Health & Fitness

Cullerton, Senate Dems, unions join forces for new pension bill, but will it solve the problem? Your Reboot Illinois Daily Tip-Off (Links included)

There's a new pension bill in Springfield that has the blessing of public employee unions. But will it do what the state needs?

An earlier version of this post did not include links. We apologize for the duplicate posting.

NEW TWIST IN PENSION DRAMA On Monday, Senate President John Cullerton introduced a new pension reform bill that has the blessing of the state's major public employee unions. He says it will save around $46 billion over the next 30 years -- less than one-third the savings of House Speaker Michael Madigan's more far-reaching bill that passed the House last week. But Cullerton says the plus is that his bill won't face a lawsuit down the road because the unions helped write it. Here are the highlights of the Cullerton bill. It's expected to get a vote in the Senate on Thursday. Meanwhile, here are the highlights of Madigan's bill.


This all goes back to one major philosophical difference between Cullerton and Madigan. Cullerton believes that any bill that does not offer employees choices in whether to accept reduced benefits will be nullified in court. The state constitution has an explicit prohibition of reducing pension benefits once promised. Madigan, however, believes the pension protection does not override all other protections in the constitution, specifically to things like education funding and health care, which have suffered as more and more money is consumed by pensions. We are in for an interesting next few weeks in Springfield.

Find out what's happening in Palatinewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

OUR VIEW We're far from convinced that the new pension bill from Cullerton and the unions will save anywhere near what the state needs to begin its long crawl back to financial security. We say so in our editorial today.

REPEAL Fixing the pension problem would be a lot easier if the Illinois Constitution didn't have a clause specifically prohibiting lawmakers from reducing pension benefits. A constitutional amendment introduced in the General Assembly proposes repealing that protection. There are also proposed amendments to impose term limits, define marriage as between a man and a woman, eliminate the office of lieutenant governor and change the income tax system. What does it take for any of these to happen? Our infographic explains.

Find out what's happening in Palatinewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

MADIGAN'S MOTIVE The pension crisis has been building for years, but only this year has House Speaker Michael Madigan gotten aggressive about doing something about it. John Giokaris, political director of the Chicago Young Republicans, thinks the 2014 election -- and a certain possible candidate for governor also named Madigan -- has a lot to do with it

DANGER! Skipping pension payments had a lot to do with creating the $100 billion crisis that now threatens all aspects of government in Illinois, from education to health care to public safety. But making it illegal for the state to skip pension payments -- and giving employees the right to sue if it does so -- is a very bad idea, writes Chicago attorney and Chicago Sun-Times columnist Eden Martin. 

DAILY TIP-OFF The Chicago Sun-Times is the first editorial board out of the gate in opposition to Senate President John Cullerton's pension bill. "It is not enough. Illinois will continue to stagger beneath the burden of public employee pensions it cannot afford, which increasingly will crowd out most other essential spending — and likely force big tax hikes — for decades to come," says today's Sun-Times editorial. "Our hope is that it will fail, and that the Senate then will turn around and support the House pension package, which offers real and substantial reform for a generation to come."

We expect something similar from the Tribune editorial board any minute now.

We have links to several news articles on the Cullerton/union pension bill and its effect on pension discussions in Springfield in our Daily Tip-Off section.

One of the first pieces posted on Reboot Illinois was this column from U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin advocating for the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would force online retailers to collect sales tax on all purchases. Now the U.S. Senate has passed the bill, but it faces an uncertain future in the U.S. House. The Quad City Times says its passage would mean $212 million annually for Illinois.

Links to these stories and more are in the Daily Tip-Off section of our website.

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