PERS has not been gutted... 

I just cashed out my "401k" after leaving State Employment. The State of Alaska has a very generous matching program, after only 2 1/2 years of employment, Alaska paid me almost $10,000.00 dollars extra in my "401K" PERS Tier IV. I am now employed in South Carolina and they have no such matching program for 401K contributions. Here is a really nice perk.... you can "Cash Out" your accumulated personal leave AKA "Vacation/Sick" time, I "Cashed Out" several times while working for the State of Alaska, I would say I received an additional 12K during my employ. Again, the State of S.C. has no such perks. Ironically, the State of South Carolina has a balanced budget, does that sound strange....?