When it comes to state pension benefits, it turns out that someone who wants to game the system doesn't have to lie. They just have to read the free handbook from the Employees Retirement System and follow the instructions.

For former legislators who served for at least eight years, each additional year on the state payroll is currently worth $2,875 annually, once they start collecting their pensions.

Those pensions are based on years of service multiplied by 2.3 percent of a state judge's salary, which is currently $125,000. Former lawmakers can start collecting their pensions at age 60 if they served for at least eight years in elected office, and at age 50 if they served for at least 12 years. (They have options as to how they get their benefits, but those are the basics.) A 65-year-old former lawmaker with 16 years in the Legislature, for instance, would be eligible for an annual pension of $46,000. If she worked for a state agency for two years on top of that, the annual benefit would increase to $51,750.

The regs say the beneficiary gets credit for a month as soon as that paycheck is recorded and the retirement benefit deducted from it. If our imaginary former lawmaker is on the books for $200 monthly, and allowed the $12 deduction for retirement each month, the benefits would accumulate. As long as she's on the payroll when the monthly checks are cut, she gets the pension bennies for that month.

She doesn't even have to work full-time.