I have been reading and rereading our IEA president’s email response to my last blog, “Betrayal. Deception, Investigation, Robocalls: SB2404.” The future of our Illinois pensions hinge on this. Perhaps George Orwell could decipher it for me, but he’s still dead.
Therefore, I personally offer a “30 Pieces of Silver CHALLENGE” to anyone in the world who can translate, decipher, or otherwise explicate Cinda’s words from the double-speak babble of Babel that attempts to make Senate President Cullerton’s Amendment 002 of SB2404 into a gift from the politico gods to the little people.
* Why 30 pieces of silver for Cinda’s re-explanation? Somehow, it seems appropriate.
* The 30 pieces of silver will be dimes for this particular challenge. Why? My pension is being reduced and diminished, and so is yours.
* The challenge ends whenever, and all decisions along with allocation of fiduciary awards will be top secret in the spirit of total non-disclosure.
Now, on to the serious, for us, stuff.
Cinda’s email is as follows.
There have been questions raised about language amended into SB 2404, the Cullerton-Coalition legislation.
This amendment was not a surprise to the members of the labor coalition. The coalition remains committed to the passage of SB 2404.
The amendment clarifies the law with regard to retiree access to health insurance through the State.
Maintaining access to health insurance
Under current law, access to state health insurance for retirees is not a vested enforceable contractual right. If SB 2404 becomes law, it would become, for the first time, an enforceable contractual right.
The recent amendment is President Cullerton’s attempt to make it clear that, by making access to insurance a contractual right, SB 2404 does not make the cost of the insurance premium a contractual right. He also wanted to make it clear that while access would become a contractual right, it would not be a retirement benefit protected by the Illinois Constitution’s Pension Clause.
No change in current law on cost
To be clear, under current law, the legislature could vote to pass 100 percent of all health insurance costs on to retirees. If that came to pass, IEA would fight to protect the health insurance benefits of our members. In fact, there have been previous attempts to cut the state’s contribution to insurance, but intense lobbying by IEA and other organizations preserved the subsidy.
SB 2404 is supported by IEA on the grounds that it:
· Is constitutional
· Is fair to our members
· Will stabilize the pension systems
Cinda
Sent from my iPad
For the heck of it, here are the choices we will be given (which is NOT what we were sent by IEA and We Are One Illinois.)
“Retired Option 1:
* The TRS COLA would continue to be 3 percent compounded annually calculated from the member’s current pension.
* A staggered automatic two year forfeiture of the member’s COLA after the effective date of the bill.
* Access to state health insurance with the possibility of paying 100% of the premium.
Retired Option 2:
* The TRS COLA would continue to be 3 percent compounded annually calculated from the member’s current pension.
* No access to state health insurance.”
Here is what Amendment 002 wants us to agree to regarding our constitutional rights regarding protection of our pensions.
“The vested and enforceable contractual right to a program of health benefits is NOT offered as, and shall NOT be considered, a pension or retirement benefit under Article XIII, Section 5 of the Illinois Constitution, the Illinois Pension Code, or any subsequent or successor enactment providing pension benefits…”
LET THE CHALLENGE BEGIN!!! 30 PIECES OF SILVER.
