Oregon Revised Statutes

Or. Rev. Stat. § 238.670 (2026)

Reserve accounts in fund

✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section ORSoregonlegislature.gov JustiaChapter on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

      238.670 Reserve accounts in fund. (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 received through investment of the Public Employees Retirement Fund during that calendar year, such part of the income as the board may deem advisable, not exceeding seven and one-half percent of the combined total of such income, which moneys so segregated shall remain in the fund and constitute therein a reserve account. The board shall continue to credit the reserve account in the manner required by this subsection until the board determines that the reserve account is adequately funded for the purposes specified in this subsection, but the board may not credit further amounts to the reserve account if the amounts in the reserve account exceed $50 million. Such reserve account shall be maintained and used by the board to prevent any deficit of moneys available for the payment of retirement allowances, due to interest fluctuations, changes in mortality rate or, except as provided in subsection (3) or (4) of this section, other contingency. In addition, the reserve account may be used by the board for the following purposes:

      (a) To prevent any deficit in the fund by reason of the insolvency of a participating public employer. Reserves under this paragraph may be funded only from the earnings on employer contributions made under ORS 238.225.

      (b) To pay any legal expenses or judgments that do not arise in the ordinary course of adjudicating an individual member’s benefits or an individual employer’s liabilities.

      (2) At the close of each calendar year, the board shall set aside, out of interest and other income received during the calendar year, after deducting the amounts provided by law and to the extent that such income is available, a sufficient amount to credit to the reserves for pension accounts and annuities varying percentage amounts adopted by the board as a result of periodic actuarial investigations. If total income available for distribution exceeds those percentages of the total accumulated contributions of employees and employers, the reserves for pensions and annuities shall participate in such excess.

      (3) The board may set aside, out of interest and other income received through investment of the fund, such part of the income as the board considers necessary, which moneys so segregated shall remain in the fund and constitute one or more reserve accounts. Such reserve accounts shall be maintained and used by the board to offset gains and losses of invested capital. The board, from time to time, may cause to be transferred from the reserve account provided for in subsection (1) of this section to a reserve account provided for in this subsection such amount as the board determines to be unnecessary for the purposes set forth in subsection (1) of this section and to be necessary for the purposes set forth in this subsection.

      (4) The board may provide for amortizing gains and losses of invested capital in such instances as the board determines that amortization is preferable to a reserve account provided for in subsection (3) of this section. [Formerly 237.281; 2001 c.945 §5; 2017 c.746 §11; 2020 s.s.2 c.10 §14]

