AP) — Illinois will end 2013 with $7.6 billion in unpaid bills, a 15 percent reduction from a year earlier, officials said Monday. Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka had estimated the backlog would be closer to the $9 billion owed at the end of 2012.
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At $96 billion and growing, Illinois' underfunded public pension problem is by far the worst in the nation. But the pension problem didn't happen overnight, nor is it the fault of a single politician or special interest group. It's a crisis decades i
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The Illinois Retired Teachers Association filed suit Friday challenging the constitutionality of the state’s historic but controversial plan to deal with the nation’s most underfunded public employee pension system. The lawsuit is the first of w
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Area school and political leaders have given subdued remarks about a recent bill passed in Springfield meant to overhaul public employee retirement pensions.
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Detroit and Illinois have both been headline news for anyone interested in pensions. The story in Detroit is that a judge ruled that pensions can be treated like other debt in bankruptcy procedures. The story in Illinois is that the state passed le
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Illinois’ new pension law quickly found a fan club among Wall Street’s credit-rating agencies.
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Illinois' largest state government retirement system is moving ahead with implementation of the pension overhaul. That comes even as unions are preparing a lawsuit.
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It's no exaggeration to say that the fate of Illinois' budget and economy rests in the hands of the seven members of the state Supreme Court. A furious legal battle already has commenced, even before the unions file their promised legal ch
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Taxpayers, employers and observers should be encouraged by what happened in Springfield last week to respond to the state's $100 billion unfunded public employee pension obligations. It has been years in the making, but at long last the General Assem
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NORTHBROOK — One of the toughest votes for many Illinois legislators was hard even on the mother of the state pension reform bill in the General Assembly’s lower house. “I just heard it from a member of my own family,” State Rep. Elaine Ne
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Several state employee unions are expected to file a lawsuit contesting Illinois' new pension measure.
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CHICAGO — It’s not the vision of a world-class city that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel typically likes to portray. More teachers losing their jobs, thousands fewer police and firefighters on duty, less frequent trash collection and miles of pothole
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Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Tuesday revised the outlook on Illinois' A-minus credit rating to developing from negative due to the state's passage of long-awaited pension reform last week.
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It's no exaggeration to say that the fate of Illinois' budget and economy rests in the hands of the seven members of the state Supreme Court.
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The middle can be the most dangerous place to be in politics. Just look at Washington. A budget deal that covers more than the next five minutes continues to be obstructed by extremists on both sides, with tea party Republicans demanding cuts and onl
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Tired of reading stories about pension reform? Hopeful that things will change now that a pension reform bill has passed and been signed into law? Too bad. That was only phase one. Now, phase two begins with weeks and months of stories about the
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Illinois pension reforms are “a credit positive” for the state with the lowest credit rating in the nation, Moody's Investors Service said in a brief report Friday. But the firm's negative outlook on the state's A3 rating was left unchanged.
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The pension deal in Springfield is the best news Illinois business has heard in a while. “Best,” of course, is a relative term. A pension-reform law patched together with compromises and hopeful assumptions won't solve all the problems politicia
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For Chicago lawmakers who thought Tuesday's pension vote was politically dangerous, just wait until next year. Then on the docket in Springfield: gravely needed reforms for the retirement systems that benefit Chicago teachers, city workers, laborers,
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Purists on both sides of the pension-reform debate are unhappy that a deal finally passed in Springfield. Despite what these Debbie Downers say, this is reason to cheer. Conservative critics harrumph that the bill doesn't contain enough real ref
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Illinois' pension law might serve as a model for an overhaul of local government retirement systems. The Illinois Municipal League says if the law survives a court challenge, they hope lawmakers approve a similar plan that would address rising pensio
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I was challenged the other day when I heard an expert say that no one has — or could — explain the Illinois state budget clearly, even to capable readers of newspaper opinion pages. So here goes my attempt to do so, without your eyes glazing over (we
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EUREKA — A late payment from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity came in time to help Woodford County offset a projected deficit for next year’s budget — albeit two years later than expected.
