Ron, check out PERS by the Numbers (available online), a comprehensive account of the PERS system and its history. The COLA was changed for all service time after Oct 1, 2013. Benefits have been reduced 22 different times since 1995. Just as with overall funding (PERS has over the years been overfunded as well as underfunded) and expected rate of returns, the system rules are a moving target. As reforms play out and conditions change, adjustments are needed. The Courts here have insisted only that changes not be retroactive in a way that would violate contracts. People move their families here to accept job offers that include specific salary and benefits promises. Historically, in some sectors, the salaries were very low and the benefits compensated. To work a lifetime at low salary and then have one's promised retirement benefits eliminated would be unjust. Contracts must be kept, so, by law, PERS payments will be made. Measure 97 is for Oregon's schools, seniors, and health care.