Communities across Illinois are being forced to cut local services and raise taxes to afford their pension payments, putting residents who rely on local government services at risk because of the inherent failures of defined-benefit plans.

The new law is a step toward more fairness within Illinois’ police pension system, while offering certain police officers more control over their retirements.

The Harvey, Illinois, firefighters’ nearly bankrupt pension fund makes up just one part of Illinois’ combined $267 billion in state and local pension liabilities.