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State lawmakers' complicated differences of opinion over what to do about Illinois' $100 billion in pension debt dragged on for years, with new proposals often giving them different reasons to disagree. But when Democratic and Republican l
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Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed into law on Thursday landmark reforms to the state's woefully underfunded public pension system, prompting unions to begin preparing court action to challenge the law. The governor's signature, in a private cer
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Gov. Pat Quinn launched Illinois' epic attempt to bail itself out of a $100 billion public employee pension debt Thursday, signing into law an ambitious financial, legal and political effort to restore the state's tumbling credit ratings and unstable
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Illinois lawmakers on Tuesday passed a landmark pension reform bill, moving to address the state's crumbling finances in the face of strong public labor union opposition to the bill, which among other measures raises retirement ages. The bill, p
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill.—Legislators passed an overhaul of the state public-employee retirement system Tuesday, cutting benefits for workers and retirees in a move that sets up a likely court battle with organized labor. Supporters say the Illinois pen
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An eerie quiet filled the hallways of the state Capitol on Tuesday afternoon moments after lawmakers took one of the most important votes in Illinois history — to cut public employee pensions. Was there relief and a deserved dose of pride
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Thank you to those 30 gutsy members of the Illinois Senate and 62 gutsy members of the Illinois House who voted Tuesday to pull their state from the brink of a financial disaster. In his closing argument, Sen. Kwame Raoul referred to the d
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(CHICAGO) — Under growing public pressure to act, the leaders of Illinois‘ General Assembly announced Wednesday they’d reached an agreement on how to solve the state’s $100 billion pension problem and would begin trying to persuade other lawmakers to
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(Reuters) - Illinois legislative leaders on Wednesday reached a long-elusive deal to reform the state's woefully underfunded public pensions, but the plan must still win support of lawmakers and could face legal challenges if approved.
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Top Illinois legislators said today they’ve reached agreement on a plan to deal with the state’s worst-in-the-nation unfunded public pension liability and expect to vote on it next week. Details of the measure were unclear today and its pr
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After years of lurches and stops, House and Senate leaders finally struck a landmark pension-reform accord Wednesday that ultimately could shave $160 billion from the state’s future pension liabilities and lift Illinois from its status as the least c
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CHICAGO — For years, Illinois' multibillion-dollar pension crisis has dragged down the state's finances and jeopardized the retirement funds of hundreds of thousands of public employees. Yet lawmakers remained sharply divided on how to fix the proble
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CHICAGO — Seeking to repair one of the nation’s worst-financed public pension systems, legislative leaders in Illinois on Friday began urgently trying to sell a rescue plan that cuts cost-of-living increases for retirees, raises the age of retirement
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Here are the details of the big pension deal reached today by top leaders of the Illinois General Assembly. I'm getting these specifics from multiple sources in both chambers, and from both sides of the aisle. In general, the deal follows
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The top two Republicans in the Illinois Legislature said Tuesday they're hopeful their Democratic counterparts will soon have a plan to address the state's $100 billion pension crisis - a fix that could get a vote next week if enough lawmakers signal
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Although Illinois' legislative leaders say they are close, there still is no final agreement on a plan to fix the state's underfunded pension systems. With the clock ticking toward a possible showdown vote in the House on Tuesday, leaders
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November 26, 2013 (WLS) -- State lawmakers are expected to gather in Springfield next week to approve a possible solution to the state's pension crisis. The leaders are not giving many details about their talks but have said there's been m
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Illinois’ legislative leaders met Tuesday to try to put the finishing touches on a pension restructuring plan. The Illinois House is scheduled to meet next Tuesday, so Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) wants to get it done. “The situati
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Illinois House lawmakers were told Monday to return Dec. 3 to Springfield, where they would be in position if legislative leaders reach a compromise on overhauling the state's public employee pension system. There have been reports of prog
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The Illinois House of Representatives will hold a one-day session on Dec. 3 to take up changes to the state's woefully underfunded public pensions, a spokesman for Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan said on Monday.
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Illinois House members are being summoned back to Springfield next week to deal with the state’s $100 billion pension problem. As of Monday, however, the Senate had not set a return date. House Speaker Michael Madigan’s chief of staff sent
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SPRINGFIELD — Illinois’ backlog of unpaid bills is growing once more and could climb to $9 billion by the end of December, officials said. “The state’s bill backlog fluctuates throughout the year, with numbers dropping in high-revenue mont
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Just as a thirsty man in a desert envisions a lush oasis out in the distance, so too do top state officials have dreams of a legislative fix to Illinois' $100 billion pension underfunding problem....
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Leaders of the Illinois Legislature say they're making progress negotiating a plan to deal with the state's $100 billion pension crisis. The four caucus leaders of the state House and Senate on Thursday held a conference call over a plan that co
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SPRINGFIELD — The search for a way out of Illinois’ pension mess continues on Thursday when the state’s legislative leaders meet in a closed-door negotiating session in Chicago. The morning meeting could be one of the final pow-wows in the
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Illinois' four legislative leaders have been meeting privately in an effort to carve out a pension reform deal. Only top staffers have been allowed in the room with them. No news conferences. No comment.
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Illinois' dramatically underfunded pension systems just got a little less underfunded. According to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the $13 billion national settlement announced today with JPMorgan Chase & Co. over its role in the
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