The U.S. public pension crisis extends far beyond Nevada, with many states finding themselves in a similarly dire situation. Below are a few pension related stories from the past month:

• The Los Angeles Times documents the legislative enhancements that led to the nation’s largest public pension fund — the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Calpers) —  finding itself nearly $300 billion in debt. Nevada experienced similarly irresponsible pension enhancements, although they were spread out over several legislative sessions, not just one.

• The New York Times exposes how U.S. public pensions use two sets of books: one keeps publicly reported debt low, while the full amount is only revealed if an agency attempts to leave the system: “After all, the little fund held far more money than it needed, according to its official numbers from California’s renowned public pension system, Calpers. Except it really didn’t. In fact, it was significantly underfunded. Suddenly Calpers began demanding a payment of more than half a million dollars.”

• The Financial Times reports that the “US public pension crisis is really hard to fix” with experts at Stanford pegging the combined unfunded liability at $3.4 trillion nationwide.
• The Washington Post reports that Dallas police officers are scrambling to cash out of their pension fund as it nears bankruptcy.

• The Oregonian reports on a board member imploring lawmakers to immediately enact pension reform, stating that: “This is becoming a moral issue. We can't just talk about numbers anymore."

• The South Carolina State Treasurer says pension debt threatens to "swallow us whole," according to the Index-Journal.

For the latest on Nevada PERS, be sure to visit npri.org/issues/detail/pers.