15
General Assembly action starting to heat up
Things are starting to heat up in the
General Assembly with the House’s May
2 passage of Speaker Michael
Madigan’s pension reform bill, but other
important public education issues like the
budget, cost shift and unfunded
mandates still are in limbo as we move
toward the scheduled end-of-the-month
adjournment.
Senate Bill 1, which Madigan
amended, passed the House by a 62-51-
2 margin – two votes more than the
necessary 60 – and now awaits an
uncertain future in the Senate, where
Senate President John Cullerton believes that a “choice”
provision must be included in order for a reduction in
pension benefits to pass constitutional muster.
Cullerton and union representatives had been working
on a bill that would
offer employees and
retirees options, but
as of this writing (May
6) no details had
emerged and it was
uncertain which bill
Cullerton would call
for a vote. Senate
Republican Leader
Christine Radogno is
on record supporting
Madigan’s bill.
Madigan’s
bill
includes reductions to
the
cost-of-living
adjustment (COLA)
for
pensions,
increasing
the
retirement age, and
capping pensionable
salaries. The cap would be set at the greater of either the
Tier 2 cap (currently $109,971) or the member's maximum
established salary under a contract in effect at the time the
law takes effect, including any raises already in the
contract. Contractual salaries below the cap would be
allowed to rise to the cap.
Madigan released a
The cost shift language is not in Senate Bill
1, but Madigan said he expects that issue to be included in
a separate bill in short order.
Crafting the budget always seems to be one of the
final acts of the spring session so it wouldn’t be surprising
to see those negotiations go into the final days – or day –
of the session. We are hopeful that the final budget for
public education will look better than the governor’s
proposal that would cut General State Aid to as low as 82
percent of the foundation level and would slash
Transportation funding to about 20 percent of full funding
(a 75 percent cut from the FY13 Transportation funding).
There still is time to contact your local legislators to let
them know the negative impact these cuts would have on
your school district and, most importantly, on your
students. In fact, some IASA regions are planning to come
to Springfield on May 15 for an
to talk with legislators about increasing funding for public
education.
Similarly, letting your legislators know how important
relief from unfunded mandates would be to your district
could help in our push to return control over some of those
decisions to the local level where they belong.
Meanwhile, if Senate Bill 1 does get signed into law, a
court challenge appears inevitable. Madigan and other
proponents such as Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook)
and House Republican Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego),
who crafted a similar bill, seem to be banking on the State
Supreme Court ignoring the pension protection language
in
the
Illinois
Constitution
because of the
state’s fiscal crisis.
Madigan
has
predicted that “at
least four” Illinois
Supreme
Court
justices would vote
to uphold his bill
despite
the
pension protection
language in the
Illinois
Constitution.
Cullerton’s
difference
of
opinion on that
matter stems from
the research and
ritten by his Chief Legal Counsel Eric Madiar. In
his
Capitol Fax
blog, Rich Miller wrote about a unanimous
2004 decision by the Illinois Supreme Court in the
in which the court said:
“In reaching this result, we acknowledge that
substantial budgetary challenges currently confront the
Governor and the General Assembly. The adverse
economic conditions facing so many of our fellow citizens
have taken an inevitable toll on the state’s treasury.
Revenues are not keeping pace. Despite ongoing efforts
by the Governor and legislature, shortfalls persist. […]
One thing we cannot do, however, is ignore the
Constitution of Illinois. […]
No principle of law permits us to suspend
constitutional requirements for economic reasons, no
matter how compelling those reasons may seem.”
Diane Hendren,
Chief of Staff /
Director of
Governmental
Relations
