“THE SO-CALLED STATE PENSION SYSTEM FUNDING MANDATE IS ILLUSORY” (from the Lawsuit filed by the We Are One Coalition of Illinois on January 28, 2014)

“Public Act 98-0599 purports to require the State to follow a funding schedule that provides an annual contribution, beginning in Fiscal Year 2015, to each of SERS, SURS and TRS (as well as the General Assembly Retirement System and the Judicial Retirement System) that is equal to the sum of the actuarial amount needed to fund each pension system plus that additional amount required to fund by Fiscal Year 2044 100% of each pension system's liabilities. 

“In Fiscal Year 2045 and each Fiscal Year thereafter, Public Act 98-0599 directs the State to contribute that amount to each pension system needed to maintain a funding status of 100% of each pension system's liabilities.

“The funding mandate for which Public Act 98-0599 calls, however, is no mandate at all.

“Illinois history is replete with the successive failures of the Illinois General
Assembly and Governor to make payments to the State pensions systems for which Illinois law called. For years, led by successive Governors and members of the General Assembly, including many currently in office, the State has failed to pay an actuarially-sufficient amount to fund its pension systems. All along, the State and its elected officials did so knowing that they were shortchanging the pension systems, cheating Illinois' public servants and violating the public trust.

“In enacting Public Act 98-0599, the General Assembly and Governor Quinn failed to heed the lesson Illinois history teaches with respect to funding the State pension systems. That is, a statutory commitment to adequately fund the State pension systems is no guarantee.

“Public Act 98-0599 is no different. The General Assembly may alter or repeal in the future the funding amounts that Public Act 98-0599 requires…”

From http://www.weareoneillinois.org/WeAreOneIllinois_Complaint.pdf

For additional commentary, click on the following link: “If the state faces a crisis, it could simply vote to change what the required payment would be...” Representative Elaine Nekritz

CTU Reacts to Governor Quinn’s State Address, Plans Mass Pension Rally in Springfield on February 19th

CHICAGO - In today’s State of the State address, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn made multiple references to “getting the job done” and also claimed to have ended the culture of instability that existed in Illinois government. He highlighted the strides that the state has made in working with women and minority-owned businesses. The problem is that his claims about the benefits of education reform and championing an agreement on comprehensive pension reform don’t meet any of these tests.

Education reform as done in Illinois promotes instability and privatization, disproportionately and negatively impacts women and people of color, and makes it difficult for parents and educators to “get the job done.” The pension reform the governor cited as the “tallest task of all” is currently being challenged in Illinois Circuit Court by the We Are One Illinois coalition of labor unions for violating the pension clause of the Illinois Constitution, which states that a public pension is a contract that the State of Illinois cannot diminish or impair.

We stand in support with the teacher and service unions throughout the state who filed suit yesterday, as well as the more than 20 individual retirees named as plaintiffs. As we prepare to aggressively defend our own public pensions here in Chicago, we stand up for some of the most important people in our community—those who have already served, paid a great debt to the people of our city and state and have paid into their pension systems only to be told they won’t get the money they deserve.

“There are many ways to solve the state’s economic problems, but these legislators insist on doing it on the backs of its workers by ignoring the pension heist and not taking into consideration the consequences to our communities,” said CTU President Karen GJ Lewis. “They’re destroying the morale of the people who are actually doing the work and threatening the security of those who have already served. We call on the governor to end this pension heist.”

Teachers, paraprofessionals and school clinicians will join other municipal workers in a mass pension rally in Springfield on February 19. For more information visit www.ctunet.com.