Someone should be auditing the pension every year. Get that report. Some kind of information in there should tell you how long the fund will be solvent (become insolvent). Plan like there will be no more payments made after that date. That date is going to keep moving as political and economic winds blow.
Find out if they make any increase in payments over time. Probably not. The one I'm a member of hasn't increased payouts for inflation in over 20 years.
They're going to have to be nimble in their lifestyle. But honestly they are better off than a great many people, I don't mean to sound so dour. Can they get some menial part time job? Even if it's just minimum wage, even if it's just a few hundred a month for the next few years, that can matter a great deal even at their age.
But honestly unless it's a situation where you have guardianship and/or POA to make decisions here, the best you will probably be able to do is encourage them to think about these things.
The debate gets politically charged because the changes to future retirees and current taxpayers is painful, but the math is what it is. Its about capacity and every state has the capacity to deal with their pension issues.
But bear in mind that government employees are often seen as lazy, incompetent do nothings working unnecessary jobs that shouldn't exist in the first place. Oh there certainly is plenty of waste in government, but I know very well there's no "typical" government worker! That doesn't matter though, the perception is reality.
The 2008 recession is still being felt by most people. Suddenly what used to be widely recognized as low paying and lackluster but steady work (not necessarily true either) suddenly looks like Fat City to more and more people. It's an easily identifiable group that's easy to demonize, and no, it doesn't all come from one side of the political aisle either.
There are, every year, legislative proposals, serious ones, to eliminate incentives, pay, benefits, etc. Different advocacy groups track them. They play games with the livelihoods of state employees on a whim. In my home state of Texas, there was even a year they opted to shift the pay date for state employees forward to make the budget balance one year. That's not even counting all the cuckoo bird stuff I hear like paying female and minority employees bonuses because... genitalia and skin tone? Or to cut out all health benefits and throw us on the Obamacare exchanges (I don't think you can even do that but whole different can of worms there). To be fair that stuff is probably all just talk and nonsense (no actual proposed legislation ever seems to come from it), but it's the tip of the political iceberg.
So far the response in Texas to fixing insolvency has been to penalize the current employees more to try to fix the gap rather than making enough appropriations to the pension fund (though some have been made). The point being, while there are some forward thinking people in every state who want to run an efficient, responsible and sustainable government who will try to fix it, but the push to not fix it to give "lazy wasteful" people "what they deserve" is pretty strong too.
I fear even if the more forward thinking people win out, the political albatross around their neck may slow their efforts too much.