Thursday, December 5, 2013

The Illinois Retired Teachers’ Association & the We Are One Illinois Coalition Response to Quinn’s Signing of Senate Bill 1 in “a Private Location”


 
IRTA:

“SB1, which passed the House and Senate on Tuesday, December 3rd, was signed by Governor Quinn today. As stated before, the legislation does not go into effect until June 1, 2014. IRTA will be filing a lawsuit against this unconstitutional legislation.”

We Are One:

“Governor Pat Quinn has given hundreds of thousands of working and retired teachers, nurses, police, caregivers, first responders, and others no alternative but to seek justice for retirement security through the judicial system. Contrary to his belief, every Illinois citizen loses today.

“It didn’t have to be this way. Bipartisan majorities in both chambers could have passed a much fairer, legal, negotiated solution - with real, substantial savings - in Senate Bill 2404.

“Instead, leading politicians and their followers chose to violate their oaths of office, trample on the Illinois Constitution, and willfully ignore the plain letter of the law. In abandoning their constitutional duties, they’ve voted to slash the retirement benefits of senior citizens and working families by one-third or more.

“Senate Bill 1 is attempted pension theft, and it’s illegal. Once overturned, its purported savings will evaporate, and the state’s finances and pension systems will be left in worse shape.

“Our coalition has been consistently in contact with our attorneys, and today we directed them to prepare to file suit. We will challenge SB 1 as violating the constitution and ask for a stay of the legislation's implementation pending a ruling on its constitutionality.”


3 comments:

  1. Thanks, Glen. And thanks to the IRTA and WeAreOne for leading the way. The real question now is whether Madigan owns the IL Supremes, as he has implied. I trust the lawsuits will go on to federal court, if IL Supreme Court somehow fails in its duty.

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  2. What I really want is to have Madigan arrested and tried for corruption regarding attempted rigging of the Supreme Court.
    Well, you can't blame me for dreaming.
    -Ken

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  3. A close personal friend is a lawyer and works in a fairly significant position in the federal courts on the east coast. This is what he sent me when I asked him for his opinion:

    Sig:
    I have been watching online and it became apparent to me last week that the lack of transparency on the content of the bills was a sure sign both the House and the Senate were going to shove this turn through. You stand an excellent chance of having the illinois courts overturning this. It is contractual and in the Illinois Constitution. That means they can legislate changes as to new hires, but not current employees or retirees without agreement. But they will make the argument that their action is fiscally necessary -- even though the only reason the pension system is insolvent is that the State never met its side of the contribution requirements. My guess is that when the law suit is filed, there courts will enter a stay on implantation of the new law until the Illinois Supreme Court -- and likely the U.S. Supreme Court (if they decide to review the case -- that's totally their discretion) rule. The other good argument is the law reduces the current employee contribution by 1% (as legal consideration for the change of benefits BS rising the retirement age) but does nothing for current retirees. My guess is that, in the end, this is what the courts will hang thir hats on and current retirees will be protected but no one else.

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