No, we don't. Creating and passing any bill that diminishes a constitutionally-guaranteed
earned benefit, such as the compounded COLA that is already in place for
retired and current teachers (Remember: they have acquired a “vested” right when they
enter the pension system and are guaranteed this benefit by Illinois statute and the Illinois Supreme Court)
is illegal.
Most Illinois citizens recognize the incessant schemes of
the Civic Federation, Civic Committee, Illinois Policy Institute, Crain's
Chicago Business, and their minions in the Illinois General Assembly (and
governor and mayor) that blame public employees and retirees for the chronic
Illinois budget crisis and unfunded liability.
Most Illinois citizens also recognize that some politicians, who lack moral sensibility and legal understanding, have no qualms about amending the Pension Protection Clause, stealing money from the public pension funds, and ignoring the Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling against any form of unconstitutional public pension theft.
Public employees and retirees know about the vast resources of money and influence the Civic Federation, Civic Committee, Illinois Policy Institute, Crain's Chicago Business, and their minions in the Illinois General Assembly (and governor and mayor) have committed to reforming public employees' and retirees' rights and benefits.
Public employees and retirees know about unethical and incompetent politicians and their wealthy benefactors who continue to choose and ignore the legal court precedents, the essential history and necessity of the Pension Protection Clause, and what it means to uphold the Illinois and U.S. Constitutions.
Public employees and retirees know that to amend the Pension Protection Clause is to attack future public employees’ rights to a constitutionally-guaranteed compensation, and that this can never be legally or morally justified, especially when Illinois politicians have never fully funded the public pension plans for several decades.
Public employees and retirees know there are no equal rights when resolutions and proposals are made to underpin and to sustain the fortunes of a few at the expense and victimization of the state’s public employees and retirees.
Public employees and retirees know that to possess a right to a promised deferred compensation, such as a defined-benefit pension, is to assert a legitimate claim with all Illinois legislators to protect that right, and that fulfilling a contract is a legal and moral obligation justified by trust among elected officials and their constituents.
Public employees and retirees know the Pension Protection Clause is a binding legal commitment and requirement of justice, and that justice demands we keep our covenants with one another: for when legislators swear an oath to uphold the State and U.S. Constitutions, then citizens of Illinois have also acquired the right to expect that they will uphold that pledge. This is a matter of important legal and moral concern for all citizens of Illinois, for all legal claims are validated by a moral framework since the concept of justice is grounded in ethics and legality.
According to Eric M. Madiar, former Parliamentarian to Illinois Senate President John Cullerton in 2015, the last attempt at pension reform [Public Act 980599 or the senate bill that attempted to diminish and impair Article XIII, Section 5 in December 2013] "was not a response to an unknown or unforeseeable problem, but rather a response to a crisis for which the General Assembly is largely responsible. The court further found that the Act was not the least restrictive means the State could have used to address the problem, but ‘an expedient to break a political stalemate.’ In addition, the court indicated that the Act was tantamount to a taking of private property because the Act failed to distribute the burdens of pension funding evenly among Illinoisans let alone the State’s contract partners. The court explained that the U.S. Constitution ‘bar[s] Government from forcing some people alone to bear public burdens which, in all fairness and justice, should be borne by the public as a whole.’ In short, whether under a Contract Clause or Takings theory, the same arguments that prevailed in the Pension Reform decision against Public Act 980599 would equally apply to the… proposed amendment. As a result, the proposal amendment does not offer a plausible path to unilaterally reduce the fiscal burden of State and local pension obligations…” (Read Amending Article XIII, Section 5 (The Pension Protection Clause) of the Illinois Constitution).
Moreover, any attempt to amend the Pension Protection Clause will not reduce the state systems’ current $130+ billion unfunded liability that was largely caused by past Illinois General Assemblies and Illinois governors, [or the Chicago pension unfunded liability of $30+ billion]. Amending the Pension Protection Clause will not address the real fiscal issue triggered by the state’s out-sized pension debt—in other words, how to amortize the $130+ billion [and Chicago’s $30+ billion] debt owed to its retirement system in a feasible way. It would also take three-fifths of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly.
