Aug. 4, 2026, 4:03 a.m. PTA group of 16 Oregon Democrats sent a letter Aug. 3 to Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner and the Oregon Investment Council calling for a “comprehensive audit” of the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund.”We believe it is imperative that, within the next 12 months, Treasury and the Oregon Investment Council (OIC) conduct and report a comprehensive investment program audit for OPERF,” says the letter signed by Sens. Sara Gelser Blouin, D-Corvallis, Chris Gorsek, D-Gresham, Courtney Neron Misslin, D-Wilsonville, Deb Patterson, D-Salem, Khanh Phạm, D-Portland, Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, and Kathleen Taylor, D-Portland, alongside Reps. Tom Andersen, D-Salem, Farrah Chaichi, D-Beaverton, Mark Gamba, D-Milwaukie, Susan McLain, D-Forest Grove, Lesly Muñoz, D-Woodburn, Travis Nelson, D-Portland, Sue Rieke Smith, D-King City, and Andrea Valderrama, D-Portland.The lawmakers say a program audit of the fund is overdue and required every four years under state law since 1967. The last comprehensive OPERF investment program audit was conducted 10 years ago, according to the lawmakers. The Democrats say a 2026 audit of private equity allocation in the fund does not meet the audit standard in statutes by failing to “evaluate whether specific investments are making the retirement fund as productive as possible.”Lawmakers said in the letter that interested legislators met with Steiner in December 2025 to discuss Treasury efforts to address a “serious imbalance” between public and private equity allocations in the fund. The Oregonian and Oregon Journalism Project in July and August 2025 published stories about how private equity fund investments had ballooned to 27% of Oregon’s portfolio and the consequences of poor returns on those investments.Oregon Journalism Project reported that the Treasury not investing according to the Oregon Investment Council’s target allocation policy adversely impacted OPERF by $1.4 billion in 2024.In October, Steiner sent a letter to the Oregon Investment Council saying, in part, that she agreed with the OIC and staff’s decision to reduce the state’s overall allocation in private equity with a target of 20%. Steiner wrote that staff had already taken steps to shift allocation in private equity from 28% to 26% in the past two years alone and anticipated continued reduction to 25% by the end of 2025.”In addition to how OPERF came to rely excessively on private equity, we believe that the new investment program audit should cover investment impacts from artificial intelligence and technology, energy transition and climate change, medical advances, new geopolitical threats, and biological threats,” the lawmakers said.Lawmakers in their letter to Steiner said an audit should address not only the balance between private and public equity investments but also: investment-manager fee types and amounts; investment choices that could compromise long-term value of investments like investments in U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center contractors Geo Group and CoreCivic, or surveillance technology company Palantir; and the risk to investments presented by climate change.A June 30, 2025 OPERF Public Equity Holdings report said $933,619 from OPERF was invested with Geo Group Inc., $680,645 was invested with CoreCivic, and $49,358,064 was invested with Palantir Technologies Inc.“The concern over excessive investment in private equity, in terms of both transparency and the reliability of return on investment, goes back many years. The Legislature determined back then that a comprehensive investment-program audit was needed to rationally address these concerns and assure sound stewardship of Treasury investments over time,” said Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, who led a group of colleagues in composing the letter sent to the state Treasury and the Oregon Investment Council. “Our letter asks the Treasurer and the Investment Council to comply with this legally required safeguard.”The Oregon State Treasury’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature and equity issues. Reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.com or on X @DianneLugo or Bluesky @diannelugo.bsky.social.