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| 1 | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, Article XIII, Section 5 of the Illinois | ||||||
| 3 | Constitution provides that "[m]embership in any pension or | ||||||
| 4 | retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or | ||||||
| 5 | school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, | ||||||
| 6 | shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits | ||||||
| 7 | of which shall not be diminished or impaired"; and
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| 8 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Supreme Court has held that the | ||||||
| 9 | purpose of this provision is to ensure that pension benefits of | ||||||
| 10 | public employees are not diminished or impaired; and | ||||||
| 11 | WHEREAS, Before the adoption of the present Illinois | ||||||
| 12 | Constitution in 1970, pension benefits were considered in the | ||||||
| 13 | nature of a gratuity or bounty that could be revoked at will; | ||||||
| 14 | and
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| 15 | WHEREAS, An increasingly important question is whether a | ||||||
| 16 | prospective diminishment in pension benefits, meaning a | ||||||
| 17 | diminishment that applies only to an employee's future service, | ||||||
| 18 | not to benefits already accrued from the employee's prior | ||||||
| 19 | service, causes pension benefits to be diminished or impaired; | ||||||
| 20 | therefore, be it
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| 21 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
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| 1 | NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | ||||||
| 2 | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that there is created the Pension | ||||||
| 3 | Reform Task Force; and be it further
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| 4 | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall be charged with | ||||||
| 5 | assessing whether a prospective diminution in pension benefits | ||||||
| 6 | for current public employees is consistent with the prohibition | ||||||
| 7 | on the diminishment and impairment of pension benefits under | ||||||
| 8 | Article XIII, Section 5 of the Illinois Constitution; and be it | ||||||
| 9 | further
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| 10 | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall be composed of the | ||||||
| 11 | following: | ||||||
| 12 | (1) one member appointed by the Speaker of the House; | ||||||
| 13 | (2) one member appointed by the President of the | ||||||
| 14 | Senate; | ||||||
| 15 | (3) one member appointed by the House Minority Leader; | ||||||
| 16 | (4) one member appointed by the Senate Minority Leader; | ||||||
| 17 | (5) one member who shall serve as the Chair of the Task | ||||||
| 18 | Force, appointed by the Governor; and | ||||||
| 19 | (6) and one member appointed by the Attorney General; | ||||||
| 20 | and be it further | ||||||
| 21 | RESOLVED, That the staff of the Commission on Government | ||||||
| 22 | Forecasting and Accountability shall be responsible for | ||||||
| 23 | staffing the Task Force in conjunction with the Illinois | ||||||
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| 1 | pension systems' actuaries and staff; and be it further | ||||||
| 2 | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall hold hearings, no less | ||||||
| 3 | than one per month, between June of 2011 and December of 2011; | ||||||
| 4 | and be it further | ||||||
| 5 | RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall report its findings to | ||||||
| 6 | the General Assembly and the Governor on or before January 1, | ||||||
| 7 | 2012.
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