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

Illinois budget impasse seen lasting for weeks

 

By Karen Pierog

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The standoff in Illinois between newcomer Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and long-time Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan showed no sign of abating as the state approached a second full week without a budget for the fiscal year that started July 1.

"This could go on for weeks. Or a few months? It’s all uncharted waters at this point," Christopher Mooney, director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, said on Friday.

He said pressure to pass a budget eased with Rauner's signing last month of a funding bill ensuring schools will open on time in September. The pressure could ease further if state courts ultimately allow state workers to be paid without a budget.

While Rauner and Madigan exchanged barbs this week, Illinois continued to have the worst funded pension system and the lowest credit ratings among the 50 states.

The budget battle has not triggered any rating action that could push Illinois into the low-investment grade level of triple-B rarely assigned a state. That could change.

Moody's Investors Service analyst Ted Hampton said the longer the impasse continues, the harder it will become for Illinois to balance its budget.

"At a certain point, the impasse, the gridlock does matter," he said. "The question is who's going to blink first."

Standard & Poor's warned this week it could take "rating action within the next two months, even in the absence of an adopted budget if, in our view, there is limited progress in budget deliberations or if credit fundamentals weaken."

On Wednesday, Rauner dared Madigan to use his Democratic House majority to pass a tax hike, a move the speaker later said was "not realistic." The governor also reintroduced a package of controversial reforms, including a property tax freeze and legislative term limits, that he wants before he considers new revenue.

Madigan shot back, releasing a list of seven House hearings that Rauner's Administration failed to attend to answer questions despite the governor's campaign pledge for an open and transparent government.

"We have considered the issuance of subpoenas but we haven't done it because we want to be reasonable," Madigan told reporters on Thursday.

Overtime legislative sessions have given lawmakers a stage to vent frustration at the impasse and each other.

During a Thursday House debate on a one-month budget, Republican State Representative Chad Hays suggested that lawmakers be locked in the capitol.

"This is ridiculous. Day after day after day we're no closer to a budget," he said.

(Reporting By Karen Pierog; Editing by David Gregorio)

Illinois budget impasse seen lasting for weeks

These 20 schools are responsible for a fifth of all graduate school debt - The Washington Post

 

These 20 schools are responsible for a fifth of all graduate school debt

By Danielle Douglas-Gabriel July 9

In this Oct. 6, 2011 photo, Gan Golan of Los Angeles, dressed as the “Master of Degrees,” holds a ball and chain representing his college loan debt during Occupy DC activities in (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Getting an advanced degree doesn’t come cheap, which is why graduate students carry nearly half of all student debt. But it turns out that a handful of schools are responsible for a large share of that money.

A new study from the Center for American Progress (CAP) found that 20 universities received one-fifth, or $6.5 billion, of the total amount of loans the government gave graduate students in the 2013-2014 academic year. Those schools, however, only educate 12 percent of all graduate students.

What’s striking about the Center’s findings is that a majority of the debt taken to attend the 20 schools on its list is not for law or medical degrees that promise hefty paydays. Most graduate students at those schools are seeking master’s degrees in journalism, fine arts or government, according to CAP.

[It’s about to get cheaper to borrow for college]

Still, at two foreign medical schools, St. George’s University in Grenada and Ross University in Dominica, students borrowed more than $200 million in a single school year. Medical schools in the Caribbean are often a refuge for students rejected from top American schools, but their tuition easily rival schools in the United States. Tuition for one semester at Ross, for instance, costs up to $21,710.

It’s not exactly shocking that pricey private schools like New York University, Georgetown University and George Washington University made the list–tuition alone at all three schools is well over $40,000 a year. But the eight for-profit colleges, including University of Phoenix and Capella University, may raise some eyebrows.

Indeed, students borrowed the most amount of money, $756 million, to attend Walden University, a for-profit school that specializes in offering graduate degrees in education, healthcare and business. The second highest loan balance on the list is attributed to Nova Southeastern University, a private college in Florida where 59 percent of students are working toward graduate degrees online.

Although online programs are billed as time and cost effective, schools like Nova and Liberty University prove otherwise. About 98 percent of graduate students at Liberty, founded by evangelical leader Jerry Falwell, are enrolled in online programs that led them to borrow $351 million in a single year.

These 20 schools are responsible for a fifth of all graduate school debt - The Washington Post

Analyzing Gov. Rauner's Latest Pension Plan | Chicago Tonight | WTTW

 

Analyzing Gov. Rauner's Latest Pension Plan

Natalie Valdes | July 9, 2015 12:30 pm

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Is Gov. Bruce Rauner's newest pension proposal constitutional? How will it impact city and state employees? John Tillman, CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute, and Ralph Martire, executive director for the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, analyze the plan.

