Title 22, Public officers and Employees

Contributions required by this chapter or ORS chapter 238A to be placed in the retirement fund, and interest required to be allocated to the member accounts of members of the retirement system and to participating employers, shall not be included in the biennial departmental budg…

(1) At the close of each calendar year in which the earnings on the Public Employees Retirement Fund equal or exceed the assumed interest rate established by the Public Employees Retirement Board under ORS 238.255, the board shall set aside, out of interest and other income recei…

At least 30 days before crediting any interest or other income received through investment of moneys to any fund or account, the Public Employees Retirement Board shall submit a preliminary proposal for crediting to the appropriate legislative review agency, as defined in ORS 291…

Upon the death or retirement of a member of the Public Employees Retirement System, the Public Employees Retirement Board shall credit earnings to the participating public employer or employers that employed the member. The board shall credit earnings to the amounts charged to ea…

(1)(a) Any benefit payment that is payable as the result of the death of a member may be transferred by the Public Employees Retirement Board to another account or reserve in the fund if: (A) The total benefit payable to the beneficiaries designated by the deceased member is less…

(1) Employees whose membership in a previously established retirement system excludes them from membership in the system established by this chapter may apply to the Public Employees Retirement Board in writing for the former system to be integrated into the latter and for them t…

(1) The school district, which is or expects to become a party to a contract of integration described in ORS 238.680 (3), may provide for payment of all or any part of its unfunded obligation for previous service costs with respect to the association by any one or a combination o…

(1) A retirement plan that has been adopted by a mass transit district organized under ORS 267.010 to 267.394 situated in a metropolitan statistical area with a population exceeding 400,000 may be integrated with, or the district may become a participant in, the Public Employees …

As used in ORS 238.692 to 238.698: (1) “Pension liability” means: (a) Monetary obligations of a participating public employer for which the employer is or will be required to transmit amounts to the Public Employees Retirement Board under the provisions of ORS 238.225, including …

(1) The Legislative Assembly finds that authorizing issuance of revenue bonds to finance pension liabilities may reduce the cost of public pensions to taxpayers and that the reduction of those costs to taxpayers is a matter of statewide concern. (2) Notwithstanding the limitation…

(1) Public bodies may enter into intergovernmental agreements for the collective issuance, administration or payment of bonds authorized under ORS 238.694. An agreement for collective issuance, administration or payment of bonds under this subsection may provide for the contribut…

(1) A public body, or a group of public bodies that enter into an intergovernmental agreement under ORS 238.695, may establish a debt service trust fund for the purpose of paying the principal and interest on bonds issued under ORS 238.692 to 238.698. The trustee of the debt serv…

(1) Before a public body, or an intergovernmental entity formed pursuant to ORS 238.695, may authorize the issuance of bonds under ORS 238.694, the public body or intergovernmental entity must first: (a) Obtain a statistically based assessment from an independent economic or fina…

(1) A public body, or a group of public bodies that enter into an intergovernmental agreement under ORS 238.695, that receives funds from any state agency may enter into a funds diversion agreement with the state agency for the purpose of paying the principal and interest on bond…

All provisions of ORS 238.655, 238.705, 238.710 and 238.715 hereby are made applicable for enforcement of the requirements of this chapter and ORS chapter 238A. [Formerly 237.300; 1997 c.249 §71; 2003 c.733 §64]

(1) All public employers that are members of the system shall promptly and regularly remit to the Public Employees Retirement Board all contributions required of them by law and furnish all reports required by the board. (2) Any public employer delinquent in remitting contributio…

(1) In accordance with ORS 238.705, a participating public employer shall submit timely and accurate data regarding members’ demographic information, salary, hours worked and unused sick leave. (2) The Public Employees Retirement Board may, at its discretion, prevent an employer …

In addition to the remedies otherwise provided by ORS 238.705, the board may, by petition in usual form, apply to the circuit court for the county in which is located the public employer concerned, or the principal office or place of business of the public employer, for, and if w…

(1) If the Public Employees Retirement Board determines that a member of the Public Employees Retirement System or any other person receiving a monthly payment from the Public Employees Retirement Fund has received any amount in excess of the amounts that the member or other pers…

(1) The Public Employees Retirement Board may accept rollover contributions from a retired member solely for the purpose of paying amounts claimed by the board as overpayments or other improperly made payments. The board may accept rollover contributions under this section only i…

(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 b…

This chapter and ORS chapter 238A shall be known as the Public Employes’ Retirement Act of 1953. [Formerly 237.001; 2003 c.733 §67] _______________

For the purposes of this chapter: (1) “Active member” means a member of the pension program or the individual account program of the Oregon Public Service Retirement Plan who is actively employed in a qualifying position. (2) “Actuarial equivalent” means a payment or series of pa…

(1) The Oregon Public Service Retirement Plan is established. The purpose of the Oregon Public Service Retirement Plan is to provide career public employees with a secure and fair retirement income at an affordable, stable and predictable cost to the taxpayers. The Oregon Public …

Subject to such direction and oversight as may be provided by the Legislative Assembly, the Public Employees Retirement Board shall take all steps necessary to develop and implement a dedicated information technology system to manage the Oregon Public Service Retirement Plan esta…