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 8 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 2005–2021 · leading case: Strunk v. Pub. Employees Ret. Bd., 108 P.3d 1058 (Or. 2005).
Strunk v. Pub. Employees Ret. Bd., 108 P.3d 1058 (Or. 2005). · cites it 18× “*1092 Likewise, ORS 238.670 (2001), which addressed years in which the fund's earnings equaled or exceeded the assumed earnings rate and on which petitioners also rely, did not contain any affirmative promise that PERS members were entitled to a crediting of the overage, less…”
Arken v. City of Portland, 263 P.3d 975 (Or. 2011). · cites it 9× “PERB sets employer contribution rates, adopts actuarial equivalency factors and assumed earnings rates, establishes reserve accounts, and allocates annual earnings to accounts and reserves.”
City of Eugene v. State, 117 P.3d 1001 (Or. 2005). · cites it 14× “2 PERB will implement the judgment upholding Intervenors' challenge to the `employer-in-variable' rule by transferring from employer accounts to the contingency reserve established by ORS 238.670(1) the amount determined by the PERS actuary to have been improperly credited to…”
White v. Pub. Employees Ret. Bd., 268 P.3d 600 (Or. 2011). · cites it 8× “” ORS 238.670 (l)(b), (c). In their supplemental briefing, defendants respond to this court’s decision in Arken— which affirmed PERB’s authority to recoup certain excessive benefits from the retirees who received them — by noting that the reasonableness of PERB’s decisions in…”
Moro v. State of Oregon, 384 P.3d 504 (Or. 2016). · cites it 2× “ORS 238.670(l)(a). One of the statutory purposes for the contingency reserve is “[t]o pay any legal expenses or judgments that do not arise in the ordinary course of adjudicating an individual member’s benefits or an individual employer’s liabilities.”
Moro v. State of Oregon (Or. 2016). · cites it 2× “ORS 238.670(1)(a). One of the statutory purposes for the contingency reserve is “[t]o pay any legal expenses or judgments that do not arise in the ordinary course of adjudicating an individual mem- ber’s benefits or an individual employer’s liabilities.”
Moro v. State of Oregon (Or. 2016). · cites it 2× “ORS 238.670(1)(a). One of the statutory purposes for the contingency reserve is “[t]o pay any legal expenses or judgments that do not arise in the ordinary course of adjudicating an individual mem- ber’s benefits or an individual employer’s liabilities.”
Josephine Cnty. v. PERB, 504 P.3d 624 (Or. Ct. App. 2021). “The addi- tional grounds included (1) that the Contingency Reserve, a $25 million emergency fund for insolvent employers under ORS 238.670(1)(a), was not available to cover TJC’s liabil- ity because TJC did not meet the definition of an “insol- vent employer” under OAR…”
— Or. Rev. Stat. § 238.670(1) — 4 cases
Strunk v. Pub. Employees Ret. Bd., 108 P.3d 1058 (Or. 2005). “*1092 Likewise, ORS 238.670 (2001), which addressed years in which the fund's earnings equaled or exceeded the assumed earnings rate and on which petitioners also rely, did not contain any affirmative promise that PERS members were entitled to a crediting of the overage, less…”
Arken v. City of Portland, 263 P.3d 975 (Or. 2011). “PERB sets employer contribution rates, adopts actuarial equivalency factors and assumed earnings rates, establishes reserve accounts, and allocates annual earnings to accounts and reserves.”
City of Eugene v. State, 117 P.3d 1001 (Or. 2005). “2 PERB will implement the judgment upholding Intervenors' challenge to the `employer-in-variable' rule by transferring from employer accounts to the contingency reserve established by ORS 238.670(1) the amount determined by the PERS actuary to have been improperly credited to…”
White v. Pub. Employees Ret. Bd., 268 P.3d 600 (Or. 2011). “” ORS 238.670 (l)(b), (c). In their supplemental briefing, defendants respond to this court’s decision in Arken— which affirmed PERB’s authority to recoup certain excessive benefits from the retirees who received them — by noting that the reasonableness of PERB’s decisions in…”
— Or. Rev. Stat. § 238.670(1)(a) — 3 cases
Moro v. State of Oregon (Or. 2016). “ORS 238.670(1)(a). One of the statutory purposes for the contingency reserve is “[t]o pay any legal expenses or judgments that do not arise in the ordinary course of adjudicating an individual mem- ber’s benefits or an individual employer’s liabilities.”
Moro v. State of Oregon (Or. 2016). “ORS 238.670(1)(a). One of the statutory purposes for the contingency reserve is “[t]o pay any legal expenses or judgments that do not arise in the ordinary course of adjudicating an individual mem- ber’s benefits or an individual employer’s liabilities.”
Josephine Cnty. v. PERB, 504 P.3d 624 (Or. Ct. App. 2021). “The addi- tional grounds included (1) that the Contingency Reserve, a $25 million emergency fund for insolvent employers under ORS 238.670(1)(a), was not available to cover TJC’s liabil- ity because TJC did not meet the definition of an “insol- vent employer” under OAR…”
— Or. Rev. Stat. § 238.670(1)(b) — 2 cases
Moro v. State of Oregon (Or. 2016). “ORS 238.670(1)(a). One of the statutory purposes for the contingency reserve is “[t]o pay any legal expenses or judgments that do not arise in the ordinary course of adjudicating an individual mem- ber’s benefits or an individual employer’s liabilities.”
Moro v. State of Oregon (Or. 2016). “ORS 238.670(1)(a). One of the statutory purposes for the contingency reserve is “[t]o pay any legal expenses or judgments that do not arise in the ordinary course of adjudicating an individual mem- ber’s benefits or an individual employer’s liabilities.”
— Or. Rev. Stat. § 238.670(2) — 2 cases
City of Eugene v. State, 117 P.3d 1001 (Or. 2005). “2 PERB will implement the judgment upholding Intervenors' challenge to the `employer-in-variable' rule by transferring from employer accounts to the contingency reserve established by ORS 238.670(1) the amount determined by the PERS actuary to have been improperly credited to…”
Arken v. City of Portland, 263 P.3d 975 (Or. 2011). “PERB sets employer contribution rates, adopts actuarial equivalency factors and assumed earnings rates, establishes reserve accounts, and allocates annual earnings to accounts and reserves.”
— Or. Rev. Stat. § 238.670(3) — 4 cases
Strunk v. Pub. Employees Ret. Bd., 108 P.3d 1058 (Or. 2005). “*1092 Likewise, ORS 238.670 (2001), which addressed years in which the fund's earnings equaled or exceeded the assumed earnings rate and on which petitioners also rely, did not contain any affirmative promise that PERS members were entitled to a crediting of the overage, less…”
Arken v. City of Portland, 263 P.3d 975 (Or. 2011). “PERB sets employer contribution rates, adopts actuarial equivalency factors and assumed earnings rates, establishes reserve accounts, and allocates annual earnings to accounts and reserves.”
City of Eugene v. State, 117 P.3d 1001 (Or. 2005). “2 PERB will implement the judgment upholding Intervenors' challenge to the `employer-in-variable' rule by transferring from employer accounts to the contingency reserve established by ORS 238.670(1) the amount determined by the PERS actuary to have been improperly credited to…”
White v. Pub. Employees Ret. Bd., 268 P.3d 600 (Or. 2011). “” ORS 238.670 (l)(b), (c). In their supplemental briefing, defendants respond to this court’s decision in Arken— which affirmed PERB’s authority to recoup certain excessive benefits from the retirees who received them — by noting that the reasonableness of PERB’s decisions in…”
— Or. Rev. Stat. § 238.670(l)(a) — 1 case
Moro v. State of Oregon, 384 P.3d 504 (Or. 2016). “ORS 238.670(l)(a). One of the statutory purposes for the contingency reserve is “[t]o pay any legal expenses or judgments that do not arise in the ordinary course of adjudicating an individual member’s benefits or an individual employer’s liabilities.”
— Or. Rev. Stat. § 238.670(l)(b) — 1 case
Moro v. State of Oregon, 384 P.3d 504 (Or. 2016). “ORS 238.670(l)(a). One of the statutory purposes for the contingency reserve is “[t]o pay any legal expenses or judgments that do not arise in the ordinary course of adjudicating an individual member’s benefits or an individual employer’s liabilities.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.