Dear Constituent,
Thank you for your recent correspondence concerning teacher and public employee pension reform. You raise a very important issue. Educators, who have been the most vocal on this issue, shape and inspire the minds of our children and as such, shepherd our youth along the journey from impressionable students to intelligent, well rounded young adults.
I agree employees are not responsible for our pension crisis. Past and current legislatures and Governors, for decades, raided or under-funded the pension systems and passed pension sweeteners that our state could not afford. When the economy declined, the investments on retiree funds lost anticipated earnings at a rapid pace with some systems selling off assets to pay current retirees. The original actuarial tables, which are now 70 years old, do not reflect longer life spans. The combination of all three factors listed above became the “perfect storm” for failure.

Conversations and a resolution on pensions can no longer be delayed. Agreement on the assumptions, so that new actuarial tables can be established, should be critical to the discussion. I do not serve on the Personnel and Pensions Committee nor was I appointed to the Governor’s Pension Working Group which has been addressing this difficult issue and actively seeking suggestions from the unions and their membership. If there are other closed door discussions occurring, I am neither party to that nor do I have that information. The Working Group has not yet brought any recommendations forward.

I consider the pension benefits discussion a very serious issue. It is my intent to ensure that pension participants receive the benefits that they have already earned and also ensure that the systems are sustainable over time. I believe that changes are forth coming, but what those might be have not been put in legislative form. I understand the frustration of the people being impacted and am pleased to know that teachers are willing to help find solutions to the State’s pension crisis and are even willing to pay more to keep their promised benefit. I personally appreciate the suggestions and compromise and believe that everyone is negotiating in good faith.

Additionally, the public should have an opportunity to view all proposals and provide input prior to passage of any forthcoming legislation….but I am not sure that will happen and I am disappointed by the thought that this might be fast-tracked.

I hope that an independent group of financial experts would review any final conclusions
and the actuarial tables along with the assumptions on which they are based. As the
system exists today it will eventually implode, leaving public retirees uncertain about
collecting the benefits owed. I know we can work together to find a reasonable, acceptable
solution and this must happen SOON.

Your viewpoint is extremely important to me and I appreciate your comments. Your opinion
will be given careful consideration should this issue be presented in the House for debate
or a vote. I promise to perform due diligence on this topic by gathering all the information I
can and reading all analysis’ of the issue carefully.

I am always interested in hearing my constituent’s opinions on this and other issues that
are important to them. I welcome your input and greatly appreciate the personal
perspective you and others have to share with me.

Again, I am grateful that you took the time to contact my office and look forward to working
together.

Best regards,
Sandy Cole
State Representative
62nd District
847-543-0062

Good Afternoon,

I wanted to touch base as we near the end of this legislative session. This is a very hectic time of year when legislation moves fast and rumors spread faster, so I thought it would be helpful to briefly explain how things look from where I sit. Things are changing quickly so this update may soon be obsolete, but I think that regardless this is a guide as to what we might expect in the next week. The primary task before us is to craft and pass a budget by May 31st while plugging a $2.7 billion hole in the Medicaid budget. Additionally, there is a possibility that we will see a pension reform package by the end of session.

Medicaid
A group has been working hard to examine the best way to accomplish a $2.7 billion reduction in Medicaid and have consequently proposed ending certain programs, adjusting the eligibility requirements of other programs, and reforming the rates at which hospitals are reimbursed for providing care to Medicaid recipients. Additionally, a $1 per pack cigarette tax has been proposed to offset further cuts. The sad truth is that these cuts will be extremely painful — both for those experiencing a loss of access to health care services and, as many of you have pointed out, because cutting some of these programs will force individuals into emergency rooms or state facilities, which is very costly. While there is simply no easy way to plug a $2.7 billion hole, I am hopeful that we are heading toward a balanced approach that does not solve the entire problem on the back of a specific population or leave on the table sensible revenue-generating options and thus unduly punish the neediest among us.

Budget
Our appropriations committees are currently crafting a budget that assumes we accomplish the $2.7 billion reduction in Medicaid spending. I serve on two of those committees: Higher Education Appropriations; and Elementary and Secondary Appropriations. The process is difficult considering our low spending cap, but I am working hard to ensure we fund our priorities and that we make decisions carefully and deliberately. If we are unable to reduce Medicaid spending by $2.7 billion, we will have to revisit our proposed budget to make up the difference. Thus, while the sought-after $2.7 billion reduction in Medicaid is certainly painful, I am hopeful that we can achieve it so as to mitigate even deeper cuts from other programmatic areas, particularly education.

