State Lawmakers Ready To Pass The Buck On Pension Reform Again
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jun 10, 2013 8:40PM
Like trying to scratch an itch you can’t reach, Illinois Democratic leaders are set to revisit the state’s pension morass, possibly in a special legislative session June 19.
The Sun-Times reports Illinois Senate president John Cullerton will try to pass a pension reform bill that combines elements of the separate bills touted by the Senate and the House that led to Springfield punting on pension reform during its recently ended spring session. The rationale behind this is if the portions of the broader House plan are ruled unconstitutional, they still have the elements of the Senate proposal backed by labor unions to fall back on.
This is where pension reform in Illinois has now come to, readers. It’s like building a back deck to your bungalow in Galewood, but you build it about two feet longer than what your plans call for, so you cut that two feet back (and an extra foot for good measure) and hope inspectors approve it.
The plan has the endorsements of Cullerton and Gov. Pat Quinn, who must be thinking this is how King Solomon would have handled the state’s pension shitstorm. But the plan was received tepidly by House Speaker Michael Madigan, who insists the House plan is the best route for lasting pension reform.
"This is like a lot of things in the legislature," Madigan said. "You can make it complicated if you wish, or you can keep it simple. Let me say it again: The best pension bill that passed so far, and the one that does the most cost savings is the House bill, and that's in the Senate. And the governor ought to work to get that passed."
But Quinn and Cullerton are proceeding with the compromised plan anyway, even though Madigan isn’t on board and there’s no guarantee he’ll call it to a vote in the House next week. Quinn said Madigan and Cullerton “know how to work together when they want to, so now it's time for them to apply that same approach, that same attitude to comprehensive pension reform.”
Which means Quinn will be set up as the fall guy when the General Assembly fails to reach a deal next week.