Pension Ruling in Two Weeks
- A Cook County judge will rule later this month on the legality of a Chicago pension law that would reduce cost-of-living increases, require workers to pay more and require the city to increase how much it puts into two of its employee retirement systems.
That was the bottom line after 2 1/2 hours of closing arguments in a packed Daley Center courtroom over a 2014 pension law that Mayor Rahm Emanuel pushed through the General Assembly and got then-Gov. Pat Quinn to sign.
Stephen Patton, the city's top attorney, said the law would prevent pension funds covering laborers and city workers from going bust.
Clint Krislov, an attorney for four unions, city workers and retirees seeking to overturn the law, called Patton's argument the "Chicken Little defense." Krislov said the city, perhaps with an assist from the state, would be forced to bail out the pension funds if their trajectory toward insolvency continued.
Seeing as how the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously knocked down a similar state law, most observers don't see this Chicago law having much of a chance....but stranger things have happened in Cook County Courts, whereby an immediate appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court would probably yield the same result again.
Labels: pension
posted by SCC at 12:11 AM
17 Comments:
OT
Oh, you spend a lot of money to buy a nice house in a violence free location? We can change that.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/07/08/obama-administration-to-unveil-major-new-rules-targeting-segregation-across-u-s/
The centerpiece of the new rule is a vast trove of geographic data covering every community in the country — its racial makeup, its poverty rate, its concentration of housing vouchers and public housing, as well as the quality of its schools and its public transit. Nearly all of this data, already gathered by the government, comes from publicly available sources like the Census. But HUD hopes the database will enable communities to more clearly track where poverty and segregation overlap, where housing voucher recipients live relative to good schools, which neighborhoods contain no affordable housing at all.
The Illinois Constitution applies to Illinois.
Why do you think it should apply to Cook County too?
Greece
Greece
Greece Illinois Falling Down
Rahm's imbecile attorneys must have missed class in law school on the day the professor went over the Pension Protection Clause
It's a cook county court, Rahm will get his "victory"
It will be immediately appealed to the ISC (unless the unions have been bought off) who will not rule on it for a year or so allowing the mess to continue to fester
Cut the voter entitlements instead. I'll wait.
Mayor 1% and his misfit legal counsel have the audacity to maintain that "pensions are not the obligation or debts of the City" if the pension theft statute is not upheld. In essence, the City could let the pension fund go belly up. Rahm, please put on your big boy pants and repeat same for the news cameras if that is truly your position.
Patton made it very clear in court that the position of the city is when the pension funds run out of money the city has no obligation to fund them other then their regular contribution according to state law. That would result in pennies on the dollar to retirees. Would this position stand under a court test that would surely follow? Who knows as public pension insolvency has never happened before.
O.T. I recall something in the new contract about us having the option to sign up for online check stubs that was supposed to be available by 01 July. More promises broken?.
Rahm should get his Teflon cup out because he's going to get a swift kick to the nuts again.
The ruling will mean nothing. The politicians will only act by getting voters to change the state constitution or the Federal bankruptcy court taking control (the more likely option). Illinois and Chicago are broke and there is nothing the politicians are proposing that can fix it.
Be prepared for Rauner to start a campaign to amend the pension provision in the state constitution. This will happen in 2016 during the November election. Prior to that, he will bombard the airwaves with ads addressing his attempts to get pension reform through, but was stymied by the pension article prohibiting diminishing pension benefits. He has already said it and he has people that know procedures to do this. So be prepared. This involves everyone throughout the state of Illinois. It's no longer Chicago vs. the rest of the state. He is going to get what he wants if we let him. That's also why he is marginalizing Madigan because he's found out how powerful Madigan really is.
Rauner is for business, and he is destroying the citizens. Remember, this man made his money by dismantling things he controls then walks away from the mess he created after there's nothing left. Be prepared to fight in the coming months.
A Cook County judge will ok the law, he doesn't want to bite the political hands that put him where they are. They'll let the IL Supreme Court take the fall on it as it already has
"The ruling will mean nothing. The politicians will only act by getting voters to change the state constitution or the Federal bankruptcy court taking control (the more likely option). Illinois and Chicago are broke and there is nothing the politicians are proposing that can fix it.
7/10/2015 10:19:00 AM"
Just because they say they are doesn't make it so. Newsflash Chicken Little, Bankruptcy Court requires you to sell off all your assets prior to declaring Bankruptcy.That means Lincoln Park Zoo, Soldier Field, Navy Pier, O'Hare Airport,Midway, Northerly Island, all Parks, The CTA and numerous other city properties would have to be sold to pay off the debts. Detroit was 50 years in the making. Take a walk around Downtown, the Gold Coast, South Loop,Lincoln Park, Wicker Park Bucktown,etc are people fleeing in droves Numbskull?
The "IL Combine" will keep proposing these crazy ideas rather than fix the system. Why!? They have to look like they're doing something and they all have friends who are also lawyers and will litigate to their heart's content. How much has govt. on the local/county & state level spent on legal fees??
They are not broke! Their allocation of our money only to benefit them and theirs is the problem. After all it's not coming out of their pockets! If they run out of our money than they will just have to raise our taxes and fees. They have their own guaranteed salary, medical and pension. We are here only to serve them! How fucked up is that?
Chicago has four pension funds: police, fire, municipal employees, and laborers. (not sure how teachers fit into this)
This bill deals with the pensions of municipal employees and laborers. It does not affect police/fire.
Here's a good link as to the changes the law makes. A big part of the change is that the city wants to get rid of the compounding 3% COLA. Also, the law raises employee contributions from about 9% to 11%, over time. I wonder if the city is arguing "but the unions agreed to it." Not sure. Not even sure if the unions did, in fact, agree to the changes.
Read up my friends, and learn WTF is going on.
http://truenewsusa.blogspot.com/2014/04/sb-1922-house-amendment-6-sneaking-rahm.html
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