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PERS update on SB 1566: employer match program active, $148.9 million transferred to school UAL fund
Summary
PERS staff updated the subcommittee on SB 1566 financing reforms, saying the Employer Incentive Fund has paid $32 million in matches (about $3.8 million remains), matches are funded in part by sports-betting transfers, and the School District Unfunded Liability Fund received a $148.9 million transfer for rate relief.
At a Feb. 9 subcommittee work session, PERS actuarial staff provided an update on Senate Bill 1566 financing reforms, including the Employer Incentive Fund (EIF), the School District Unfunded Liability Fund (SDULF) and the Unfunded Actuarial Liability Resolution Program (UALRP).
Jake Winship, actuarial section manager at PERS, told the committee the EIF provides up to a 25% match for qualifying employer lump‑sum deposits. He said the program added roughly $480 million to the PERS trust in the 2019–24 period (about $380 million from employer deposits and roughly $96.4 million in EIF matches). A subsequent phase that began April 1, 2025, distributed $32 million in matching funds through calendar year 2025, with about $3.8 million remaining allocated in the fund.
"Those were actually funds transferred from the Oregon State Lottery as part of sports betting," Winship said when asked where the matching dollars originated, and he added that transfers for the current biennium were designated by the legislature but that future transfers will require further legislative action.
Winship also summarized SDULF activity: interest on unclaimed property is currently the only active revenue stream for the fund, previous revenue sources were sunset, and PERS received a transfer of $148,900,000 on Jan. 28 that staff intend to deploy for one-time school-district rate relief under SB 849 guidance. Committee members and LFO staff said SDULF provided some relief but did not reach the scale originally envisioned; staff attributed part of that gap to COVID-era legislative actions and to the materiality threshold required to change employer rates.
On employer support tools, Winship described the UALRP as a suite of guidance and a rate-projection tool that lets employers model side-account deposits and estimate contribution-rate relief. PERS staff said they update the tools annually but did not have up-to-date usage metrics on hand and offered to follow up.
Ben DeYoung (DAS CFO office) recommended the committee acknowledge receipt of the SB 1566 update; a committee member moved to acknowledge receipt and the committee agreed without recorded objection. The meeting adjourned following the acknowledgment.
