Don't believe everything you read.  PERS is a problem that politicians love to discuss.  They can't do anything about it so they can mutter PERS over and over again when they want to raise taxes.  Rather than have that 85 year old lady with $1200/month in PERS income donate 5% back to the state, I would prefer to see the politicians impose a system wide wage freeze, to bring government compensation back into line with the private sector.  You won't here politicians bring up this topic.