Overview of the Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Association

The state legislature established the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association (PERA) in 1931 to provide a pension benefit to state and local government employees, predating the federal Social Security Act of 1935 by four years. PERA is a substitute for Social Security for most participating public employees. PERA is administered under Article 51 of Title 24 of the Colorado Revised Statutes.