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On Wednesday, Gov. Bruce Rauner said he was re-introducing his five-point turnaround agenda as well as a new pension plan. According to Amanda Vinicky’s reporting, Rauner’s yet-to-be-released 500-page plan gives state employees and public school teachers a choice: take a smaller retirement immediately or take a smaller benefit down the line by choosing to forgo having future salary hikes count toward pensions.

• Read a summary from Rauner’s pension reform bill.

The Chicago Teachers Union on Wednesday issued a statement following Rauner’s announcement:

“The Pension Reform Bill proposed by the governor is nothing more than a collection of Bruce Rauner’s worst ideas as it relates to Illinois’ public sector workers.  He continues to treat the people who perform some of the hardest jobs in our state with contempt and disregard,” said CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey.

“His proposal stands in stark contrast to the tax cuts he’s enjoyed this year as one of the wealthiest men in Illinois. We continue to be dismayed at his lack of economic vision that would include progressive revenue solutions and the stabilizing of our pension systems.

“The legal theory he is using has resulted in an unconstitutional mishmash of proposals which diminish and impair pensions. Chicago’s public school educators should not have to choose between having an arm cut off or a leg---meaning we should not have to decide which hard earned right we must give up in order for the state to make contributions to our fund, as it does to others across Illinois. Asking people who do not receive social security upon retirement to take a 7 percent pay cut in order to possibly retire healthy enough to draw down their deferred compensation is an insult to our intelligence,” Sharkey said.

Cook County spokesman Frank Shuftan issued the following statement on Wednesday:

“We just received a copy of the Governor’s proposal and staff will now begin their analysis of it. The issue of pension reform has languished for too long without substantive action as costs continue to rise. While we will carefully review the proposal and continue to work with legislative leaders, the bill we introduced, and which we still endorse in its current form, is designed to resolve the County’s actuarial shortfall and put the Pension Fund on a road to long-term, sustainable solvency. Our bill was crafted over two years in consultation with our labor partners. It calls for shared sacrifice and it earned the support of the vast majority of our unions. We believe that our bill, as it is constructed, is the best vehicle through which true and meaningful pension reform for Cook County can be achieved, and we will continue to respect the legislative process as debate on this issue continues.”

File Attachments:

Summary of Rauner's Pension Plan.pdf

Politics

Analyzing Gov. Rauner's Latest Pension Plan | Chicago Tonight | WTTW

Rauner approves more spending on Illiana tollway - Blogs On Politics - Crain's Chicago Business

 

Gov. Bruce Rauner quietly has signed a measure to spend another $5.5 million on the proposed Illiana expressway, raising questions about whether he's seeking to keep the project on financial life support.

Several weeks ago, Rauner shelved the controversial south suburban toll road with a flourish:

"In light of the state's current fiscal crisis and a lack of sufficient capital resources, the Illiana will not move forward at this time," his office said then in a statement. "It is the determination of the Illinois Department of Transportation that the project costs exceed currently available resources. The department will begin the process of suspending all existing project contracts and procurements." Rauner also ordered the highway removed from the state's five-year road program.

But on June 30, Rauner signed a bill that includes $5.5 million for the Illiana, even as he knocked out money for other projects, such as land acquisition for the proposed south suburban airport at Peotone. The bill said the money would "enable the Illiana Expressway to be developed, financed, constructed or operated."

So what's up?

The governor's office says the money will be used to pay consultants to wind down the project and to handle any costs from continuing litigation. Most of the latter is coming from foes who want to drive a legal stake through the road's heart.

A Rauner aide adds that the money is only being reappropriated from last year, and just because the state is allowed to spend the money doesn't mean it will.

But authorizing $5.5 million in expenditures sure doesn't look like "suspension of all existing project contracts and procurements" to longtime Illiana foe Howard Learner, whose Environmental Law & Policy Center has long battled the road in court and in various public bodies.

"Gov. Rauner clearly said on June 2 that no more state funds would be spent on Illiana contracts and procurements," Learner told me. "It's time to bring the wasteful Illiana tollway gravy train for consultants to an end. These public funds should instead be used to meet our state's high-priority needs."

Most interesting. With talk persisting in Springfield that Rauner wants to keep the project alive as trade bait with south suburban officials, this subject is worth keeping a close eye on.