To anyone attempting to amend the Pension Protection Clause: my response to you is read Article XIII, Section 5: “Pension and Retirement Rights” of the Illinois Constitution. Read Article 1, Section 16: “Ex Post Facto Laws and Impairing Contracts” of the Illinois Constitution. Read Article I, Section 15: “Right of Eminent Domain” (the Takings Clause) of the Illinois Constitution. Read Article I, Section 2: “Due Process and Equal Protection” of the Illinois Constitution. Read Article 1, Section 10 of the United States Constitution: “No State shall… pass any… ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts…” Read Amendment V, Section 1 of the United States Constitution: “No person shall be... deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” Read Amendment XIV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution: “Due Process and Equal Protection.” To ignore the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and change laws that protect one group of people is to ignore due process and equal protection of the laws that guarantee contractual agreements as well. Finally, read the Illinois Supreme Court ruling: docket number 118585, filed on May 8, 2015!
It is shameful that a few policymakers, the Illinois Policy Institute, Crain's Chicago Business, the Chicago Tribune, et al. are still willing to renege on a guaranteed constitutional contract when it's the state legislators who are the debtors. It is legally and morally wrong to modify public employees’ contractual rights and benefits prospectively and retroactively when there are legal and ethical ways to address the pension debt problem, such as through debt and revenue restructuring. Legal and moral sense dictates that all members of the Illinois General Assembly must align with the U.S. and State Constitutions and sanction the vested rights of its middle-class public employees and retirees.
Attempting to amend the Pension Protection Clause is unethical, duplicitous, and illegal. It would not only destroy the public employees’ and retirees’ financial security, but it would also destroy the Illinois teaching profession; damage the communities that these people support, serve and protect; and ultimately the state's economy.
—Glen Brown
Most Illinois citizens also recognize that some politicians, who lack moral sensibility and legal understanding, have no qualms about amending the Pension Protection Clause, stealing money from the public pension funds, and ignoring the Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling against any form of unconstitutional public pension theft.
Public employees and retirees know about the vast resources of money and influence the Civic Federation, Civic Committee, Illinois Policy Institute, Crain's Chicago Business, and their minions in the Illinois General Assembly (and governor and mayor) have committed to reforming public employees' and retirees' rights and benefits.
Public employees and retirees know about unethical and incompetent politicians and their wealthy benefactors who continue to choose and ignore the legal court precedents, the essential history and necessity of the Pension Protection Clause, and what it means to uphold the Illinois and U.S. Constitutions.
Public employees and retirees know that to amend the Pension Protection Clause is to attack future public employees’ rights to a constitutionally-guaranteed compensation, and that this can never be legally or morally justified, especially when Illinois politicians have never fully funded the public pension plans for several decades.
Public employees and retirees know there are no equal rights when resolutions and proposals are made to underpin and to sustain the fortunes of a few at the expense and victimization of the state’s public employees and retirees.
Public employees and retirees know that to possess a right to a promised deferred compensation, such as a defined-benefit pension, is to assert a legitimate claim with all Illinois legislators to protect that right, and that fulfilling a contract is a legal and moral obligation justified by trust among elected officials and their constituents.
Public employees and retirees know the Pension Protection Clause is a binding legal commitment and requirement of justice, and that justice demands we keep our covenants with one another: for when legislators swear an oath to uphold the State and U.S. Constitutions, then citizens of Illinois have also acquired the right to expect that they will uphold that pledge. This is a matter of important legal and moral concern for all citizens of Illinois, for all legal claims are validated by a moral framework since the concept of justice is grounded in ethics and legality.
According to Eric M. Madiar, former Parliamentarian to Illinois Senate President John Cullerton in 2015, the last attempt at pension reform [Public Act 980599 or the senate bill that attempted to diminish and impair Article XIII, Section 5 in December 2013] "was not a response to an unknown or unforeseeable problem, but rather a response to a crisis for which the General Assembly is largely responsible. The court further found that the Act was not the least restrictive means the State could have used to address the problem, but ‘an expedient to break a political stalemate.’ In addition, the court indicated that the Act was tantamount to a taking of private property because the Act failed to distribute the burdens of pension funding evenly among Illinoisans let alone the State’s contract partners. The court explained that the U.S. Constitution ‘bar[s] Government from forcing some people alone to bear public burdens which, in all fairness and justice, should be borne by the public as a whole.’ In short, whether under a Contract Clause or Takings theory, the same arguments that prevailed in the Pension Reform decision against Public Act 980599 would equally apply to the… proposed amendment. As a result, the proposal amendment does not offer a plausible path to unilaterally reduce the fiscal burden of State and local pension obligations…” (Read Amending Article XIII, Section 5 (The Pension Protection Clause) of the Illinois Constitution).
