The Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) of Mississippi, a governmental defined benefit pension plan qualified under Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code, is the retirement system for nearly all non-federal public employees in the state. From the Gulf of Mexico to the Tennessee border, from the Alabama line to the Mississippi River, PERS serves employees of the state, public school districts, municipalities, counties, community colleges, state universities and such other public entities as libraries and water districts.