By Cole Lauterbach/Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – The proposed bills to cobble together a state budget stumbled Tuesday when Senate leadership couldn’t muster the votes on a bill that would make nominal changes to Illinois’ public pensions as well as abolish future lawmaker pensions.
The Senate passed five of the 12 bills tied into the grand bargain Tuesday afternoon, but couldn’t pass a bill making small changes to state pensions. Senate Bill 16 also would have abolished future lawmaker pensions, something Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said a number of lawmakers had objected to. The language in the bills says that if one fails, they all do.
Cullerton appealed for support on the pension bill.
“If you don’t like a bill that’s in the package, then vote ‘no.’ If you like a bill in the package, then vote ‘yes’. It’s not that complicated,” he said. “Sure, if one of them doesn’t pass then they all fail. You would win then if that’s what you wanted to do.”
State Sen. Jim Oberweis, R-Sugar Grove, said before the session that the total package of bills isn’t a good deal for taxpayers.
“There’s too much increasing in taxes and not enough true reforms and spending cuts,” he said. “It’s important that we have enough spending cuts to say to the taxpayers of Illinois, ‘If we’re going to have to accept a tax increase, there’s a reasonable justification for it.”
Several bills passed – including a gambling expansion for Chicago and several other cities, funding MAP grants, and a bailout for Chicago teachers’ pensions. The Senate is expected to vote on tax hikes Wednesday, as leaders attempt to wrangle up more votes for pension reform.
