Who Can Fix State’s Public Pension Crisis? Try H.G. Wells

Read the BGA’s recent three-part investigation: “Sticker Shock: Illinois’ Public Pension Crisis”

The best way to fix to Illinois’ deteriorating public pension system would be to hitch a ride on a time machine that would allow lawmakers to roll back decades of mistakes and mismanagement that produced a system at least $80 billion in the hole and going under fast.

But while the Illinois General Assembly is known to take the occasional flight of fantasy worthy of sci-fi master H.G. Wells, nobody in that legislative body has invented such a device—leaving them to concoct their own solutions to the public pension crisis.

So let’s look at some of the government pension issues and repairs being proposed by lawmakers and whether any have a chance to make it out of the General Assembly and onto the governor’s desk for a bill signing into law.

Statewide Update—Feb. 17, 2011

Photo courtesy lilhelen/Flickr

State Journal Register—Pension changes likely to be decided by state Supreme Court, “It will be up to the Illinois Supreme Court to decide whether changes to pension benefits for current state employees are constitutional, House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said Wednesday.”

• Bloomington Pantagraph—Lawmakers: Quinn’s proposal mostly falls short, “Although most lawmakers found at least a little to like about the governor’s relatively brief, broadly themed speech, all agreed it will be tough to reach an agreement on how to pay a mountain of old bills while financing current programs.”

• SouthtownStar—Editorial: Better, but Quinn’s budget still falls short, “We wholeheartedly agree that Regional Offices of Education are a waste of money—we learned that firsthand when we uncovered the corruption taking place at the Suburban Cook County office under the beleaguered Charles Flowers, who is charged with stealing $376,000 in public funds.”

• Daily Herald—Illinois EPA asks state to act against salt discharge in Bartlett, “The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency released a statement saying Bluff City Materials Inc. stored as much as 50,000 tons of salt at one time at 1950 Vulcan Blvd. in Bartlett and asking the attorney general’s office to take steps to make sure the salt is stored in an environmentally safe way.”

• Rockford Register Star—Rockford, Winnebago County leaders back school board review, “Mayor Larry Morrissey and Winnebago County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen said an independent review of the School District’s financial state could help settle the disagreement between the district’s money experts and its teachers union.”