{"id":10033,"date":"2018-07-05T07:59:15","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T13:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=10033"},"modified":"2018-07-05T07:59:15","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T13:59:15","slug":"a-compromise-for-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/07\/a-compromise-for-illinois.html","title":{"rendered":"A Compromise For Illinois"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an item in the Illinois state constitution that fiscal conservatives don\u2019t like:\u00a0 Article XIII, Section 5,<\/a> which states that \u201cMembership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.\u201d\u00a0 This means that whatever terms are in existence when an employee is first hired into the state, are promised to that employee for the entire duration of their employment.\u00a0 And if benefits are enhanced, they will permanently get those enhanced benefits.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an item in the Illinois state constitution that Democrats don\u2019t like:\u00a0 Article IX, Section 3<\/a>, that requires that \u201cA tax on or measured by income shall be at a non-graduated rate.\u201d\u00a0 I say \u201cDemocrats\u201d specifically because each of their primary candidates included in their platform the elimination of this clause and the imposition of higher marginal taxes on the so-called \u201cmillionaires and billionaires\u201d \u2014 though in practice proposals impose higher taxes on virtually everyone.<\/p>\n

In my world, neither of these clauses belong in the constitution.\u00a0 At the state level, the constitution should be a document which sets forth the structure of the governing bodies, how those in power are elected, which activities are the responsibilities\u00a0of the state vs. local governments, and other basic elements of the government.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s create a compromise:\u00a0 a constitutional amendment that eliminates both these clauses, offered up to voters at the next available opportunity.\u00a0 Mind you, there would be no accompanying legislation that either cuts pension benefits nor raises taxes.\u00a0 It would merely be a \u201cclean-up\u201d of the constitution.\u00a0 And, as a reminder, the Illinois constitutional amendment process provides for either amendment-by-petition, that is, with amendments which gain enough signatures going on the ballot (which is virtually guaranteed to fail because its opponents can bankroll a court fight, e.g., in the attempt to get an anti-gerrymandering amendment passed failed because at every turn Madigan and his allies fought it), or enables the legislature themselves to choose items to put on the ballot.\u00a0 I don\u2019t anticipate that there\u2019d be a lot of energy for a group to put such an amendment on the ballot, but it seems to me that this is something about which there\u2019s at least the slimmest of possibilities (which, in Illinois, is about as good as you\u2019re going to get) that Madigan might see as promising because he could get support from Republicans for a supermajority).<\/p>\n

So how \u2019bout it?\u00a0 Let\u2019s restore to the legislature, as our elected* representatives, the ability both to make changes to public employees\u2019 future pension accruals and to modify the income tax rates on marginal incomes.<\/p>\n

Is it a huge risk?\u00a0 Is there a chance that the ultimate outcome would be higher taxes, while leaving pension formulas untouched, because of the degree of the Democrats\u2019 stranglehold on Illinois government, and especially because of Pritzker\u2019s promise to do exactly this?\u00a0 Recall that he not only has no plan other than \u201crefinancing,\u201d<\/a> that is, reamortizing the debt to a new payment schedule further out into the future, but he excoriated his primary opponent<\/a> for having made an effort to solve the problem.<\/p>\n

But we should take that risk nonetheless, because our choices are so few in our current situation, and because that at least gives us hope for future reform.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

*Yes, you might quibble that \u201celected\u201d isn\u2019t really the right term here, given the extreme gerrymandering in Illinois that\u2019s the cause of the quip that legislators are selecting their districts rather than districts selecting their legislators, as well as the tight hold Madigan has due to the campaign cash he controls.\u00a0 But we are where we are.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image:\u00a0\u00a0Illinois state capitol; https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Illinoiscapitol2.jpg<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s an item in the Illinois state constitution that fiscal conservatives don\u2019t like:\u00a0 Article XIII, Section 5, which states that \u201cMembership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":6853,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[983,1009,855],"class_list":["post-10033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-illinois-budget","tag-illinois-pensions","tag-illinois-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nA Compromise For Illinois<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here's an item in the Illinois state constitution that fiscal conservatives don't like:\u00a0 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