Senate President Cullerton Responds to Supreme Court Ruling in Kanerva v Weems

Senate President John J. Cullerton issued the following statement in response to the Supreme Court ruling in Kanerva v. Weems, 2014 IL 115811:

“Today, the Illinois Supreme Court made it very clear that the Pension Clause means what it says.  

The Court cannot rewrite the Pension Clause to include restrictions and limitations that the drafters did not express and the citizens of Illinois did not approve.  

The Clause was aimed at protecting the right of public employees and retirees to receive their promised benefits and insulate those benefits from diminishment or impairment by the General Assembly.

If the Court’s decision is predictive, the challenge of reforming our pension systems will remain.  

As I have said from the beginning, I am committed to identifying solutions that adhere to the plain language of the constitution.”

IL Supreme Court Says Healthcare Benefits for Retirees Protected Under the Diminishment Clause of the Constitution

THIS IS HUGE NEWS, and not good news for those in State Government trying to get a handle on the rising cost of pensions and benefits to workers and retirees.    The Illinois Supreme Court just issued a ruling that HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE is a benefit akin to Pension benefits, and therefore the healthcare coverage for beneficiaries cannot be diminished.

 Here is a line from the IL Supreme Court's ruling
"We conclude that the State’s provision of health insurance premium subsidies for retirees is a benefit of membership in a pension or retirement system within the meaning of article XIII, section 5, of the Illinois Constitution,"

Here is a link to the entire ruling by the Court in the case of Kanerva v Weems

http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/SupremeCourt/2014/115811.pdf

Sheri Jesiel Sworn-In Today as Illinois Representative in the 61st District

July 2, 2014

Sheri Jesiel is set to be sworn into office as a new state representative, to replace Rep JoAnn Osmond, who submitted her resignation recently.  That resignation became effective on July 1.


Jesiel was already the Republican nominee seeking election to the House in the 61st District.  Her appointment to fill Osmond's vacancy now allows her to run under the title of being the incumbent, although the House will not meet again until after the Fall election.  

Jesiel will face Democratic candidate Loren Karner in the fall election.  

Atty Aaron Maduff Updates Us on What's Happening in the Lawsuits Against the State Over the Pension Reform Law

Last Thursday, June 26, the /Circuit Court in Sangamon County spent several hours hearing motions from the pension funds' legal representatives. In this interview with Atty Aaron Maduff, who is representing the State University Annuitants Assn, we get an update on what happened, and how an agreement to NOT seek a Class-Action likely saved months of delay in getting the case to argument before the court.

 

SEIU Healthcare Illinois Issues Statement in Response to U.S. Supreme Court’s Ruling in Harris v. Quinn

CHICAGO-- Home care workers and consumers affirmed that they are ready to stand up for quality home care in Illinois in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Harris v. Quinn today. 

Flora Johnson, a home care provider for over 14-years who cares for her son Kenneth, born with cerebral palsy, and serves as the chairperson of the Executive Board of SEIU Healthcare Illinois, issued the following statement:

“No court case can diminish the determination of the 25,000 Personal Assistants in the Illinois Home Services Program from our goals of delivering quality care to people with disabilities and assuring that home care jobs are quality jobs. The 30,000 people with disabilities in Illinois who receive our services deserve a stable, dependable workforce to help them to live independently in their homes, which is their primary desire.

“We are more determined than ever that joining together in unions is the best way for home care workers to ensure the quality care for which we strive. And we are prepared to work with the leadership of our state and allies of the disability community to ensure that we continue to have a strong voice for quality home care.  History demonstrates that since we’ve had our union, the quality of care, stability of the workforce – due to better wages, benefits and cost effectiveness of the Home Services Program – have improved dramatically.

“Our state will witness a drastic rise in the number of people who will need home care services as baby boomers enter their senior years in increasing numbers. It is in our best interest to be prepared for this increased demand.

“We will not allow the tunnel vision focus of anti-worker extremists like the Right to Work Foundation -- which brought this suit and whose only concern is to destroy unions -- to diminish the quality of life for people with disabilities who have benefited from a solid home care program.”

Bruce Rauner Statement on the FY 2015 Budget that begins July 1

From the Rauner Campaign, June 30, 2014

“Pat Quinn broke his promise on taxes and his only goal is to permanently take more money out of every hard-working Illinoisans’ paycheck – and this broken budget is the result. In five years of Quinn budgets, we’ve seen higher taxes and decimated education funding, and the results have been the highest unemployment in the Midwest and too many failing schools.  We need to fundamentally shake up the way Springfield does business and enact structural reforms to fix our broken state government.” 

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House Republican Leader, Jim Durkin on the Supreme Court Decision on Quinn v Harris

STATEMENT BY HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER, JIM DURKIN 

“I applaud the United States Supreme Court's decision today by siding with Illinoisans Pam and Josh Harris by ruling that a home is not a union shop and that the sensitive decisions regarding the care for a disabled loved one needs to remain with the caregiver and in the home.

In June of 2009, the Governor issued Executive Order 15 which allows for collective bargaining in the home based support services provided, for the most part, by parents and family members of the disabled. Josh Harris suffers from Rubenstein-Taybi syndrome and other physical and mental disabilities. Josh's mother Pam Harris, is his caregiver. At that time, Pam and Josh lived a few blocks from me and she reached out to me expressing her grave concerns with the Executive Order 15 and how its full implementation would affect her son. I spent an afternoon with her and Josh and witnessed first-hand the daily care she provides her son. I soon introduced HR 720 which called upon the Governor to withdraw EO 15. Despite Pam's testimony with Josh present, the resolution failed in the Democrat controlled State Government Administration committee. This past year I reintroduced the Resolution.

Pam Harris speaks for the thousands of parents and family members who serve as caregivers. No one other than Pam Harris knows what’s best for Josh and the United States Supreme Court agrees.