Though House Speaker Mike Madigan claims his new pension proposal will save $160 billion over 30 years, much of what the Speaker calls “pension reform” is little more than a mix of accounting changes and a plan to commandeer more taxpayer funds. Madigan needed to find more savings since this version of his bill allows...

One of the biggest flaws in the pension “reform” proposals that have come out of Springfield has been “pension-funding guarantees” – provisions that would contractually obligate the state to fund public pension systems. The problem with any pension funding guarantee is that it commits taxpayers to spending that could lead to higher taxes, render the...

Lawmakers are touting the 401(k) element in House Speaker Mike Madigan’s proposed pension reform bill. But a close look at the bill shows this 401(k) option is a disaster waiting to happen. Participation in the 401(k) plan is limited to 5 percent of Tier 1 membership (meaning workers hired before 2011) on a first-come, first-serve...

REPORTS Pension Solutions: reforming retirement age More than 50% of Illinois government pensioners retired at age 59 or younger. Read more… Pension Solutions: cost-of-living adjustments are supersizing state pensions More than 8,000 Illinois government retirees receive more than $100,000 in annual pension benefits. Read more… Illinois’ pension system lacks transparency Actuarial data need to be...

For 33 years, Clyde Tome served the city of Detroit as a firefighter. Every day he was on duty he knew his life was on the line; in one encounter with riot fires, Tome watched a colleague die. Another time, he saw a nearby fireman killed in a random shooting. For his commitment, Tome counted...

There’s immense pressure on Illinois legislators to pass a pension bill. With the state pension system nearing insolvency and credit agencies warning of further downgrades, the perceived wisdom is that any pension fix, no matter how small, is a “step forward” that must be passed. But when it comes to pension reform in Illinois, that...