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Illinois lawmakers will be asked to again tackle cost-saving pension reforms as part of the “grand bargain” package of bills being negotiated in the Senate.

The new version takes a different approach to pension reform that advocates believe will allow it to withstand an inevitable court challenge.

However, an analysis of the bill prepared by a coalition of public employee unions disputes that idea and says the most recent reform plan is just as unconstitutional as a plan struck down by the Illinois Supreme Court in 2015.

The analysis was distributed to state lawmakers.

Gov. Bruce Rauner has pushed for lawmakers to enact pension reforms even as payments to the five state-funded pension systems eat up more tax revenue each year. Required payments to the pensions systems will increase by $1 billion in next year’s budget to about $8.8 billion. The state’s pension debt has now climbed to $130 billion.

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Welcome Byron Fire Protection District Pension Fund to IPPFA.

The Role Public Pensions on the Economy and for Employers, Taxpayers, Employees & Retirees.

Why Do Pensions Matter?

Public Pension Basics

Strong Public Pensions for Today & Tomorrow

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Officer Raymond Murrell appeared destined to have a bright future with the Bloomingdale Police Department.

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SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Senate has filed a backup plan for a bill to help save two city worker pension funds — just days after Gov. Bruce Rauner vowed not to sign a measure without a statewide pension reform fix.

A bill already passed the Illinois House and Senate during the 99th General Assembly, which ended Wednesday. But Rauner won’t support the bill without wider pension reform. And his administration questioned the bill’s use of revenue — which they contend would resort to the city using property tax money to fund pensions after it runs out of funds from a new tax on city water and sewer service.

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A second appeals court panel has unanimously ruled that the public pension offered at hire can be cut without an offsetting new benefit, broadening support for what pension reformers call a “game changer” if the state Supreme Court agrees.

The new ruling on Dec. 30 in a state firefighters suit on pension-boosting “airtime” purchases made several references to a groundbreaking ruling last summer in a Marin County pension “spiking” suit.

“The law is quite clear that they are entitled only to a ‘reasonable’ pension, not one providing fixed or definite benefits immune from modification or elimination by the governing body,” wrote Justice Martin Jenkins.

The two appeals court rulings are contrary to previous rulings known as the “California rule”: The pension offered at hire becomes a vested right, protected by contract law, that can only be cut if offset by a comparable new benefit, erasing any savings.

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Come join the IPPFA for a regional seminar being held at John A. Logan College in Caterville Illinois.

For over 30 years, the IPPFA has offered public pension trustees the best and latest in trustee training education, striving to offer the best available training. Please join us for sessions in ethics, investment procedures, fiduciary responsibilities, and legal and legislative updates, all presented by nationally renowned speakers.

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Welcome North Riverside Fire Pension Fund to IPPFA.

Senate lawmakers are meeting privately Monday afternoon to weigh a sweeping group of proposals designed to jump start stalled budget negotiations, including measures that would raise income taxes, expand gambling, hike the minimum wage and borrow billions of dollars to pay down government debt.

The effort comes at the start of a two-day lame duck session before a new legislature is sworn in Wednesday, meaning even if the proposals are approved by the Senate, the House wouldn’t have time to take action. But the approach is designed to get people talking after negotiations between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan broke down in December, just before a stopgap budget that funneled money to universities and social service providers expired with the new year.

Other proposals include an overhaul the state’s public employee pension system, consolidation of local units of government and a change in rules for how schools do contracts with outside vendors. The package would also include funding for universities and social service providers, which dried up Jan. 1. Efforts to overhaul the workers compensation system and freeze property taxes still had not been written into a bill as of early Monday afternoon, but those are key issues Rauner and Republicans have pushed for.

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There continues to be a call for pension reform at the state level and for the City of Chicago and Cook County. As the executive director of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, I think that is misleading. Let me explain.

This year marked the 75th anniversary of IMRF, which provides death, disability and retirement benefits for some of your neighbors, friends and possibly family who work in local government at town halls, libraries, park districts and schools. We do not cover city of Chicago employees or those of Cook County. We do not cover teachers in school districts, but rather the support personnel who create and maintain the physical learning environment.

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