The following individuals met from 10 to 11:30 AM on Friday, January 9, 2004 to discuss possible reactions to the recent reduction in the employer’s contribution to OUS participants in ORP:

Grattan Kerans, (Director, Government Relations, OUS), Tom Barrows (AAUP), John Powell (AIG), Bill Linden (AOF??), Jim Edmonds & Sean Armstrong (TIAA), Mina Carson (IFS, OSU), Bob Turner (IFS, WOU), Denise Yunker (OUS HR), Michael Redding (U of O Office of Governmental Affairs), Michael Green (OUS HR), Mark Nelson (AOF).

After brief introductions, the meeting turned to a restatement of the problem, which had been accurately summarized for IFS Senators in Jim Lundy’s e-mail of last month: as a result of the passage of Ballot Measure 29 in September, 2003, the State of Oregon was authorized to issue $2 billion in bonds that produced prepayment of PERS system liabilities, which OUS applied to its PERS employer contribution. The resulting decrease in the employer’s PERS contribution produced a decrease in the employer contribution to ORP, since these two contribution rates are linked by the legislation establishing ORP.

Discussion then turned to potential solutions to this situation. There was consensus that the current situation would best be alleviated by administrative action, the potential form of which will be examined, with resolution anticipated in a period of days or weeks rather than months. The form of a more permanent solution to this problem was discussed extensively, with decoupling the PERS and ORP employer contribution rates as the solution most frequently mentioned. Agreement was reached on some working guidelines and on establishing a smaller working group comprised of representatives of the vendors (TIAA, AIG), AOF, AAUP, and IFS to use the guidelines to produce a draft proposal.

The meeting closed with a strong sense that all parties are firmly committed to both an immediate correction and a long term solution to the recent drastic reduction in the employer’s contribution to ORP.