(1) The Oregon Public Service Retirement Plan is part of the Public Employees Retirement System and is administered by the Public Employees Retirement Board. (2) ORS 238.008, 238.225, 238.229, 238.235, 238.285, 238.410, 238.445, 238.447, 238.450, 238.455, 238.458, 238.460, 238.46…

(1) All public employers participating in the Public Employees Retirement System on August 29, 2003: (a) Shall continue to be participating public employers for the purpose of the Oregon Public Service Retirement Plan; (b) Shall provide benefits under the pension program establis…

(1)(a) Except as provided by subsection (2) of this section, an eligible employee who is employed in a qualifying position on or after August 29, 2003, by a public employer that is participating in the pension program and who will not receive benefits under ORS chapter 238 for se…

Membership under the pension program terminates when: (1) A member dies; (2) A member withdraws under ORS 238A.375; or (3) A member forfeits retirement credit under ORS 238A.145. [2003 c.733 §6; 2019 c.355 §4] (Vesting)

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, a member of the pension program becomes vested in the pension program on the earliest of the following dates: (a) The date on which the member completes at least 600 hours of service in each of five calendar years. The fiv…

Notwithstanding ORS 238A.115, a deceased member of the Public Employees Retirement System shall be considered vested for all purposes under the pension program if: (1) At the time of death the member was an active member of the system; (2) The employer of the member certifies to …

An inactive member who withdraws from the individual account program under ORS 238A.375 cancels the person’s membership in the Public Employees Retirement System. If the person is thereafter reemployed by a participating public employer: (1) The person may reestablish membership …

(1) Upon retiring at normal retirement age, a vested pension program member shall be paid an annual pension for the life of the member as follows: (a) For service as a police officer or firefighter, 1.8 percent of final average salary multiplied by the number of years of retireme…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, for purposes of the computation of pension program benefits under ORS 238A.125, “final average salary” means whichever of the following is greater: (a) The average salary per calendar year paid to an active member in the t…

Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter or ORS chapter 238, benefits received by a member under ORS 657.370 to 657.390 shall be treated as salary. [2023 c.404 §24] Note: 238A.132 was added to and made a part of ORS chapter 238A by legislative action but was not added …

For purposes of determining the salary, as defined in ORS 238A.005 (17), of an active member of the Public Employees Retirement System, a housing allowance paid to a member in return for services as a prison chaplain or a chaplain at the Oregon Health and Science University shall…

(1) An active member of the pension program accrues one year of retirement credit for each complete year of service and one-twelfth of a year of retirement credit for each full month and each major fraction of a month of service. (2) An active member who is a school employee shal…

For purposes of calculating hours of service of an academic employee of a community college operated under ORS chapter 341 or a public university listed in ORS 352.002, each hour assigned to the academic employee as an hour of lecture time or as an hour of classroom time constitu…

(1) A pension program member who is not vested forfeits all retirement credit if the member performs fewer than 600 hours of service in each of five consecutive calendar years. A forfeiture under this section takes effect at the end of the fifth calendar year. (2) If a pension pr…

(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of ORS 238A.100 to 238A.250, an eligible employee who leaves a qualifying position for the purpose of performing service in the uniformed services, and who subsequently returns to employment with a participating public employer with reemplo…

(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of ORS 238A.100 to 238A.250, an active member of the pension program who becomes disabled shall accrue retirement credit and hours of service credit for vesting purposes for the period during which the member is disabled. (2) Retirement cre…

(1) Except as provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this section, normal retirement age for a member of the pension program is the earlier of: (a) 65 years of age; or (b) 58 years of age if the member has 30 years or more of retirement credit. (2)(a) Normal retirement age for a …

(1) Except as provided in this section, earliest retirement age for a member of the pension program is 55 years of age. (2)(a) Earliest retirement age for a member of the pension program who retires from service as a police officer or firefighter is 50 years of age if the member’…

(1) An active member of the pension program who is 72 years of age or older must retire not later than April 1 of the calendar year following the calendar year in which the member terminates employment with all participating public employers. An inactive member of the pension pro…

Upon retiring on normal retirement date or thereafter, a member of the pension program who is vested shall be paid an annual pension for the life of the member, calculated as provided in ORS 238A.125. The annual pension provided for under this section shall be paid in equal month…

A member of the pension program who is vested may retire with a reduced pension that is the actuarial equivalent of the pension provided for in ORS 238A.180 at any time on or after the member’s earliest retirement date as described in ORS 238A.165. [2003 c.733 §19]

(1) Before the effective date of retirement of a member of the pension program, the member may elect to convert the pension calculated under ORS 238A.180 or 238A.185 into the actuarial equivalent pension as follows: (a) A pension payable monthly during the member’s life and, afte…

If the monthly pension benefit payable to a member of the pension program under ORS 238A.180 is less than $200, or the monthly death benefit payable to the beneficiary of a deceased member under ORS 238A.230 is less than $200, the Public Employees Retirement Board shall convert t…

(1) Once every two calendar years, the Public Employees Retirement Board shall adopt actuarial equivalency factor tables for the purpose of computing the payments to be made to members of the pension program and their beneficiaries and alternate payees under ORS 238.465. The tabl…

(1) On July 1 of each year, the board shall increase every pension payable under ORS 238A.180, 238A.185 and 238A.190, every disability benefit under ORS 238A.235 and every death benefit payable under ORS 238A.230 as provided in subsection (2) of this section. The increase shall b…