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| Zalewski |
Desplaines Valley News
State Rep. Michael Zalewski, a staunch supporter of the
Madigan proposal to solve the state's pension crisis, was one of the House
members named to the conference committee charged with forging a compromise
solution to the pension mess.
“I thought it was a good bill,” Zalewski (D-23rd), of
Riverside, said earlier this year. “I spoke for it on the House floor."
Zalewski was one of three lawmakers named to the 10-person
conference committee by House Speaker Michael Madigan, who sponsored a
draconian House pension reform bill that easily passed that chamber before
being shot down in the state Senate.
“The state is on the brink of fiscal collapse,"
Zalewski said. "We have to right the ship."
Zalewski said the Madigan plan was more painful than the one
offered by Democratic Senate President John Cullerton and was tough on retired
state employees.
“There were things in the bill that I wish we could have
softened,” he said. “But the bill was necessary.”
Gov. Pat Quinn hopes the rarely used legislative conference
committee can help both sides reach a compromise solution to resolve the
state's daunting pension crisis.
The committee was the result of a special session last week
called by Quinn to address the pension problem.
That session, just like the recently concluded regular
session, failed to deliver a plan to rectify the state's $100 billion unfunded
pension liability.
The problem has been and continues to be the inability or
unwillingness of Madigan and Cullerton to budge on their competing measures.
The conference committee, made up of five members each from
the House and Senate, is designed to "bridge the differences and forge
agreement on a comprehensive pension reform plan," a statement from Quinn's
office said.
Legislators used last Wednesday's session to vote to create
the committee, and Quinn plans to call another session on July 9 to pass
legislation, the statement added.
Legislative leaders said that was probably too soon for a
deal to have been hammered out, if one can be reached at all.
Political paralysis over fixing the worst-funded state retirement system has led to a series of credit downgrades for Illinois, which now has the lowest ratings among U.S. states.
Quinn has expressed frustration over the inaction and its impact on the state's ratings and borrowing costs. Illinois is in the midst of a $31 billion capital improvement program, partly funded by the sale of bonds, and it is set for a planned sale of $1.3 billion of general obligation bonds this week.
The Illinois General Assembly last turned to a conference committee to hash out a compromise on legislation in December 2005.
Madigan has favored unilateral cuts to retirement benefits to reap savings of up to 30 percent over 30 years, an approach labor unions have said violates the Illinois Constitution. Cullerton has advocated a plan, backed by labor unions and passed by the Senate, that gives workers and retirees choices between reduced benefits and continued access to state-sponsored healthcare in retirement. Actuaries says the Cullerton plan achieves just one third as much savings as the Madigan plan does.
A third plan that addresses only the State Universities Retirement System is being pushed by the heads of universities as a way to save as much as Madigan's approach, while having a better chance of withstanding a constitutional challenge in court, its backers allege.
That plan calls for higher worker pension contributions, gradually shifts pension payments currently made by the state onto the universities and community colleges, and ties pension payment increases to inflation.
Political paralysis over fixing the worst-funded state retirement system has led to a series of credit downgrades for Illinois, which now has the lowest ratings among U.S. states.
Quinn has expressed frustration over the inaction and its impact on the state's ratings and borrowing costs. Illinois is in the midst of a $31 billion capital improvement program, partly funded by the sale of bonds, and it is set for a planned sale of $1.3 billion of general obligation bonds this week.
The Illinois General Assembly last turned to a conference committee to hash out a compromise on legislation in December 2005.
Madigan has favored unilateral cuts to retirement benefits to reap savings of up to 30 percent over 30 years, an approach labor unions have said violates the Illinois Constitution. Cullerton has advocated a plan, backed by labor unions and passed by the Senate, that gives workers and retirees choices between reduced benefits and continued access to state-sponsored healthcare in retirement. Actuaries says the Cullerton plan achieves just one third as much savings as the Madigan plan does.
A third plan that addresses only the State Universities Retirement System is being pushed by the heads of universities as a way to save as much as Madigan's approach, while having a better chance of withstanding a constitutional challenge in court, its backers allege.
That plan calls for higher worker pension contributions, gradually shifts pension payments currently made by the state onto the universities and community colleges, and ties pension payment increases to inflation.
Both of the original authors of the toughest bill that's
passed either the Senate or the House — Sen. Dan Biss (D-Evanston), and Rep.
Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook) — are included on the 10-member panel.
Biss was named along with Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago) and
Sen. Linda Holmes (D-Aurora), by Cullerton. Raoul will be the committee chairman.
Madigan named Nekritz, Zalewski and another ally state Rep. Art
Turner (D-Chicago).
Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno, of Lemont, selected
Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine), her point person on budget matters, and Sen.
Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), who ran for governor against Quinn in 2010.
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