund shall be invested in the Oregon Short Term Fund established under ORS § 293.728. [2018 c.105 § 1; 2019 c.355 § 46]
(1)(a) The Public Employees Retirement Board shall establish a process for distributing the moneys in the Employer Incentive Fund established under section 1, chapter 105, Oregon Laws 2018.
(b) The process must allow a participating public employer to apply to reserve matching amounts in the Employer Incentive Fund by committing to make a qualifying lump sum payment of at least $25,000 to an account established under ORS § 238.229.
(2) The board shall adopt rules establishing:
(a) The percentage of a lump sum payment that may be matched by distributions from the fund, not to exceed 25 percent of a qualifying lump sum payment.
(b) The maximum matching amount that may be reserved by a participating public employer, not to exceed the greater of:
(A) Five percent of the unfunded actuarial liability attributable to the employer, as determined in the most recent report prepared under ORS § 238.605; or
(B) $300,000.
(c) The qualifications for lump sum payments that may be matched under this section, including a requirement that a qualifying lump sum payment may not be a payment from moneys borrowed by the employer.
(d) A requirement that the participating public employer participate in the Unfunded Actuarial Liability Resolution Program to develop a plan under ORS § 238.730.
(3)(a) For 90 days after the board begins accepting applications under subsection (1) of this section, a participating public employer may apply to reserve matching amounts from the Employer Incentive Fund under subsection (1) of this section only if the unfunded actuarial liability attributable to the employer, as determined in the most recent report prepared under ORS § 238.605, is more than 200 percent of the employer’s payroll for members of the Public Employees Retirement System.
(b) After the 90-day period described in paragraph (a) of this subsection, any participating public employer may apply to reserve matching funds from the Employer Incentive Fund under subsection (1) of this section.
(4)(a) The board shall approve applications that meet the qualifications established under subsection (2) of this section in the order in which the applications are submitted. The board shall continue approving applications as long as adequate moneys in the Employer Incentive Fund are available.
(b) After all of the moneys available in the Employer Incentive Fund are reserved for matching under paragraph (a) of this subsection, the board may establish a waiting list for the remaining timely submitted applications and, if sufficient moneys in the Employer Incentive Fund become available, shall approve, in the order in which the applications were submitted, applications that meet the qualifications established under subsection (2) of this section.
(5) The board shall transfer matching amounts approved under subsection (4) of this section from the Employer Incentive Fund to the approved employers’ accounts established under ORS § 238.229.
(6) The board may transfer moneys from the Employer Incentive Fund to the Public Employees Retirement Fund established under ORS § 238.660 for crediting to the reserves for pension accounts and annuities as provided in ORS § 238.670 (2).
(7) The board may use moneys in the Employer Incentive Fund for reasonable administrative costs incurred under this section. [2018 c.105 § 2; 2019 c.355 § 47; 2021 c.135 § 9]
(1) Section 2, chapter 105, Oregon Laws 2018, as amended by section 47, chapter 355, Oregon Laws 2019, is repealed July 1, 2042.
(2)(a) The Employer Incentive Fund established under section 1, chapter 105, Oregon Laws 2018, is abolished on July 1, 2042.
(b) The unexpended moneys remaining in the Employer Incentive Fund on July 1, 2042, shall be transferred to the General Fund. [2018 c.105 § 3; 2019 c.355 § 48; 2020 s.s.2 c.10 § 16]
Section 3, chapter 105, Oregon Laws 2018, as set forth includes amendments by section 16, chapter 10, Oregon Laws 2020 (second special session), and does not reflect the Governor’s intended veto of section 16, chapter 10, Oregon Laws 2020 (second special session). This intended veto cites the single-item veto exception found in Article V, section 15a, of the Oregon Constitution, allowed for appropriation bills. As of this printing, Oregon appellate courts have not interpreted the term ‘appropriation bills’ for purposes of Article V, section 15a.
(School Districts Unfunded Liability Fund)
Section 24, chapter 105, Oregon Laws 2018, and section 52, chapter 355, Oregon Laws 2019, provide:
(1) The School Districts Unfunded Liability Fund is established in the State Treasury, separate and distinct from the General Fund. Interest earned by the School Districts Unfunded Liability Fund shall be credited to the fund. The fund consists of moneys transferred, allocated or appropriated to the fund.
(2) Moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated to the Public Employees Retirement Board for the purpose of establishing and funding a pooled account to be applied against the liabilities of participating public employers, as defined in ORS § 238.005, that are school districts.
(3) Moneys in the fund shall be invested in the Oregon Short Term Fund established under ORS § 293.728.
(4) The board shall establish an account in the Public Employees Retirement Fund for the moneys in the School Districts Unfunded Liability Fund.
(5) The board shall adopt rules providing for:
(a) Proportional distribution to school districts of the moneys in the account established under subsection (4) of this section;
(b) Amortization of the moneys distributed; and
(c) Administration of the account established under subsection (4) of this section in the same manner as accounts established under ORS § 238.229 (2).
(6) No later than February 1 of each odd-numbered year, the board shall report to the Oregon Department of Administrative Services and the Legislative Fiscal Officer an estimate of how moneys will be distributed under this section in the following biennium. [2018 c.105 § 24; 2019 c.355 § 51; 2020 s.s.2 c.10 § 19]
The School Districts Unfunded Liability Fund established under section 24, chapter 105, Oregon Laws 2018, is abolished on July 1, 2042. The unexpended moneys remaining in the fund on July 1, 2042, shall be transferred to the General Fund. [2019 c.355 § 52]
(Reports to Joint Committee on Ways and Means)
Sections 27, 28 and 29, chapter 105, Oregon Laws 2018, provide:
Section 28 of this 2018 Act is added to and made a part of ORS Chapter 238. [2018 c.105 § 27]
During each regular session of the Legislative Assembly, the Public Employees Retirement Board shall report to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means on the status of the Employer Incentive Fund established in section 1 of this 2018 Act, the School Districts Unfunded Liability Fund established in section 24 of this 2018 Act and the Unfunded Actuarial Liability Resolution Program established under section 26 of this 2018 Act [238.730]. [2018 c.105 § 28]
Section 28, chapter 105, Oregon Laws 2018, is repealed on January 2, 2042. [2018 c.105 § 29; 2019 c.355 § 53]
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