Leadership Matters - May 2013

General Assembly action starting to heat up

(a 75 percent cut from the FY13 Transportation funding). There still is time to contact your local legislators to let them know the negative impact these cuts would have on your school district and, most importantly, on your students. In fact, some IASA regions are planning to come to Springfield on May 15 for an “Education Impact Day” to talk with legislators about increasing funding for public education. Similarly, letting your legislators know how important relief from unfunded mandates would be to your district could help in our push to return control over some of those decisions to the local level where they belong. Meanwhile, if Senate Bill 1 does get signed into law, a court challenge appears inevitable. Madigan and other proponents such as Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook) and House Republican Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego), who crafted a similar bill, seem to be banking on the State Supreme Court ignoring the pension protection language in the Illinois Constitution

Things are starting to heat up in the General Assembly with the House’s May 2 passage of Speaker Michael Madigan’s pension reform bill, but other important public education issues like the budget, cost shift and unfunded mandates still are in limbo as we move toward the scheduled end-of-the-month adjournment. Senate Bill 1, which Madigan amended, passed the House by a 62-51- 2 margin – two votes more than the necessary 60 – and now awaits an uncertain future in the Senate, where

Diane Hendren, Chief of Staff / Director of Governmental Relations

Senate President John Cullerton believes that a “choice” provision must be included in order for a reduction in pension benefits to pass constitutional muster. Cullerton and union representatives had been working

on a bill that would offer employees and retirees options, but as of this writing (May 6) no details had emerged and it was uncertain which bill Cullerton would call for a vote. Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno is on record supporting Madigan’s bill. Madigan’s bill includes reductions to the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for pensions, increasing the retirement age, and capping pensionable

because of the state’s fiscal crisis. Madigan has predicted that “at least four” Illinois Supreme Court justices would vote to uphold his bill despite the pension protection language in the Illinois Constitution. of opinion on that matter stems from the research and 76-page legal Cullerton’s difference

salaries. The cap would be set at the greater of either the Tier 2 cap (currently $109,971) or the member's maximum established salary under a contract in effect at the time the law takes effect, including any raises already in the contract. Contractual salaries below the cap would be allowed to rise to the cap. Madigan released a list of 14 main provisions of Senate Bill 1 .The cost shift language is not in Senate Bill 1, but Madigan said he expects that issue to be included in a separate bill in short order. Crafting the budget always seems to be one of the final acts of the spring session so it wouldn’t be surprising to see those negotiations go into the final days – or day – of the session. We are hopeful that the final budget for public education will look better than the governor’s proposal that would cut General State Aid to as low as 82 percent of the foundation level and would slash Transportation funding to about 20 percent of full funding

opinion written by his Chief Legal Counsel Eric Madiar. In his Capitol Fax blog, Rich Miller wrote about a unanimous 2004 decision by the Illinois Supreme Court in the Jorgenson v. Blagojevich case in which the court said: “In reaching this result, we acknowledge that substantial budgetary challenges currently confront the Governor and the General Assembly. The adverse economic conditions facing so many of our fellow citizens have taken an inevitable toll on the state’s treasury. Revenues are not keeping pace. Despite ongoing efforts by the Governor and legislature, shortfalls persist. […] One thing we cannot do, however, is ignore the Constitution of Illinois. […] No principle of law permits us to suspend constitutional requirements for economic reasons, no matter how compelling those reasons may seem.”

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