Dropping out of pensions
State law doesnt allow for the lawmaker, who entered the upper chamber in 2008, to drop out of the system.
Scott Reeder
Journalist in Residence
State Sen. Tim Bivins, R-Dixon, said he regrets ever joining the General Assembly Retirement System, or GARS, and now he wants out.
When I entered the Legislature I was like a deer in the headlights, he said. I just signed up for the pension. But thats not why I ran for office, and given the states fiscal condition I think it would be showing good leadership for me to just withdraw from the system altogether.
The only problem is, he can’t.
State law doesnt allow for the lawmaker, who entered the upper chamber in 2008, to drop out of the system.
So he recently introduced a bill to allow lawmakers and other members of GARS to voluntarily leave the system.
I already have a good pension from my years in law enforcement and I certainly dont need a second pension, he said. A number of people ran for the Legislature this time around saying they werent going to participate in the pension system. This gives those of us already in the Legislature an opportunity not to participate.
But state Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, expressed skepticism about the legislation.
To me, this is a great big red herring, he said. Its easy for someone like Sen. Bivins who is already going to get to get a government pension to say he is not going to take one. The fact of the matter is, you could eliminate pensions for the entire Legislature and not make a dent in our pension problems.
Under new accounting standards, the states overall pension shortfall exceeds $200 billion.
GARS is only 18.5 percent funded. Of the states five pension systems, it is the most underfunded.
Bivins bill does not address the states other pension funds.