Date Published: April 17, 2012
Colleagues:
The following is excerpted from a message received from the SUAA office:
HJRCA49 passed unanimously out of committee this morning. No individual votes were taken, in fact roll call was not taken. HJRCA49 will now be placed on the House Floor for 2nd Reading. Thursday of this week will most likely be the first day it can be voted on as it will need to be read two more times before passage.
Sponsor of the Resolution Speaker Madigan presented and testified on behalf of HJRCA 49. Speaker Madigan stated that he is sponsoring this Constitutional Amendment as a dose of "real tough medicine" due to his review of legislators' and governors' past behavior. According to Speaker Madigan, "we" need this medicine.
Representative Poe suggested that this Proposed Constitutional Amendment looks like a way to curtail "runaway liability" of the pension systems, to which Speaker Madigan agreed. Then Poe asked why shouldn't we have a 3/5ths vote for a pension(-funding) holiday; make it harder to have (a) pension holiday. Speaker Madigan responded that this was a good idea; he had not thought of this.
Representative Durkin who is not on the Committee asked about the process -- if there would be one in place -- as to how the pensions/benefits would be determined. He also asked about a "pension note" which would require information from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA); would this Proposed Constitutional Amendment result in an increase in costs to the General Assembly.
Speaker Madigan believes that this Proposed Constitutional Amendment will make the General Assembly pay closer attention -- find all pension sweeteners which will no longer be tolerated (so to say).
The passage of HJRCA49 will make it harder to pass changes to the TIER II pension legislation. However, this Amendment, if passed, would not go into effect until January 9th, 2013, allowing for any adjustments that might need to be made. Therefore, there is a window of opportunity for TIER II pension legislation to be changed without the requirement of a 3/5ths vote.
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Proponents of HJRCA49 were the Illinois Municipal League along with the Mayors and Managers Association. This Constitutional Amendment would allow new or additional controls on their pension budgets. Going forward, an expected proponent could be Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago.
None of the proponents testified except Speaker Madigan.
This proposed Constitutional Amendment will now move towards the Senate where 36 "yes" votes will be needed for passage. Note: Final passage in the Senate must be no later than the 6th of May in order for it to be placed on the General Election Ballot in November. Actually, under normal circumstances, it will need to pass out of the Senate no later than the 4th. (HJRCA49 has to be read in 3 separate days in each chamber.)
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