Sharing email via a Friend: RE: Illinois Retirees ~ > Sangamon County Pension Hearing > > State Capitol Bureau > > Judge: Insurance ruling will factor into pension reform decision > Description > > A Sangamon County judge said Thursday that a recent Illinois Supreme Court decision on retiree health insurance is a factor in the lawsuits filed to overturn pension reform. > > Judge John Belz also said the pension reform cases “should be done this year” at the circuit court level, a speedier schedule than lawyers laid out prior to the Supreme Court decision. > > “The faster we can move this along within reason, the better,” Belz said during a status hearing Thursday. > > The next hearing is now scheduled for Oct. 8, when lawyers for state government retirees will argue the Supreme Court decision in the health insurance case means the pension reform law should be overturned. > > “Today’s hearing was very encouraging for the (retirees),” said John Fitzgerald, one of the lawyers representing retirees in the multiple lawsuits filed to stop the pension reforms that were signed into law last year. > > In a ruling in July, the Supreme Court said that state-subsidized health insurance for retirees is a benefit protected by the pension-protection clause of the state Constitution. It meant the state cannot charge premiums to retirees for their health insurance. The case is usually referred to as the Kanerva case, after one of the plaintiffs. > > Lawyers for retirees in the pension reform lawsuit believe the decision nullifies the state’s argument in the pension lawsuit. > > But lawyers for the state argue that the state has sovereign powers that allow pension benefits to be changed in extreme situations, such as Illinois’ ongoing financial problems. Assistant attorney general Douglas Rees said the Kanerva decision did not address the issues the state will raise in the pension lawsuit. > > The pension reform law limits annual increases in benefits, raises the retirement age and limits the salary on which benefits can be earned. It also reduces the amount that active workers have to pay toward their pension benefits. > > “Kanerva confirms longstanding precedent in this state, that the pension clause is absolute, without exception,” said John Shapiro, representing We Are One Illinois, a coalition of labor unions trying to overturn the pension reform law. “The Illinois Constitution is a limitation on the legislature’s ability to act and to do exactly what it is attempting to do in (pension reform). It is unconstitutional and without justification.” > > “This confirms what we have been saying for a long time, which is that Kanerva is, in many ways, a game changer,” Fitzgerald said. > > During Thursday’s hearing, Belz said it is clear that the Kanerva case “is law out there. It is something that does factor in.” > > Regardless of which side wins at the circuit court level, the case is expected to be appealed to the state Supreme Court. However, it may get to there more quickly than originally thought. Before the Kanerva decision, lawyers in the pension reform lawsuit laid out a schedule that anticipated a decision at the circuit court level wouldn’t be made until early 2015 at best. ~
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 19:50:11 +0000
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