Full Text of SR0083 97th General Assembly
SR0083 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The Illinois public pension systems are estimated | 3 | | to have an unfunded liability of $80 billion, and the State's | 4 | | contribution to those systems is expected to be $22 billion in | 5 | | fiscal year 2045; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, The Pew Center issued a study on state pensions, | 7 | | titled "The Trillion Dollar Gap", which reported that Illinois | 8 | | has the worst funded pension systems in the nation; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, Over the years, the Illinois pension systems have | 10 | | used questionable accounting and investment practices; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, The State of Illinois is facing an unprecedented | 12 | | funding shortfall in all of its pension systems and is commonly | 13 | | considered the worst funded public pension systems among the 50 | 14 | | states; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Former Governor Rod Blagojevich was indicted for | 16 | | corruption involving official actions pertaining to the | 17 | | Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, State law provides limits on Freedom of | 19 | | Information Act requests for pension data that limit the | 20 | | transparency of the pension systems of the State of Illinois; |
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| 1 | | and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, It was recently made public that the U.S. | 3 | | Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an inquiry into | 4 | | the reporting of potential pension reform savings by the | 5 | | pension systems; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, The inquiry has raised questions about investment | 7 | | decisions, investment returns, and accounting techniques that | 8 | | warrant an audit of the pension systems; therefore, be it
| 9 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL | 10 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the Commission | 11 | | on Government Forecasting and Accountability to competitively | 12 | | bid for an auditing firm to conduct an audit of the State | 13 | | Employee's Retirement System of Illinois, the Judges | 14 | | Retirement System of Illinois, the General Assembly Retirement | 15 | | System, the State Universities Retirement System, and the | 16 | | Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois; and be it | 17 | | further
| 18 | | RESOLVED, That the firm shall look into all processes of | 19 | | the systems, including examining contracts awarded, investment | 20 | | decisions, investment returns, investment fees, trading | 21 | | commissions, accounting techniques, and any other processes | 22 | | related to the management of the funds; and be it further |
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, That the Commission on Government Forecasting | 2 | | and Accountability report within one year after the adoption of | 3 | | this resolution to the General Assembly and Governor, and | 4 | | publish on its website, all findings, including | 5 | | recommendations on how each system can improve efficiency and | 6 | | any finding of suspected corruption; and be it further | 7 | | RESOLVED, That the pension systems involved fully | 8 | | cooperate and turn over any materials requested by the auditing | 9 | | firm; and be it further | 10 | | RESOLVED, That the Commission on Government Forecasting | 11 | | and Accountability begin the process of selecting an auditing | 12 | | firm as soon as possible after the adoption of this resolution | 13 | | so that an initial discovery audit will be made available | 14 | | within 2 months to the Commission on Government Forecasting and | 15 | | Accountability and the public; and be it further | 16 | | RESOLVED, That the Commission on Government Forecasting | 17 | | and Accountability report quarterly on the fiscal condition of | 18 | | the pension systems, in particular: the current funding ratio, | 19 | | as projected with and without the use of 5-year asset | 20 | | smoothing; balance of assets; cash on hand; and projected | 21 | | liabilities; and be it further |
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 2 | | delivered to the Executive Director of the Commission on | 3 | | Government Forecasting and Accountability, as well as to the | 4 | | State Employees' Retirement System of Illinois, the Judges | 5 | | Retirement System of Illinois, the General Assembly Retirement | 6 | | System, the State Universities Retirement System, and the | 7 | | Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois.
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