The Illinois General Assembly will meet in special session Friday and could debate public employee pensions. Few expect to see anything pass.
There will be some discussion. Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno says she wants to see the issue resolved. But she’s pessimistic it will happen this week….
RADOGNO “Unfortunately I don’t think a lot happens. As I understand it, we have a meeting scheduled at 10 o’ clock with the Governor. Mind you, that’s an hour before we go into session. My guess is we’re not going to do comprehensive reform in an hour.”
Some have pegged the state’s unfunded pension liability at more than 80 billion dollars. However, Radogno says different calculations could take that figure much higher. She says she’s open to discussing ideas. But Radogno now opposes a plan she backed in the spring that only dealt with two of the state’s retirement systems, leaving out the largest segment which is downstate teachers. Radogno says anything less than a complete overhaul will take pressure off lawmakers to make changes.
