Chapter 172
AN ACT
SB 579
Relating to Oregon Growth Account; amending ORS 348.701, 348.702,
348.703 and 348.706.
Be It Enacted by the People of
the State of
SECTION 1. ORS 348.701 is amended to read:
348.701. As used in ORS 348.701
to 348.710:
(1) “Board” means the
Oregon Growth Account Board established in ORS 348.707.
(2) “Emerging growth
business” means an individual or group of individuals or a new or small
company, including but not limited to any new or small partnership, limited
liability company, corporation, firm, association or other entity, that has
the capacity, upon obtaining appropriate capital, to generate significant high
skill, high wage employment [within one
or more traded sector industries].
(3) “Management company”
includes [a person,] an individual
or group of individuals, firm, association, limited partnership,
partnership, corporation or other investment company.
(4) “Seed capital” means
financing that is provided for the initial phases, including the first
phase, of development, refinement and commercialization of a technology,
product, process or innovation, including but not limited to facilitating
technology transfers related to academic research, discoveries or developments
for the purpose of commercialization of a technology, product, process
or innovation.
[(5) “Traded sector” has the meaning given that term in ORS 285B.280.]
SECTION 2. ORS 348.702 is amended to read:
348.702. (1) There is created within the Education Stability Fund the
Oregon Growth Account, to which shall be credited, in the manner provided in
subsection (2) of this section, 10 percent of the funds transferred under
section 4, Article XV of the Oregon Constitution, from the Administrative
Services Economic Development Fund to the Education Stability Fund. Separate
records shall be maintained for moneys in the Oregon Growth Account that are
available for the purposes specified in subsection (5) of this section. The
account may be credited with such unrestricted appropriations, gifts,
donations, grants or contract proceeds from any source, with investments or
funds from any source, and with returns on investments made from the account.
(2) The Oregon
Department of Administrative Services may credit to the Oregon Growth Account
from the first funds transferred in a fiscal year to the Education Stability
Fund under section 4, Article XV of the Oregon Constitution, an amount up to
the amount the department estimates to be 10 percent of the funds required to
be transferred to the Education Stability Fund for that fiscal year.
(3) If at the end of the
fiscal year the amount credited to the Oregon Growth Account under subsection
(2) of this section is less than or greater than 10 percent of the amount
required to be transferred under section 4, Article XV of the Oregon
Constitution, to the Education Stability Fund, the amount credited to the
Oregon Growth Account shall be adjusted in one of the following ways:
(a) The amount credited
to the account in the following fiscal year may be adjusted;
(b) Any excess may be
transferred from the Oregon Growth Account to the Education Stability Fund; or
(c) Any shortage may be
transferred from the Education Stability Fund to the Oregon Growth Account from
funds available for that purpose.
(4) Adjustments required
by subsection (3) of this section shall be made without consideration of any
interest or other earnings that have accrued during the fiscal year.
(5) The purpose of the
Oregon Growth Account is to earn returns for the Education Stability Fund by
making investments in or by providing seed capital for emerging growth
businesses [in traded sector industries].
(6) The investment of
funds in the Oregon Growth Account shall be governed by the Oregon Growth
Account Board.
SECTION 3. ORS 348.703 is amended to read:
348.703. (1) The
(a) A partnership agreement under which the
Oregon Growth Account Board is the limited partner and the management company
is the general partner; or
(b) Another form of
payment or profit-sharing arrangement under which the Oregon Growth Account
Board may receive payment or another form of return in exchange for its
investment in an emerging growth business.
(2) The provisions of
ORS 293.726 do not apply to those assets of the Education Stability Fund that
are held in the Oregon Growth Account. The limitations of ORS 293.726 (6) shall
be calculated based only on the balance of the Education Stability Fund that
does not include the Oregon Growth Account.
(3) A management company
selected to manage the Oregon Growth Account shall manage the moneys in the
account, subject to investment policies established by the State Treasurer and
the investment directives or strategies of the Oregon Growth Account Board,
with the care, skill and diligence that a prudent investor acting in a similar
capacity and familiar with such investments would use in managing and investing
a similar account. The management company shall invest in
(4) The contract between
the board and a management company to manage the Oregon Growth Account and the
functions performed under the contract are not subject to the State Personnel
Relations Law or ORS 279.835 to 279.855 or ORS chapter 279A or 279B.
(5) Notwithstanding ORS
348.702 (5), a management company selected to manage the Oregon Growth Account
may maintain a portion of the moneys allocated to the account under ORS 348.702
(1) in short-term securities in investments other than those specified in ORS
348.702 (5) during such times as a management company is seeking investments
that meet the requirements of ORS 348.702 (5).
(6) The State Treasurer
shall annually submit a report to the Governor and to the Legislative Assembly
on the investment of moneys in the Oregon Growth Account. The report required
by this subsection shall include a summary of the amount of money invested by
industrial sector or business classification, by region of this state, by size
of investment and by type of investment.
(7) The State Treasurer
shall provide to other state agencies any reports on the investment of moneys
in the Oregon Growth Account that are necessary to fulfill audit, financial,
investment or other reporting requirements to which the Education Stability
Fund is subject by law or standard accounting principles.
(8) The office of the
State Treasurer shall provide staff to the board.
(9) There is
continuously appropriated to the board from the Oregon Growth Account those
amounts necessary to meet the expenses of the board and the State Treasurer in
carrying out the operations of the Oregon Growth Account and the duties of the
board and the State Treasurer. The cost to the office of the State Treasurer of
providing staff to the board shall be deducted from those amounts paid to the
State Treasurer pursuant to ORS 293.718 as reimbursement for expenses incurred
as investment officer for the Education Stability Fund.
(10) The board may enter
into contracts for the provision of investment advice or other services that
the board deems reasonable and necessary to fulfill the duties of the board.
The State Treasurer may enter into contracts for the provision of investment
advice or other services that the State Treasurer deems reasonable and
necessary to fulfill the duties of the State Treasurer with respect to the
Oregon Growth Account. Such contracts are not subject to the State Personnel
Relations Law or ORS 279.835 to 279.855 or ORS chapter 279A or 279B.
SECTION 4. ORS 348.706 is amended to read:
348.706. (1) There is created within the Oregon Growth Account the Oregon
Resource and Technology Development Subaccount. Separate records shall be
maintained for moneys in the subaccount. Subject to investment policies
established by the State Treasurer and investment directives or strategies of
the Oregon Growth Account Board, moneys in the subaccount shall be used to make
seed capital investments in emerging growth businesses [in traded sector industries in Oregon].
(2) The board may allocate
such amounts from the subaccount as the board determines appropriate for seed
capital investments.
Approved by the Governor May 25, 2007
Filed in the office of Secretary of State May 25, 2007
Effective date January 1, 2008
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