|
 A group of Republicans and Democrats from the Illinois House and Senate
unveiled a plan on Wednesday that they say could save Illinois $2 billion this
spring.
"The total savings between now and 2045 would be almost $160 billion; the
decrease in the unfunded liability would be $28 billion immediately," said state
Sen. Dan Biss, D-Evanston, who added that the next payment for all five of
Illinois' pension plans would drop by $2 billion this spring.
Illinois is set to pay nearly $8 billion for pensions in the next budget. The
total unfunded liability is nearly $130 billion, according to some estimates.
The newest proposal is a tweak of a number of old pension reforms, again
focusing on cost-of-living adjustments and a cap on pension income, while
requiring public employees to pay more for their own retirement.
But the biggest savings to Illinois would come from having local schools and
the state's public universities pick up the entire cost for their new workers'
pensions. Illinois would continue to pay the bulk of the multibillion tab for
teachers and university workers currently on the job.
"If you are a new employee … you would contribute 4 percent of your salary
toward a (defined benefit) plan," said House Republican Leader Tom Cross. "And
at the same time you would accumulate a (defined contribution) plan. You would
put in 5 percent, and your employer could put anywhere from 3 to 10 percent.
That would be negotiated by the school district or the university."
New employees, according to the plan, would be anyone hired after Jan. 1,
2014.
By shifting the cost from the state to local schools and universities,
Illinois would get out from under the expected future costs of paying for
defined-benefit retirement plans for thousands of future teachers and university
employees.
Republicans like Cross and Rep. Darlene Senger, from the affluent suburb of
Naperville, have opposed a cost shift in the past. But Senger said this plan
protects teachers who are now in the classroom.
"Not everybody is going to be happy. Almost everybody will have some piece of
this that they don't like," Senger said. "But we will guarantee that you will
have a pension in 30 years, and we will be out of this problem once and for
all."
The cost shift may produce the biggest savings, but it is not the biggest
legal hurdle for pension reform.
[to top of second column] |
 The new proposal would raise the retirement age to 67 and apply a
cost-of-living adjustment only to the first $25,000 of a public worker's
pension.
That is sure to trigger a court fight over Illinois' constitutional guarantee
that pension benefits cannot be diminished.
Within hours of the new proposal being made public, the We Are One Illinois
coalition, a group of the state's largest public employee unions, was dismissing
the legislation. The coalition includes the American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees; the Illinois Education Association; the Illinois
Federation of Teachers; and the state's AFL-CIO chapter.
"Like the previous approach,
HB 3411 continues to focus on unfair,
unconstitutional benefit cuts that erode the value of retirees' pensions," the
coalition said in a news release.
The unions have made no secret that they want lawmakers to raise taxes to pay
for the pension system.
State Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-Northbrooke, however, is not worried about
having to argue for the reforms.
Nekritz is quick to say the new pension plan would guarantee payments, adding
that the pension systems could sue the General Assembly if lawmakers fail to
make payments to the pension system, as they have in the past.
The pension plan from Cross, Nekrtiz and Biss came one day before the
Illinois House was scheduled to vote on a number of pension reform proposals.
The action Thursday was expected to test various pension plans, but it was
not expected to produce a final piece of legislation.
[IllinoisWatchdog article by BENJAMIN YOUNT]
Contact Benjamin Yount at
Ben@IllinoisWatchdog.org.
|