Pensions
I have spent most of my time by far this legislative session working on the pension issue and trying to work toward a solution that is as fair as possible to the public employees who have been promised a pension, the service recipients who rely on the public sector to deliver services efficiently, and the taxpayers who foot the bill. While I am not a member of the governor’s pension working group and I certainly don’t pretend that there exists a comprehensive painless solution, I have worked to introduce ideas that would modernize our pension systems and provide security to both public employees and the state in the future. The main solution I propose is called a cash balance pension plan. Two fact sheets that help outline the basics of a cash balance plan are here and here and I would be happy to answer questions about this proposal in particular. But again, a cash balance plan alone will not eliminate our unmanageable pension debt. Any comprehensive pension reform bill will consist of changes to the pension systems for current employees, changes to the mechanisms by which we fund our pension systems, and a new pension plan going forward, which is where I hope the cash balance idea will come into play. I am working extremely hard to make sure that we find the right balance between all the different options on the table, and thus that we find the fairest solution possible. I know many of you have contacted me about this issue in particular and as language becomes available, I will respond with more information.

General Assembly Scholarship
Legislators have been able to award tuition waivers, called General Assembly Scholarships, to a handful of constituents every year who are attending public Illinois universities. The program has been under a microscope for some time as several legislators have abused the program, giving waivers to students outside their districts or children of political supporters. For years, the legislature has attempted to end the program. On Monday, HB3810 passed the House and is now awaiting the governor’s signature. While I would love to help students in the district pay for their higher education, I felt strongly that this program was not the best way to make college affordable and I am proud to have been a cosponsor of this bill.

Please feel free to contact my office by emailing me at repbiss@gmail.com or by calling (847) 568-1250 about the issues outline above or anything else. I will do my best to get back to you in a timely fashion but I do ask you to understand that this is an extremely hectic time and so I am not always able to respond immediately. Do know, however, that I am reading your emails carefully even if I’m unable to respond right away. I will send out another newsletter after we adjourn to outline progress (and hopefully resolutions!) on these and other issues.

Additionally, please consider bringing food over to our office if you are able to support our food drive. We will be collecting throughout the month of May and we greatly appreciate your donation. Thank you so much to all of you who have already dropped off items!

I look forward to staying in touch,
Daniel

Daniel Biss
State Representative | 17th District

District Office:
P: 847 568 1250 | F: 847 568 1256
3706 Dempster | Skokie | IL 60076

A special legislative edition of the Advocate is now available on the SURS website. This issue provides information regarding potential pension legislation and how SURS is preparing to implement any new changes.

Visit http://www.surs.org/pdfs/advocate/Legislative.pdf to view the Advocate.

To be able to join the Bank, you need to have 12 sick days (90 hours) of saved sick leave at the time of donation. If you elect to donate, 2 days will be taken from your sick leave and placed in the bank. Unlike the last enrollment period, there is no option to donate additional days to the bank.

To join, fill out the form available on the NEIU UPI website (http://www.upi4100.org/neiu/sick-leave-bank/) and send it to Human resources, preferably through campus mail, or through USPS at the address below.

If you are already enrolled, you will automatically have one day donated to the bank at the end of June.

If you wish to be removed from the bank, fill out the Sick Leave Bank Discontinuation form (again, available on the NEIU UPI website) and no furthers days will be taken.

Anyone wishing to apply to take days from the bank must fill out the Member Request form and send it to Human Resources. Days can only be allocated from the bank if you have used all available leave time.

If mailing from home, send to:

Office of Human Resources
Northeastern Illinois University
5555 N Bernard
Chicago IL 60625

Make sure that you send the form early enough that it will arrive at the office by May 31st!

THE TRUTH ABOUT PUBLIC PENSIONS
WE ARE ONE ILLINOIS

ESSENTIAL PUBLIC SERVICES
Firefighters and police, teachers and nurses, child protection workers and disability caregivers are just some of the public employees that Illinois residents rely on every day, in every community, in every part of the state.

POLITICIANS CAUSED PENSION DEBT
For decades, Illinois politicians shorted or skipped the employer contributions required by law, creating the nation’s largest pension debt. All that time, public employees paid their fair share. It’s wrong to punish public employees for the actions—or inaction—of irresponsible politicians.

PUBLIC EMPLOYEES PAY
A public employee’s pension is his or her own life savings—they typically contribute 8 percent, 9 percent or more from each paycheck to their pension fund. Illinois public employees have always paid their share, faithfully and in full.

NO SOCIAL SECURITY
Most Illinois public employees are ineligible for Social Security. Unlike every private-sector worker in America, police and firefighters, teachers and university employees, city of Chicago and Cook County employees don’t qualify for Social Security. Reducing the pension they earn would leave many public employees with little to fall back on in retirement.

