Sixteen Democratic lawmakers asked Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner to complete and publish a comprehensive audit of Oregon’s $104 billion public pension fund within 12 months, saying the legally required review has not been done in 10 years.
Their Aug. 3 letter says the fund became too reliant on private equity—27% of assets in May 2025 versus a 20% target, or about $7 billion above target—while public stocks sat 10 points below target during a market boom.
Steiner pushed back in an Aug. 4 reply, saying Treasury’s rotating asset-class audits satisfy state law and are better than a single all-fund review every four years.
Private equity now makes up 23.3% of the fund and has trailed the OPERF benchmark in all but one of the past 10 years; those holdings are down 0.03% so far this year.
Lawmakers also want fees examined, especially on roughly $1.3 billion in pre-2014 private equity holdings that could cost as much as $26 million a year if they are dormant 'zombie funds.'