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Rauner okays new spending on Illiana despite promised ban

Rauner approves more spending on Illiana tollway - Blogs On Politics - Crain's Chicago Business

Yahoo News

 

To Help US Veterans Charity, George W. Bush Charged $100,000

MEGAN CHUCHMACH and BRIAN ROSS

‎July‎ ‎08‎, ‎2015

 

To Help US Veterans Charity, George W. Bush Charged $100,000 (ABC News)

To Help US Veterans Charity, George W. Bush Charged $100,000

MEGAN CHUCHMACH and BRIAN ROSS

‎July‎ ‎08‎, ‎2015

Former President George W. Bush charged $100,000 to speak at a charity fundraiser for U.S. military veterans severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, and former First Lady Laura Bush collected $50,000 to appear a year earlier, officials of the Texas-based Helping a Hero charity confirmed to ABC News.

The former President was also provided with a private jet to travel to Houston at a cost of $20,000, the officials said.

The charity, which helps to provide specially-adapted homes for veterans who lost limbs and suffered other severe injuries in “the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said the total $170,000 expenditure was justified because the former President and First Lady offered discounted fees and helped raise record amounts in contributions at galas held in 2011 and 2012.

“It was great because he reduced his normal fee of $250,000 down to $100,000,” said Meredith Iler, the former chairman of the charity.

However, a recent report by Politico said the former President’s fees typically ranged between $100,000 and $175,000 during those years.

One of the wounded vets who served on the charity’s board told ABC News he was outraged that his former commander in chief would charge any fee to speak on behalf of men and women he ordered into harm's way.

“For him to be paid to raise money for veterans that were wounded in combat under his orders, I don’t think that’s right,” said former Marine Eddie Wright, who lost both hands in a rocket attack in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004.

“You sent me to war,” added Wright speaking of the former President. “I was doing what you told me to do, gladly for you and our country and I have no regrets. But it’s kind of a slap in the face.”

Bill Clinton Cashed In When Hillary Became Secretary of State
Clinton Foundation Taking Money From Accused Rights Violator
Do you have information about this or another story? CLICK HERE to send your confidential tip in to Brian Ross and the ABC News Investigative Unit.

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Boone County to reject bids, revise animal-control facility plans - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

By Ben Stanley
Rockford Register Star

Posted Jul. 7, 2015 at 9:16 PM

BELVIDERE — Boone County finally has money to replace its antiquated animal-control center, which for years has relied on patch repairs to address a litany of sanitation and infestation problems, but construction will be delayed months as a county committee searches for ways to shave costs.

Two weeks ago, the Boone County Roads and Capital Improvements Committee received bids from three local contractors for the project. Each bid exceeded the county's $800,000 budget — funded entirely through a small property tax increase voters approved in November — by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The bids came as a surprise to committee members, who were given a cost estimate of roughly $800,000 by architect Mark Schmidt in July 2014. Schmidt's estimate influenced the county board's decision to seek that amount in the tax-hike referendum, but several changes were made to building plans before bids were opened in June.

At a special meeting on June 22, the committee voted to recommend the county board accept the low bid from Larson & Larson Builders on the condition that the design could be tweaked to keep costs within budget. However, the committee voted unanimously tonight  to reverse its recommendation after Boone County State's Attorney Michelle Courier warned the county board that making nearly $300,000 in alterations to the building's design after the bid has been accepted could undermine a state statute that regulates the competitive bidding process for county projects.

"The architect has indicated that in order to reduce the cost, he will need to redraw his plans, the same plans on which the project was bid upon," Courier wrote in a letter to the board. "This is a material change from the original project. ... giving the current lowest responsible bidder an unfair advantage."

The county board is expected to reject all three bids at a meeting on July 15. Now the committee must go back to the drawing board and work with Schmidt to draft a much simpler and cheaper design, then re-open bids to local contractors.

"You get so much money to work with, you want to get the best building you can," Schmidt said. "Every time you go to one committee, one group wants one feature, another group wants other bells and whistles and pretty soon it gets bigger ... and then you've got to start shrinking it again. The main goal is, what can we do to get the building built?"

Schmidt estimated late August is the earliest that revised building plans could be released to bidders.

Page 2 of 2 - "I know it's going to get done," Boone County Animal Services Operations Supervisor Roger Tresemer said after the meeting. "It's just, I don't want it ... to get to the point where the integrity of the building is not much different than what we have now." 

Above is from:  Boone County to reject bids, revise animal-control facility plans - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL