The Illinois Constitution guarantees our pension but not the funding. « Fred Klonsky

The Illinois Constitution guarantees our pension but not the funding. « Fred Klonsky:

The Illinois Constitution guarantees our pension. But not the funding.

by Fred Klonsky

In a previous post I said that it was my understanding that while the Illinois Constitution guarantees state employee pensions and guarantees that they may not be diminished or impaired, it does not guarantee that the state provide the funding. This is the basis for Democratic State Representative Elaine Nekritz and Governor Pat Quinn to advocate shifting the pension obligation from the state to local units of governments.
Since this is a difficult concept to wrap my head around, I suggested that if I was wrong about this, my pal Glen Brown would correct me.
Glen writes:

1975 People ex. Rel. Illinois Federation of Teachers v. Lindberg …can’t force the Illinois General Assembly to fund the pension systems at a specific percentage 1996 McNamee v. State Vested Case Issue: an employee acquires a “vested” right when he or she enters the pension