The Oregon State Treasury has announced that it is delaying the implementation of a new state law that allows members of the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) to exercise some choice in how their plan funds are invested.
House Bill 4159 directs the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Board to adopt rules providing that if the Oregon Investment Council invests assets of the individual account program (IAP) in multiple risk categories — depending on characteristics of an individual member — an IAP member may elect to have money in his or her account deposited into an approved investment option of their choice. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) signed it into law on April 13, 2018.
However, the bill also directs the State Treasurer’s office to review legal and fiduciary standards, and allows it to not implement its provisions if it determines that doing so would violate those standards.
The Treasurer’s office conducted that review and determined that, if the law is implemented as originally drafted, it would violate their legal and fiduciary standards. PERS has announced that it will work with the State Treasury, employee groups and other partners to develop a proposal for the legislature to consider during the 2019 legislative session.
In the meantime, PERS says, “participants will remain invested in age-based IAP Target-Date Funds until the legal and fiduciary constraints are resolved and appropriate beneficiary protections are in place.”
Neither the PERS or the Oregon Investment Council has any connection to OregonSaves, the state-run IRA-based program for private sector workers.
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