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Tag: State Pension and Budget Update
Symbol of the State of Illinois
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...
State Pension & Budget Update
Northern Illinois University employees will have an opportunity Wednesday, Nov. 20, to speak with state legislators about the Illinois state pension system. The event takes place from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium of the Holmes Student Center. Legislators planning to attend are Sens. Dave Syverson and as well as Reps. Mike...
U.S. Capitol
In Washington, D.C. … On Friday, the U.S. Senate approved S.744, the comprehensive immigration reform bill developed by the Senate Gang of Eight (that includes Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin), by a vote of 68-32. The Senate held a roll call vote, a procedure typically reserved only for the most significant votes, to underscore the historic...
Presidents and chancellors at public universities and colleges across the state reached an agreement in principal with House Speaker Michael J. Madigan and House leaders Thursday for public universities to assume the employer share of employee pension costs beginning in FY2015. The hope is that Thursday’s agreement might help break up the logjam in Springfield...
NIU President John G. Peters
Dear Colleagues, I am writing to you today to update you with some very important information relative to the very fluid pension debate in the General Assembly in Springfield. Thursday afternoon, the Illinois Senate approved an amended version of Senate Bill 2404, a union-backed proposal sponsored by Senate President John Cullerton that offers Tier I...
The Illinois House has approved a comprehensive pension-reform measure sponsored by House Speaker Michael Madigan by a vote of 62-51 Thursday afternoon. Senate Bill 1 is designed to close a $97 billion deficit that hangs over the state’s pension plans. Underfunding for decades has left the pension systems short of what they need. The bill...
Mike Madigan
The Illinois House Personnel and Pensions Committee passed a pension reform plan put forth by Speaker Michael J. Madigan by a 9-1 vote, clearing the way for the pension reform bill to be called before the full House today. Madigan’s plan calls for employees to pay 2 percent more of salary toward their retirement plans....
State Pension & Budget Update
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan filed an amendment to a comprehensive pension-reform package passed by the Senate last month that caps the salary on which a pension can be based and limits annual cost-of-living increases. The House Personnel & Pensions Committee is scheduled to consider the legislation at an 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 1, meeting. The...
Seal of the State of Illinois
The presidents and chancellors of the 14 public universities in Illinois have unanimously endorsed a six-point proposal for addressing the state’s pension funding crisis as it relates to the State Universities Retirement System (SURS), and in a letter to the governor and legislative leaders they called it “a thoughtful and responsible approach.” “We write to...
Photo of a penion plan bar graph and calculator
In Springfield … Last week was the deadline for bills to get out of committees in their chamber of origin, so most of the action occurred in the various committees. However, there were some significant movements on various bills related to pension reform. SB 1, sponsored by Senate President John Cullerton, as amended, is not the...
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn
Education will sustain a painful hit in a new State of Illinois spending plan unveiled today during Gov. Pat Quinn’s annual budget address. Calling it the “most difficult budget ever,” the governor said the state must solve its public-employee pension crisis, which will drain nearly $7 billion of the Illinois general revenue in the coming...
In Springfield … Last week, the Illinois House of Representatives began its Spring Session. On Wednesday, the House adopted rules that will govern its operations over the next two years (the 98th General Assembly), and House committee appointments were announced. Thursday’s House session was canceled, and the Senate did not convene. Next week should see...
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