IL Supreme Court expedites pension battle
The expedited hearing is good news. It means the state will know specifically what it can do to address its $111 billion unfunded pension debt sooner rather than later.
In an attempt to speed up the legal battle over Illinois’ pension bill – Senate Bill 1 – Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office filed a motion on Dec. 4 to expedite the process. The motion requested that oral arguments start as early as January and no later than March next year.
The Illinois Supreme Court this week granted the request for an expedited hearing.
According to the Associated Press, “The court says the government must file its initial argument by Jan. 12. The other side — a group of state employees, retired teachers and others — must respond by Feb. 27.”
The expedited hearing is good news. It means the state will know specifically what it can do to address its $111 billion unfunded pension debt sooner rather than later.
But regardless of how the Supreme Court rules on SB 1, there are things that Governor-elect Bruce Rauner and the new administration should move forward with immediately.
Illinois can and should immediately enroll all new public employees in 401(k)-style self-managed plans going forward. That would avoid any constitutional conflict as it would not impact benefits for current public employees.
The state should also, at a minimum, allow current public employees to opt out of the current pension plan and enroll in self-managed retirement plans going forward. It’s unfair and immoral to force current public employees to participate in a nearly insolvent retirement system that they cannot exit and have no control over.
Finally, the incoming administration needs to explore the constitutionality of moving all current public employees into self-managed plans for future work, while protecting already-earned benefits.
Illinois can’t afford to wait for the Supreme Court ruling. State leadership needs to move forward with the reforms they can enact today without constitutional conflict.