Carson City — The Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees on Saturday approved funding to continue Nevada PERS’ multi-year replacement of its pension administration system and authorized additional classified positions to address rising workloads.

Fiscal staff recommended and the committees approved administrative fee authority of $10.3 million in fiscal year 2026 and $807,622 in fiscal year 2027 to continue the pension-administration system replacement and related equipment costs. The motion, offered by Assemblymember Monroe Moreno and seconded by Senator Winn, passed by voice vote.

PERS told the committee the project was originally estimated at $23.5 million and previously approved by the 2019 Legislature; PERS has since pushed the projected completion date to June 30, 2026, and reported that additional programming and stakeholder-driven modifications could increase costs by up to $4.2 million. Fiscal staff presented the revised schedule and costs and recommended the committee require greater reporting.

Accordingly, the committee approved a letter of intent requesting PERS submit status reports at each interim meeting of the Retirement and Benefits Committee. Fiscal staff requested those reports include implementation timelines, vendor deliverables received and those behind schedule, training plans for staff, and oversight-company status updates. The committee also approved a separate package of administrative-fee authority ($481,887 over the 2025–27 biennium) to add four classified positions — an auditor, a retirement examiner, a retirement technician and an accounting technician — which PERS said are intended to reduce member wait times, resume a three‑year audit rotation of employers, and handle increased employer reporting complexity.

Why it matters: PERS manages retirement benefits for Nevada public employees. Delays and additional costs to its replacement system affect benefit calculations, employer reporting, and member service timelines statewide.

What PERS said: PERS indicated additional programming changes were required because of increased contribution rates and stakeholder-requested modifications to streamline employer reporting. The system requested continued monitoring and the reporting requirement the committee adopted.

Next steps: PERS will continue project implementation through mid‑2026 and provide the requested status reports to the interim Retirement and Benefits Committee. Committee staff were authorized to make technical adjustments to other recommended closing items tied to software maintenance and rent.