Illinois lawmakers discuss pension debt measure at hearing

[August 24, 2023]  By Andrew Hensel | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois legislators met for the third time Wednesday to discuss a measure that aims to provide an additional $500 million yearly for the state's pension systems to address massive unfunded liabilities.

House Bill 4098, which has been the center of conversation during these hearings, would allow the Illinois treasurer and comptroller to transfer $500 million from the General Revenue Fund to the Pension Unfunded Liability Reduction Fund each fiscal year. Those funds would then be used to make payments into the state's systems.

The House Personnel & Pensions Committee discussed HB4908 in downtown Chicago along with officials from the Teachers' Retirement System and State Employees' Retirement System.

State Rep. Steven Reick, R-Woodstock, told The Center Square that the measure would do several things to the state's pension system.

"House Bill 4098 is an omnibus bill; it covers a whole lot of stuff," Reick said. "It doesn't just cover the safe harbor provisions of tier 2 [pensions]; it also handles the issues of buyouts, and it handles the drop. It is certainly not in final form."

Reick said the hearings have been helpful in working out some of the kinks of the bill.

"We still have some other issues to talk about on 4098," Reick said. "It is a laundry list of changes all of which need to be made to the pension plan but not all of which I think belong in the same bill."

Illinois state Rep. Steven Reick, R-Woodstock, during a committee hearing. - BlueRoomStream

Legislators plan to work on the measure throughout the summer and fall and attempt to get the bill passed during the next legislative session.

"Basically, again, we have three more hearings on various aspects of the bill that we are going to have before we put it together in final form and then see what it looks like," Reick told The Center Square.

The committees chair, state Rep. Stephanie Kifotwit, D-Oswego, said lawmakers will be discussing another measure when the time is right.

"This is a working group, and there will be another bill that we will work on because we are looking and researching and taking in a lot of information with regard to this subject and many other subjects," Kifowit said during the hearing.

The state manages five pension funds. The Teachers' Retirement System covers retired teachers from across the state, except for Chicago. Combined with TRS, the State Universities Retirement System, the State Employees' Retirement System, the Judges' Retirement System, and the General Assembly Retirement System have an unfunded liability of at least $140 billion. Combined, they are funded at only about 42% of what is needed. The pension system for lawmakers is the worst-funded at approximately 19%.

The next hearing will be held on Sept. 9.