Illinois committee will reconvene to discuss pensions June 18

Though Illinois taxpayers should be disappointed that pension reform was not enacted during the scheduled spring legislative session, they should also be relieved that fake reform was not enacted. The competing proposals offered by House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton did not offer solutions commensurate to the severity of Illinois’ pension problem (Senate Bill 1and Senate Bill...

Though Illinois taxpayers should be disappointed that pension reform was not enacted during the scheduled spring legislative session, they should also be relieved that fake reform was not enacted. The competing proposals offered by House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton did not offer solutions commensurate to the severity of Illinois’ pension problem (Senate Bill 1and Senate Bill 2404, respectively).

Madigan’s bill would worsen Illinois’ pension crisis, and the savings expected in Cullerton’s bill are so miniscule they wouldn’t even make a drop in the bucket. Even worse, both of these bills contain afunding guarantee that Illinois simply cannot afford, and fail to achieve real reform because they preserve a broken, unsustainable defined benefits system.

When session adjourned on May 31, neither bill had gained enough support to pass both chambers. But yesterday, Madigan filed an amendment to Cullerton’s SB 2404. Madigan’s amendment gutted Cullerton’s plan and replaced it with his own, essentially converting SB 2404 into SB 1.

This legislation has been assigned to the House Personnel and Pensions Committee, which is scheduled to meet at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 18.

On June 17, the Institute will host lawmakers at a press conference at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago to discuss the merits of our alternative pension plan, which proposes real pension reform that actually solves the state’s crisis. Without real pension reform, every Illinois household is on the hook for more than $40,000 in additional taxes just to cover the state’s more than $200 billion shortfall.

The Institute’s CEO John Tillman said it best:

“The General Assembly’s inability to enact real pension reform proves why politicians must get out of the retirement business. Politicians have created a system that has spiraled so out of control that not even the architects of the system can fix it.”

It’s time to put the power over workers’ retirements back where it belongs: in the hands of the workers.

Stay tuned.