Moreover, any attempt to amend the Pension Protection Clause will not reduce the state systems’ current $130+ billion unfunded liability that was largely caused by past Illinois General Assemblies and Illinois governors, [or the Chicago pension unfunded liability of $30+ billion]. Amending the Pension Protection Clause will not address the real fiscal issue triggered by the state’s out-sized pension debt—in other words, how to amortize the $130+ billion [and Chicago’s $30+ billion] debt owed to its retirement system in a feasible way. It would also take three-fifths of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly.
To anyone attempting to amend the Pension Protection Clause: my response to you is read Article XIII, Section 5: “Pension and Retirement Rights” of the Illinois Constitution. Read Article 1, Section 16: “Ex Post Facto Laws and Impairing Contracts” of the Illinois Constitution. Read Article I, Section 15: “Right of Eminent Domain” (the Takings Clause) of the Illinois Constitution. Read Article I, Section 2: “Due Process and Equal Protection” of the Illinois Constitution. Read Article 1, Section 10 of the United States Constitution: “No State shall… pass any… ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts…” Read Amendment V, Section 1 of the United States Constitution: “No person shall be... deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” Read Amendment XIV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution: “Due Process and Equal Protection.” To ignore the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and change laws that protect one group of people is to ignore due process and equal protection of the laws that guarantee contractual agreements as well. Finally, read the Illinois Supreme Court ruling: docket number 118585, filed on May 8, 2015!
It is shameful that a few policymakers, the Illinois Policy Institute, Crain's Chicago Business, the Chicago Tribune, et al. are still willing to renege on a guaranteed constitutional contract when it's the state legislators who are the debtors. It is legally and morally wrong to modify public employees’ contractual rights and benefits prospectively and retroactively when there are legal and ethical ways to address the pension debt problem, such as through debt and revenue restructuring. Legal and moral sense dictates that all members of the Illinois General Assembly must align with the U.S. and State Constitutions and sanction the vested rights of its middle-class public employees and retirees.
Attempting to amend the Pension Protection Clause is unethical, duplicitous, and illegal. It would not only destroy the public employees’ and retirees’ financial security, but it would also destroy the Illinois teaching profession; damage the communities that these people support, serve and protect; and ultimately the state's economy.
—Glen Brown
This was Updated on my blog on May 29, 2015: On May 8, 2015, the Illinois Supreme Court delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. All seven justices concurred in the judgment and opinion (Doris Heaton et al., Appellees v. Pat Quinn, Governor, State of Illinois, et al., Appellants)]. There are two interesting footnotes in the judgment on pension reform litigation regarding COLA: "By way of comparison, data published by the Social Security Administration show that Social Security increases, which are tied to the cost of living, averaged 3.98%, nearly a percentage point more than under the Illinois formula, between 1975 and 2014 (page 4)." (http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/colaseries.html.). "While the automatic annual increases have sometimes exceeded changes in the cost of living, these judgments are not cost of living adjustments, and as indicated earlier in this disposition, the increases have actually lagged the average increases granted by the Social Security Administration, which are tied to the cost of living" (page 27).
ReplyDeleteTHE PENSION DEBT PROBLEMS (OR UNFUNDED LIABILITY) ARE NOT BECAUSE OF THE COLA. THE PENSION DEBT PROBLEMS ARE BECAUSE ILLINOIS LEGISLATORS HAVE NEVER FULLY FUNDED THE PENSION SYSTEMS THROUGHOUT THE DECADES, THE SO-CALLED PENSION RAMP OF 1995, AND THE ANTIQUATED REVENUE SYSTEM IN ILLINOIS.
ReplyDeleteNOTE: EIGHTY PERCENT OF THE ILLINOIS PENSION PAYMENT IS FOR THE SERVICE DEBT BECAUSE THE PENSION SYSTEMS WERE NEVER FULLY FUNDED.
Thank you, Glen. Why is this such an ongoing struggle? The loans have to be paid off.
ReplyDeleteSuzette,
DeleteIt is much easier for liars and thieves among the Illinois General Assembly and their minions to continue the charade of political posturing and scapegoating public employees and retirees then to address the state's revenue and pension debt problems they have created and ignored in Illinois for several decades.
Glen, thank you for your well written, well documented comments about our pensions and how organizations and politicians are ignoring the Illinois Supreme Court and rule of law when it comes to protecting our pensions
ReplyDeleteThank you, Earl.
DeleteThank you again and again and again. For the many times I have read your posts and never said it.
ReplyDeleteSo interesting that this keeps arising even when there need to be real incentives to get teachers into the state and working in our schools.
ReplyDelete