Full Text of HJR0059 96th General Assembly
HJ0059 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, Governor Quinn has proposed a drastic change in | 3 |
| the benefits that are offered to public employees who are | 4 |
| members of State-funded pension systems; and
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| WHEREAS, These changes have not been systematically | 6 |
| analyzed for their potential impact on how the State of | 7 |
| Illinois will be able to attract and retain high quality | 8 |
| personnel; and
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| WHEREAS, The public policy implications of having older | 10 |
| individuals performing jobs in the public safety arena have not | 11 |
| been thoroughly studied; and
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| WHEREAS, Pension benefits directly impact the ability of | 13 |
| school districts to attract college graduates to the teaching | 14 |
| profession, especially in the critical areas of math and | 15 |
| science; and
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| WHEREAS, Seventy-eight percent of all public employees in | 17 |
| Illinois do not receive Social Security; and | 18 |
| WHEREAS, The retirement benefits provided by the Teachers' | 19 |
| Retirement System of the State of Illinois, the State | 20 |
| Universities Retirement System, and the State Employees' |
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| Retirement System of Illinois are the primary source of | 2 |
| retirement security for public employees; and | 3 |
| WHEREAS, The cost for the current benefits being earned | 4 |
| today is lower than what is paid by a typical employer in the | 5 |
| private sector; and
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| WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has not fulfilled its | 7 |
| obligation to properly fund these systems since their inception | 8 |
| over 70 years ago; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 10 |
| NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | 11 |
| SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that there is created the Pension | 12 |
| System Modernization Task Force; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall be charged with the | 14 |
| following tasks: | 15 |
| (1) analyze the public policy implications of changing | 16 |
| pension benefits on the State of Illinois' ability to | 17 |
| attract and retain public employees, teachers, and | 18 |
| University professionals; and | 19 |
| (2) analyze the level of the current pension benefit | 20 |
| structure in Illinois as it compares to other states in the | 21 |
| geographical region and to other states that have systems | 22 |
| that are not coordinated with Social Security; and |
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| (3) analyze which pension benefits in Illinois should | 2 |
| be modernized in order to put Illinois in line with other | 3 |
| states; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall be composed of the | 5 |
| following: | 6 |
| (1) two legislative members appointed by the Speaker of | 7 |
| the House; | 8 |
| (2) two legislative members appointed by the President | 9 |
| of the Senate; | 10 |
| (3) two legislative members appointed by the House | 11 |
| Minority Leader; | 12 |
| (4) two legislative members appointed by the Senate | 13 |
| Minority Leader; | 14 |
| (5) two members who are statewide education labor union | 15 |
| representatives; | 16 |
| (6) two members who are statewide labor union | 17 |
| representatives that do not represent an education labor | 18 |
| union; | 19 |
| (7) four members who represent the business community, | 20 |
| including, but not limited to, the Illinois Chamber of | 21 |
| Commerce, the Illinois Manufacturers' Association, the | 22 |
| Illinois Retail Merchants Association, and the National | 23 |
| Federation of Independent Business; | 24 |
| (8) one member appointed by the Governor who shall act | 25 |
| as chair; and be it further |
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| RESOLVED, That the staff of the Commission on Government | 2 |
| Forecasting and Accountability shall be responsible for | 3 |
| staffing the Task Force in conjunction with the Illinois | 4 |
| pension systems actuaries and staff; and be it further | 5 |
| RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall hold hearings on | 6 |
| pension modernization, no less than one per month, between June | 7 |
| of 2009 and October of 2009; and be it further | 8 |
| RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall recommend pension | 9 |
| benefit changes to modernize these systems; and be it further | 10 |
| RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall report its findings to | 11 |
| the General Assembly and the Governor on or before November 1, | 12 |
| 2009.
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