10 Things You Should Know About Gov. Rauner's Pension Reform Proposal | Reboot Illinois

 

Reboot The pension reform plan proposed by Governor Rauner could impact more than just public pensions. State and local public workers in Illinois would lose collective bargaining rights for pensions, wages, work hours and tenure through this single reform.

The plan, which Rauner announced Wednesday, contains significant pension reforms, but also contains other measures that Rauner has tried unsuccessfully to get through the legislature. A higher standard of proof for employee injury claims and bankruptcy eligibility for Illinois municipalities are among them. It also allocates funds from a Chicago casino for Chicago police and firefighter pensions even though legislation for a city casino has not been debated during Rauner's time in office.

While Rauner said his bill includes suggestions from Senate President John Cullerton and Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle, it quickly became clear that it was not a collaborative effort.

From Natasha Korecki of the Chicago Sun-Times, who quotes Cullerton's spokeswoman, Rikeesha Phelon:

President Cullerton recognizes that the governor is accepting of many of the principles he's outlined but the specifics that the governor is advancing is far away from policies that Cullerton could support.

To simply co-opt language that the Senate President has used and call that negotiation, really does change the definition of negotiation and compromise. You can't simply co-opt language and pay lip service to someone's leadership and call that a negotiation.

Here are the main points of Rauner's proposal:

1. Removes pensions, wages, hours of work and employee tenure from the collective bargaining process.

2. Applies changes to items removed from collective bargaining:

Wages would not decline for five years.
Vacation resets to two weeks for members with less than 15 years of service, and three weeks for those who have more than 15 years of service.
Adjusts vacancy and overtime rights.
Overtime pay would kick in at 40 hours instead of 37.5 hours, matching federal law.

3. Offers incentives for employees to move to the lower benefit plan:

Salary package - $2,000 transition bonus, one-time $3,000 salary increase, overtime pay at 37.5 hours and no additional vacation days.
Vacation package - $2,000 transition bonus, one-time $2,000 salary increase, overtime pay at 37.5 hours and two additional weeks of vacation
Overtime/vacancy package - $2,000 transition bonus, no salary increase, overtime pay at 37.5 hours, two additional weeks of vacation; priority rights in work schedule, vacation, overtime and "bumping."

4. Those now eligible for the highest pension benefits (in the Tier 1 plan that applies to employees hired before 2011) would have to choose between switching to a reduced cost of living adjustment in retirement or agreeing that all future salary increases will be excluded from their pension calculations. Under current law, they receive a 3 percent, annually compounded increase in their pension every year. The new formula would grant annual, non-compounded increases of the lesser of 3 percent or half the U.S. Consumer Price Index.

5. Employees in Cook County would have to choose between the pension plan introduced by the county-except for the aforementioned collective bargaining changes-or choose between a reduced COLA benefit or agree that all future salary increases are excluded from pension benefit calculations.

6. The funding schedule for Chicago Police and Fire pensions would change from the current target of 90 percent by 2040 to 90 percent by 2055, including a five-year period from fiscal year 2016 to fiscal year 2021 where mandatory pension payments are set in statute.

7. Downstate police and fire pension funding schedules would also change to 90 percent funded by 2055.

8. Transfers the investment assets of 642 individual downstate police and fire pension funds to the $35.6 billion Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund. The state's police and fire pension funds would remain independent entities administered apart from IMRF.

9. Changes the definition of catastrophic injury in the Public Safety Employee Benefit Act so it clearly states that such an injury would preclude the injured employee from performing gainful work.

10. Newly hired public safety employees would receive Tier 3 benefits, which is a hybrid defined-benefit and defined-contribution plan with local control on defined contribution benefits.

Check out Reboot Illinois to see four more ways Rauner's pension reforms could impact you, including effects on schools

10 Things You Should Know About Gov. Rauner's Pension Reform Proposal | Reboot Illinois