Today, Illinois pension costs are crowding out funding for core government services. According to Moody’s Investment Service, Illinois’ pension debt now exceeds $250 billion. Meanwhile, Illinois’ credit rating remains one notch above junk – the worst in the nation.
House Bill 4371, filed Jan. 30 by state Rep. Robert Martwick, D-Chicago, proposes bonding the state’s unfunded pension liability. If passed, this bill would allow the biggest debt sale in municipal bond market history.
Proponents of the bill believe this plan would realize $103 billion dollars in reduced pension debt by 2045. Yet the bill ignores the root of the problem: the exploding cost of Illinois pensions. Instead, it only borrows more money for a broken system. Without significant reform of the pension system itself, expenses will continue to outpace inflation and population growth and the incomes of the taxpayers that fund government.
Without reform of the current funding system, the state’s annual pension payment is projected to grow from $8.5 billion in 2019 to $19.6 billion in 2045. Passing this bill into law not only keeps the broken funding system in place, it further risks reducing Illinois’ worst in the nation credit rating.
Sign the petition today to tell your lawmaker to oppose this scheme to ruin Illinois’ credit rating without any reform of the current pension system.