NIU Today

Dear NIU faculty, staff and annuitants, As many of you know, last Friday the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the sweeping pension legislation approved by the Illinois General Assembly and signed into law in December 2013 is unconstitutional. Specifically, Public Act 98-599 violates the pension protection clause of the Illinois Constitution by reducing annual...

In Springfield … The Illinois General Assembly has been busy with committee activities over the last two weeks. This week is the last week to get bills through committees in their house of origin. Higher Education-Related Legislation In the Senate Higher Education Committee, SB 2163 passed unanimously out of committee Tuesday, March 12. Sponsored by Sen....

NIU will host a town hall-style meeting at 1:30 p.m. today in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium of the Holmes Student Center. At that meeting, NIU President John G. Peters and Steve Cunningham, vice president for Administration and Human Resources, will present an overview of the current situation including a brief history, implications for SURS and...

On a personal note … I would like welcome Zachary Jordan, a senior at NIU majoring in political science and philosophy, who is interning with our Government Relations Office this spring and will be helping with this column and our legislative updates. Zach has been in the NIU Honors Program for three years, in the...

With the Illinois General Assembly’s Fall Veto Session less than a month away, look for the issue of state employee pension plans to start creeping back into the headlines, says Steve Cunningham, NIU vice president for Administration and Human Resources. The topic dominated much of the discussion at the end of the spring legislative session,...

NIU’s Division of University Relations launched a new website today to monitor and report activity in Springfield related to performance-based budgeting. Beginning in Fiscal Year 2013, the Illinois Board of Higher Education budget recommendations to governor and the General Assembly will include allocations to public institutions of higher education based on performance metrics. The IBHE’s...

In Washington, D.C. … All eyes in Washington are focused on the activities of the Deficit Reduction Super Committee, which is under a very tight deadline to come up with an additional $1.5 trillion in spending cuts before Thanksgiving or face mandatory reductions in all areas of federal spending. President Obama and House Speaker John...

We closed the books on another semester two weeks ago, which in theory means that it was a time to catch our breath … but not so this year.

The General Assembly closed out its spring session Tuesday night by passing a budget for Fiscal Year 2012, but set aside issues related to pension reform and annuitant health insurance premium changes. Both of those items are expected to be the topic of continued discussion and debate over the summer and are scheduled to be...

Legislation that could dramatically increase the cost of health insurance for current and future state of Illinois annuitants, including erasing the benefit of free health care for those who retire with 20 or more years of service, has moved to the floor for debate. The legislation, Senate Bill 175 (Amendment 3), was endorsed by the...

On behalf of the university Lori Clark from NIU’s Office of Governmental Relations submitted to the Senate Executive Committee on Sunday, May 29 a written position statement from NIU Vice President of Human Resources Steve Cunningham.  The statement outlines NIU’s opposition to Senate Bill 175 which would significantly alter retiree health care benefits.  Cunningham’s statement is...

The Illinois House Personnel and Pension Committee today recommended approval of an amended version of Senate Bill 512, which would dramatically change the way that the state handles employee pensions. The committee voted 5-2, with one member voting “present,” to send the bill to the floor for debate. Sponsor of the bill, Rep. Tom Cross,...