Rauner tells General Assembly state employee salaries are "unsustainable"

[February 03, 2015]  SPRINGFIELD – Governor Bruce Rauner, Monday shared the attached memo and two new slides with members of the General Assembly. He will also give all members a compilation of all his presentation slides prior to the State of the State.

(Copy)

TO: Members of the General Assembly
FROM: Bruce Rauner, Governor
DATE: February 2, 2015
SUBJECT: The Attached Slides

Good Afternoon:

As you know, I have been delivering a number of speeches detailing many of the structural challenges confronting Illinois. Before our joint session on Wednesday, I wanted to share two additional slides with you. I hope you are able to review them soon.

The first slide is a summary of the federal rules regarding U.S. government employees. The rules were codified in 1978 under President Jimmy Carter and a Democratic Congress. The pension system changes were enacted under President Ronald Reagan in conjunction with a bipartisan legislature. We too can achieve common-sense bipartisan reforms to our employment rules that are fair to both state workers and taxpayers.

The second slide shows a few examples of spending levels inside Illinois government. These levels are unsustainable and unfair to working families, small businesses and other taxpayers in Illinois. They limit our ability to grow our economy and to fund much needed social services. We do not intend to propose government salary reductions, but it is critical that we make structural reforms that prevent any future imbalances and unfair practices. It is also abundantly clear that we must make major reforms to eliminate conflicts of interest and to achieve dramatic economic growth in order to properly fund the operations of our state government.

I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday and working with you in the weeks and months ahead.

Sincerely,
Bruce

(Click on slides for larger versions)

[Lance Trover, Office of the Governor Bruce Rauner]