Rauner sticks to his pension approach despite questions about its legality - Chicago Tribune

 

That position was relayed as the Republican governor dispatched a lawyer and policy adviser to a House committee to discuss the approach on pensions months after Rauner floated it. While no legislation has been filed, the new governor has talked broadly about moving all current workers to a less generous benefit package beginning in July. Upon retirement, those workers would collect two pensions — one from the more generous plan in place now, and a second from the less generous benefits accrued after July.

Skeptical lawmakers noted that the state Supreme Court ruled Friday that an earlier attempt to slash pension benefits for workers and retirees violated a clause in the Illinois Constitution that says such benefits cannot be "diminished or impaired."

In the unanimous ruling, justices also made clear that pension benefits promised to a public worker on the first day of employment cannot be reduced later. That distinction appeared to blow a hole in Rauner's plan.

But Wednesday, Rauner administration attorney Kim Fowler said the governor was not deterred.

"We continue to believe that the governor's proposal … is constitutional under the current constitution even after the Supreme Court's ruling that came out Friday," Fowler said.

The Rauner team's view is that the court was unclear about whether future benefits have the same protections as those benefits already earned. "We don't think the court clearly answered what benefits are protected," Fowler said.

Rauner sticks to his pension approach despite questions about its legality - Chicago Tribune