The funding gap for state government retirement plans grew by 14 percent from 2010 to 2012 to $915 billion despite gains in the stock market, the Pew Charitable Trusts reported recently.

Only 15 states consistently made at least 95 percent of the full actuarially required contributions for their pension plans, the center cautioned.

Pew attributes the $158 billion increase in the shortfall to a rise in the number of financial crisis investment losses the state plans are acknowledging on their books.

The meltdown hit state plans particularly hard, leading to a combination of investment return shortfalls, missed contributions and unfunded benefit increases leading to a $452 billion unfunded liability for pensions.