Supreme Court of Illinois Backs Pension Clause Intent! Teachers and all public employees rejoice.
Supreme Court of Illinois Backs Pension Clause Intent!
From Bob Lyons: Illinois Supreme Court Backs Article XIII, Section 5!
(Re-post of John Dillon’s excellent Pension Vocabulary blog of Bob Lyon’s letter.)
PENSION REFORM LAWS ALMOST CERTAINLY DOOMED
HEALTH INSURANCE RULING IS CRYSTAL CLEAR In a sweeping 6-1 decision, the Illinois Supreme Court today struck down an attempt to force government retirees to pay more for their subsidized state health insurance, and in the process made it abundantly clear that the new pension reform law was highly unlikely to pass constitutional review.
The Court, led by Justice Charles Freeman, declared “it is clear” that all pension benefits, including health insurance, cannot be diminished or impaired, which the ruling called the “plain and ordinary” meaning of the Illinois Constitution.
“We may not rewrite the pension protection clause to include restrictions and limitations that the drafters did not express and the citizens of Illinois did not approve,” the Court ruled. If that isn’t a direct message to lawmakers, the governor and everybody else, I don’t know what is. Pension benefits “shall not be diminished or impaired,” is what the Supreme Court of Illinois Backs Pension Clause Intent! Teachers and all public employees rejoice. | Reclaim Reform: