Pension bill now in House hands
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The infamous pension reform bill that led to state Rep. Mike Bost's nationally-famous rant on Tuesday and considered dead by some lawmakers late Wednesday found new life this morning when House Speaker Michael J. Madigan dumped his chief sponsorship of the bill onto his Republican counterpart, House Minority Leader Tom Cross.
The legislation, SB1673, reforms the state's pensions systems covering state workers, elected officials, teachers and local public employees by giving both current workers and retirees a choice between a lowered cost of living adjustment, but keeping access to retiree medical insurance, or keeping the standard COLAs but losing access to the state health insurance.
Madigan's version of the legislation would have also shifted significant costs from the state to local governments in downstate Illinois which was a significant factor in Bost's outburst earlier this week.
Sensing the growing opposition Gov. Pat Quinn backed away from the cost-sharing. Madigan disagreed with that approach and gave the bill to Cross to run.
The House amended the bill and removed the cost sharing as well as other changes.
Cross told reporters the state faces an $85 billion unfunded liability, according to a video of the impromptu news conference posted by Rich Miller of Capitol Fax.
The Teachers' Retirement System reports that the early versions of the bill would save the state budget between $65 billion and $155 billion, though Associated Press reports quoting budget documents from Quinn's office trims the amount to a maximum savings of $116 billion over the next three decades.
The COLA reduction has been estimated to save the state between $66.5 billion and $89 billion. The cost shifting to local governments would have added another $29 billion to the state.
No one seems to like the bill, including Cross who opposed it on Wednesday.
"There will never be anybody jumping up and down [over it]," Cross told reporters. "This is a bill drafted by the Speaker. I was handed this bill last night."
"We owe $85 billion to our pension systems and we've got to find a fair way to (deal with) it," Cross said. "If we don't fix it… there may not be a system, or we will have to continue to cut state government."
Cross committed 30 Republicans to vote for the bill, half of what it needs to pass. He said he expects Democrats to provide the remaining votes.
Earlier today in committee Democratic members lamblasted the bill but eventually voted in favor of it so the full House could consider the measure.
"They may not like it, but they want to support their governor," Cross said.
State Rep. Brandon Phelps, D-Harrisburg, said Thursday afternoon he thought the bill would pass as would a budget bill allowing lawmakers to complete their work before tonight's midnight deadline.
If lawmakers fail to act on dealing with the unfunded liabilities in the pension plan Cross said "the bond agencies will downgrade" Illinois causing the state to pay more when it borrows money.
The bill also limits schools on the amount of raises they can give in the last years of an teacher's or administrator's employment.
"The goal is to say to the school districts you can't simply still keep giving raises and send the bill down to the state," he said.
The pension bill has made state workers and teachers nervous about their retirement plans.
Public sector unions have already put lawmakers on notice they believe the bill violates the Illinois Constitution.
Dave Urbanek, spokesman for the Teachers' Retirement System, said whatever happens it's "not something that's going to be bang, bang."
Published reports have taken into consideration the possibility that the Supreme Court might overturn the law as it affects current retirees.
Phelps confirms that he's heard that talk and asked one of the lawmakers who crafted the bill about it. She told him it wouldn't matter if someone was retired or still working as the legislation affects all.
Urbanek said his agency can't recommend anything to current workers wondering what they should do.
"We don't know what the future is going to bring. What we do know though if legislation is passed this spring and signed by the governor, organized labor and other groups have committed themselves to a legal challenge of any bill that restricts the benefits," he said.
"It's likely that type of court challenge will last for some time. With that court challenge will be an injunction to keep the current law in place," he added, thus, "we are not looking at an immediate change to the way TRS benefits are being administered."
So far he said the agency wasn't seeing an uptick in workers filing to retire.
The bottom line, he urged those in the TRS system, "is be aware. Watch what is going on in the General Assembly. We will have up-to-date information on our website as it comes available," he promised.
"It's something that is ultimately the member's decision. We can't offer any advice on what-ifs and could-bes That would not be fair to the members," he added.
The TRS website can be found at http://trs.illinois.gov. The legislation can be traced at the General Assembly's website at http://www.ilga.gov.
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Musgrave receives e-mail at jmusgrave@dailyregister.com
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