Illinois Supreme Court Strikes Down Law to Rein in Public Sector Pensions !

State shortfall, estimated at $111 billion, among worst in nation

ENLARGE

Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan addressed the media outside the Illinois Supreme Court in Springfield in March, following oral arguments in the lawsuit over the state pension overhaul. PHOTO: SARA BURNETT/ASSOCIATED PRESS

By 

JOE BARRETT And

 

BEN KESLING

Updated May 8, 2015 1:30 p.m. ET

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The Illinois Supreme Court declared in a ruling Friday that the state’s landmark 2013 pension overhaul violates the state constitution, unraveling an effort by state lawmakers to rein in benefits for a public-sector pension system they have consistently underfunded over the years.

The current pension shortfall is estimated at $111 billion, one of the largest nationally.

RELATED

• Oregon Retiree Cuts Unconstitutional, Court Concludes(April 30)
• Illinois Faces Big Revenue Hit in 2015(Dec. 30, 2014)
• Circuit Court Judge Strikes Down Illinois Pension Overhaul Law (Nov. 21, 2014)
• Judge Halts Illinois Pension Overhaul(May 14, 2014)
• Longer Lives Hit Firms With Pension Plans Hard (Feb. 23)

The high court affirmed a decision in November by a state circuit court that thelegislative changes violated pension protection measures written into the state constitution. The decision sided with public-sector unions, who challenged the law. The ruling said the constitution is unambiguous on the issue and dismissed the state’s argument that so-called police powers in place to protect public safety and welfare give lawmakers the authority to cut retirement benefits.

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Supreme Court Limits, But Doesn't End Union Fees

Tony Mauro, supreme_court_brief

June 30, 2014    | 0 Comments

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito

Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi / NLJ

The ability of public employee unions to charge non-members for their share of the costs of collective bargaining remains intact after a U.S. Supreme Courtdecision Monday that labor leaders feared would be a "kill shot" for their movement.

Ruling in Harris v. Quinn, a 5-4 majority said that Illinois home care workers who objected to joining a state-recognized union could not be forced to pay so-called agency fees, in part because they are not "full-fledged" state employees. But the court stopped short of overturning the 1977 case that allowed agency fees in public employment, in spite of a frontal First Amendment attack on the precedent mounted by union critics in the case.

Read more: http://www.lawtechnologynews.com/id=1202661431805/Supreme-Court-Limits-But-Doesnt-End-Union-Fees-#ixzz36dGeHC8Y

Major union group sues to overturn Illinois pension law

January 28, 2014|By Ray Long and Rick Pearson | Clout Street

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois’ largest government employee unions sued Tuesday to overturn Illinois’ new pension law, ripping the long sought, landmark money-saving changes as outright “theft” from workers that won’t pass a legal smell test.

The timing of the lawsuit served as a political rebuke, dropped on the eve of Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s State of the State address — a noon Wednesday speech in which the governor is expected to highlight approval of the pension measure as a reason voters should re-elect him.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-01-28/news/chi-major-union-group-sues-to-overturn-illinois-pension-law-20140128_1_pension-law-pension-systems-one-illinois-coalition