 The Illinois House last week overwhelmingly passed
House Bill 1447, which reduces the pension benefits state
legislators and judges hired after Jan 1, 2011, can collect. The
reductions are on par with existing pension benefits for teachers
and state employees."It would make sense and would put everybody
on the same playing field ... -- result in some more parity if
everyone had that same cost-of-living increase," said bill sponsor
Rep. Kelly Burke, D-Oak Lawn.
To keep up with the cost of living, pension benefits for
lawmakers and judges increase every year at a rate of 3 percent, or
based on the consumer price index, whichever is less.
Pensions for teachers and state workers, however, increase by 3
percent, or half of the consumer price index, also whichever is
less.
Rep. Roger Eddy, R-Hutsonville, voted for the plan but said he
didn't believe it would save a "substantial" amount of money
compared with simply paying off unfunded liabilities.
"I think this is a statement bill, and the statement is that the
General Assembly and judges shouldn't have a benefit that appears to
be a better benefit than other state workers," Eddy said.
Burke agreed.
"It's not glamorous. It's not going to save the pension systems,
but it is something that will make it more fiscally sustainable in
the long run," Burke said.
Rep. Mike Bost, R-Carbondale, who favored the measure, said he
worried more about a conflict of interest for judges who might have
to rule on the measure's constitutionality, calling it a "fox
guarding a chicken coup" situation.
"We passed legislation to try and cure many of these problems,
and/or stop raises and/or stop other things, and the judges throw it
out or they throw their portion of the bill out," Bost said.
"If it does pass ... when the judges throw it out, then the bill
isn't real," Bost added.
Burke, however, said he doesn't anticipate a constitutional
challenge, calling the plan a simple "cleanup" of last year's
pension reforms.
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The previous General Assembly passed reforms that created a
second "tier" of employees -- those hired after Jan. 1. Those
reforms increased retirement age to 67, placed a $106,800 cap on the
amount the second tier was able to cash in on, and other
restrictions.
Lawmakers and judges were able to keep the full consumer price
index primarily because they also absorbed a 25 percent reduction in
total annuity that teachers and state employees didn't have to take,
said Rep. Kevin McCarthy, D-Orland Park, who was part of the reform
process last year.
"There is a perfectly good explanation for it. I think ... it's
just one of those explanations people don't listen to," McCarthy
said. "They just think, 'Why did you take those two groups and give
them more?'"
If the measure passes, lawmakers said the changes would
effectively create a third tier.
Eddy questioned the utility of going that route.
"Are we really going to ever see all of these combined? So if
we're going to have a third tier, at least we don't have a tier
four, five, six and seven all in one year," Eddy said.
The measure passed 87-3 and now heads to the Senate for debate,
where some lawmakers predict it will be rolled into a larger pension
reform package.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By MELISSA LEU]
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