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 Failed public officials will no longer be rewarded with
six-figure parting gifts subsidized by Illinois taxpayers.
Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law Senate Bill 3604 Aug. 14, creating the
Government Severance Pay Act, which mandates specific provisions in government
employment contracts that limit the capacity for excessive severance packages,
commonly known as “golden parachutes.”
SB 3604, filed April 10 by state Sen. Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park, caps
severance payouts at the equivalent of 20 weeks of employee compensation. The
bill also re-establishes government severance packages as a privilege – rather
than an entitlement – mandating that government worker contracts include
provisions that revoke severance packages altogether for employees terminated
due to misconduct. The law becomes effective Jan. 1, 2019.
 Lawmakers previously ventured to curtail golden parachutes with the passage of
Senate Bill 2159. The bill, filed by state Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago,
required greater transparency in severance pay negotiations for public
university officials, and further capped their payouts at one year’s
compensation. Gov. Bruce Rauner signed SB 2159 into law July 2016.
University officials have been among the most generously compensated in the face
of career-ending scandal. The Better Government Association illustrated as much
in a report released in October 2017, cataloguing a number of big severance
payouts. University officials comprised seven of the nine Illinois officials
listed in the report.
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The College of DuPage board of trustees issued one
of the largest severance packages for a government employee in
Illinois history, according to the Chicago Tribune. During his
tenure, President Robert Breuder hid more than $95 million in public
expenditures, $243,300 of which was used to purchase liquor. The
item was misleadingly labeled “instructional supplies” on ledger
lines. In turn, trustees purchased Breuder’s early retirement for
nearly $763,000 in severance pay.
More recently, Chicago’s water reclamation district
awarded nearly $100,000 in severance pay and six months of health
benefits to former executive director David St. Pierre under
ambiguous circumstances. St. Pierre resigned from his position
following an investigation by the district board, the contents of
which have remained undisclosed to the public.
Most Illinoisans, meanwhile, have experienced a fiscal climate
sharply different from that of golden parachute recipients. Indeed,
the same environment that has delivered six-figure payouts and
premature retirements to public officials, has pushed a top-heavy
tax burden onto the backs of Illinois taxpayers.
While more can be done in the way of bringing relief to taxpayers
and curbing abuse of taxpayer dollars, the governor’s signing of SB
3604 should be welcomed as a significant taxpayer victory.
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