This editorial followed the Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling against the constitutionality of a 2013 law that would have amended State retirees’ pension benefits to begin reducing the State’s $111 billion in pension debt. The editorial cites Civic Federation recommendations from its FY2016 Recommended Budget Analysis and FY2016 State Budget Roadmap that would generate additional State revenue.
This article reviews the Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling against changes to pension benefits for State retirees and discusses a separate proposal for $2.2 billion in pension savings included in Governor Rauner’s FY2016 proposed budget. It cites the recent FY2016 Recommended Budget Analysis released by the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation, which found the proposed budget relies heavily on unrealistic savings.
This article relates the Illinois Supreme Court’s May 8 pension ruling that upheld benefits for State retirees to similar pension challenges facing the City of Chicago. The Civic Federation said that both the City and Chicago Public Schools now face even greater pressure in addition to their worst-in-the-nation credit ratings.
This column summarizes the history and present situation of Illinois’ worst-in-the-nation public employee pension funding crisis. It cites the Civic Federation’s recent Pension Primer as a simple visual guide to help understand the basics of public employee pensions in Illinois.
This segment reports on recent proposals for a casino in the City of Chicago intended to generate revenue for the City, primarily to pay down unfunded pension liabilities. The Civic Federation said it is unclear how much revenue a new casino could generate, but it is unlikely it would be enough to solve the City’s financial problems.
An Illinois Supreme Court decision overturning legislation to reduce the State’s massive pension costs will add to the difficulty of creating a balanced operating budget for the year that begins on July 1, 2015. The high court struck down the law on May 8, ruling that it violated the Illinois Constitution by cutting benefits for retirees and employees. The 2013 legislation reduced annual benefit increases, raised retirement ages for younger workers and capped the salary on which pension…
Urges General Assembly to Identify Alternate Plan for Closing $6.2 Billion Budget Gap In a new report released today, the Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability opposes Governor Rauner’s recommended budget for FY2016 because it relies heavily on projected savings that do not appear to be achievable or prudent in light of the State of Illinois’ obligations and long-term policy objectives. The Institute’s full 78-page report is available here. The Governor’s…
The Civic Federation opposes Governor Bruce Rauner’s recommended budget for FY2016 because it relies heavily on projected savings that do not appear to be achievable or prudent in light of the State of Illinois’ obligations and long-term policy objectives. Savings of $2.2 billion related to a new pension reform proposal are assumed to be realized in the budget, even though this proposal has not been introduced as legislation in the Illinois General Assembly and is likely to face legal…
This article examines the options available to Chicago Public Schools as it faces a $1 billion budget shortfall next year with little to no reserve funds. As discussed in the article, the Civic Federation does not support allowing municipalities direct access to bankruptcy. Instead, the Civic Federation’s Pension Committee has proposed the creation of a Local Government Protection Authority, an intervening mechanism that could advise financially distressed local governments and ensure all other…
This week the Civic Federation released a set of two primers on public employee pensions in the State of Illinois. The primary document, A Plain English Guide to Public Employee Pensions in the State of Illinois, answers ten basic questions about Illinois pensions: What is a public pension? Who has defined benefit and defined contribution pensions? How many public pension plans are there in Illinois? How does a defined benefit pension work? Who pays for pension benefits? How do we…
