Hardly a week goes by without a state or national news story about public employee pension benefits. Within the past few years, national associations and research institutes such as the National Conference of State Legislators, the Pew Research Center, the Center for State and Local Government Excellence, and the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, as well as numerous actuarial consulting firms have released dozens of studies, reports, white papers, issue briefs and summaries about the financial status of public employee pension programs and changes being enacted.