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Health & Fitness

Pension Abuse and State Facility Closures Top Discussions in Illinois Senate Last Week

A compiled review of Senate activities Oct. 10-14.

Please note: The Week in Review is written by a staff member of the Illinois Senate Republican Caucus and approved by legislators. It is meant to provide constituents with information about legislative action and activities during the week.

Pension abuses continued to draw criticism this week, while in other news, legislative hearings are proceeding on Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed closure of seven state facilities.

State Facility Closures

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Residents of Chester and Murphysboro came out in full force Oct. 12 in support of Chester Mental Health Center and Illinois Youth Center at Murphysboro. Southern Illinois legislators on both sides of the aisle rallied behind facility employees and members of the communities, who face economic uncertainty in the face of the pending closures.

The hearings on facility closures are required by state law, and are held by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA). The Governor’s plan would close seven facilities statewide, and lay off more than 1,900 employees.

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In Murphysboro, legislators questioned the methodology that was being used by the governor’s office to close facilities. The Illinois Youth Center at Murphysboro was constructed in 1997, and it was originally designed as a boot camp for troubled youth. 

The Chester Mental Health Center was completed in the 1970s, making it one of the newer mental health hospitals. The one-of-a-kind mental health hospital is the only facility equipped with the physical structures and staff properly trained to deal with potentially dangerous individuals who have the most severe mental health issues. These patients are typically institutionalized by the court system for serious issues or criminal acts of insanity.

Pension Abuse

State pension abuses continue to draw attention. During the week, Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) was joined by Adam Andrzejewski, founder of For The Good of Illinois, who called on the General Assembly to address recent reports revealing that union leaders have been collecting millions of dollars from publicly funded state pensions based on their time working for the union, not the public.

“These instances are the exceptions rather than the rule, but they add up and certainly account for some portion of the funding problems facing public pensions,” Sen. Ron Sandack (R-21st, Downers Grove) said.

Using little-known pension system loopholes, high-ranking union officials, who previously worked for governmental units have been allowed to collect their public sector pensions based on their final union salary. They have also been given pension credit for the years they worked at the union.

“Public pensions in Illinois have lots of problems," Sandack said. "Some of the issues are structural, meaning these plans were well intended as originally conceived but not well monitored and maintained. Other issues have come from people gaming the system to benefit themselves through outrageous abuses. Put these things together and you have real problems that beg systemic reform. I have some solutions that, though far from easy and painless, will fix these matters and restore sanity and fiscal sustainability to Illinois.”

To curb these egregious abuses, Senate Bill 2499 has been introduced to repeal the union service credit for any new hires in all 10 public retirement systems, including the five Chicago systems,  Teachers Retirement System, State University Retirement System, suburban and downstate police and fire funds, and the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund. The legislation also ends this practice for current union employees going forward.

For example, the average public school retiree draws an annual pension of $46,452; however, in one case, a former teacher-turned-union-executive is drawing a pension of $242,000 a year, the equivalent of six retired teachers' pay. In fact, $47 million has already been paid out to high-ranking union officials, who are being paid with public pension funds.

While Chicago union pension perks have drawn attention recently, similar abuses have occurred at state systems. The second-highest pension benefit being paid by Teachers Retirement System (TRS), which covers all suburban and downstate public school teachers, tops $242,000 a year and is given to Reginald Weaver. Weaver retired in September 2008 as national president of the National Education Association teachers’ union.

According to TRS, Weaver’s last state salary was from his employment as a public school teacher in Harvey, earning $60,000 during the 1995-1996 school year. However, Weaver’s pension benefit is based not just on his public school work but also on his 12 years of work for his union employers, the NEA and the Illinois Education Association, and his final salary at the NEA.

Springfield 101

On Oct. 13, Sandack hosted a “Springfield 101” meeting in Downers Grove to educate interested citizens about how the legislature operates and update them on the latest developments on the Illinois budget.  The slideshow from the presentation is attached to this blog.

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