Gov Pat Quinn, Democrat of Illinois, told state lawmakers to be ready for a one-day special session on Dec 3 to deal with the state’s $100 billion pension crisis, the State Journal-Register reports. Lawmakers have been working out a deal since last week and are expected to continue hammering out details through the holiday weekend, according to the Quad City Times.
The Teachers Retirement Fund is, by far, the largest chunk of the state pension fund, but four other retirement plans are part of it as well.
The deadline of next Tuesday approaches, and while details haven’t been made public, the Associated Press issued a report saying that lawmakers are looking at two competing proposals that would hope to save the pension fund some $150 billion over the next 30 years.
Both plans would make changes to the annual 3-percent compounded cost-of-living adjustments. One would change the rate to one-half of whatever inflation is each year. The other would keep the COLA at 3 percent but apply it only to a fraction of the pension benefits each retiree receives. In either case, the COLA will be lower each year than it is under the current plan, since inflation was at 6.2 percent in 1982 and hasn’t been above that ever since.
The key players are Senate President John Cullerton, Democrat of Chicago, who worked out a plan with union leaders that many people believe won’t save the state enough money. The competing plan, put forth by House Speaker Michael Madigan, Democrat of Chicago, is much more aggressive in terms of cutting costs.
Mr Quinn told reporters today it was time to end the gridlock, according to a report in the State Journal-Register. Gridlock or no gridlock, pensions are going to be cut. Lawmakers were said to be close to a deal Tuesday night, and University of Illinois President Robert Easter said the deal could be “onerous for public employees,” Illinois Public Radio reports.
