Now Illinois state courts will decide whether it is constitutional to the city to reduce retiree health benefits.

Illinois resorted to POBs because pension costs were quickly increasing. But instead of reforming the system, political leaders chose to paper over the problem with debt.

The state’s 2016 pension cost is projected to increase to nearly $8 billion – or 25 cents of every dollar the state spends during the next budget year.

How bad the pension crisis really is, and why getting politicians out of the retirement business is the only way to solve it.

Given the importance of pension reform in Illinois, many groups wanted to weigh in.

Illinois Policy Institute files amicus brief in SB 1 case

The unpredictable and expensive nature of defined-benefit pension plans is why companies like Barnes & Noble Inc. and Allegheny Technologies recently chose to abandon traditional pension plans in favor of 401(k)-style plans.

A group of Chicago unions, including AFSCME Council 31 and the Chicago Teachers Union, have sued the city over a recent attempt to reform two of the city’s four pension funds.

Allegheny Technologies is making the switch to a 401(k)-style plan despite the fact that the company’s defined-benefit plan is currently 87 percent funded. Regardless of how well funded some defined-benefit plans can be, the plans are no longer affordable or sustainable.