PENSIONS ARE MODEST
Illinois public employees retire on very modest pensions—on average just $32,000 a year after a career dedicated to public service. Many receive much less than this average amount.

PROTECTED BY THE CONSTITUTION
The Illinois Constitution states that membership in a public pension system is an enforceable contractual relationship, “the benefits of which may not be diminished or impaired.” That plain language means it is unconstitutional to reduce pension benefits or increase contributions of current public employees. Legislation violating this constitutional protection will cause a costly and wasteful court challenge.

This is just SURS alone…don’t forget the other state employee retirement fund dollars and members are in these districts. Check out the numbers for the leaders of the Illinois Senate and House…

Senator Cullerton has 2477 SURS members and 450 retirees with more than 17 million retirement dollars flowing into his district annually…

Representative Madigan has 764 SURS members and 141 retirees with more than 3.5 million retirement dollars flowing into his district annually

Remind these senators and representatives what SURS employees and retirees bring to their districts.

1. SLOW DOWN! Don’t fast track changes to our retirement security. Any changes to our pensions will significantly impact our retirement. They should not be rushed but carefully considered to provide an opportunity for us to respond to any proposed changes.
2. Don’t place the blame on our benefits. Our benefits are not the problem; it is the state’s failure to pay its share of the pension. If the state had paid its share over the last 40 plus years, we would not have this problem today.
3. You are hurting the state’s economy. Just as small businesses are starting to hire and grow, pension reform will take money out of the hands of consumers. Rather than being able to spend our income, we will be forced to send more of it to the state and investment banks. This will decrease our spending abilities and strain the entire state’s economy.
4. You are hurting higher education. The more you cut the benefits to employees, the harder it will be to attract and retain high qualified professionals to teach and assist our students. If you send the pension costs back to the universities, you will only force universities to cut services, quality, and raise tuition rates.

If you don’t know the names of your legislative representatives or their emails click on the following link to send them an email. You can modify the message on the “WEAREONE” site:

email link

If you want to do more, please refer to John Miller’s email you received this morning.

• You can participate in a rally near your current location. Rallies are scheduled throughout the state, go out and make some noise. there’s a link in Miller’s email
• Send emails or call other legislators…key representatives listed in Miller’s email
• Go to the Facebook site and get updates on what is happening to your future.

We cannot stop this runaway process alone…

DON’T MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM TO CHANGE THE LIVES OF THOUSANDS!

The house and senate are poised to act on legislation that none of us have seen. Last Friday night, representatives of the legislature and governor walked from the discussions held with our union representatives from across the state and the workforce. The unions did not walk away but the political spin is that no one is protesting the actions that will significantly change the lives of hundreds of thousands state employees and retirees.

We have to slow down the politicians seeking to steamroll these draconian changes…make them think about the consequences of their YES or NO vote. Tomorrow morning you will receive an email telling you to take specific actions…DO IT!! It may be as simple as a phone call, email or showing up on campus or at a legislators office or traveling to Springfield. Please pass this email on to other state employees…these votes on pension reform will affect all of us. Use your participation on other listservs to send this message throughout the state.

IT IS OUR SILENCE THAT EMPOWERS LEGISLATORS TO TAKE THESE
ILLEGAL AND UNCARING ACTIONS

DON’T GIVE THEM THE POWER OR THE EXCUSE TO IGNORE
THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES

The deadline for submitting an application to join is May 18 at 4pm. Forms need to be at human resources by 4pm or they will not be accepted.

To be able to join the Bank, you need to have 12 sick days (90 hours) of saved sick leave at the time of donation. If you elect to donate, 2 days will be taken from your sick leave and placed in the bank. Unlike the last enrollment period, there is no option to donate additional days to the bank.

To join, fill out the Enrollment Form available on the NEIUPI website Sick Leave Bank page and send it to Human Resources, preferably through campus mail, or through USPS at the address below.

If you are already enrolled, you will automatically have one day donated to the bank at the end of June.

If you wish to be removed from the bank, fill out the Discontinuation Form (again, available on the NEIUPI website Sick Leave Bank page) and no further days will be taken.

Anyone wishing to apply to take days from the bank must fill out the Member Request Form, and send it to Human Resources. Days can only be allocated from the bank if you have used all available leave time.

If mailing from home, send to:
Office of Human Resources
Northeastern Illinois University
5555 N Bernard
Chicago IL 60506

Make sure that you send the form early enough that it will arrive at the office by May 18th!

NEIU Chapter President

Sophia MIHIC

NEIU Chapter Executive Vice President

Steve FRANKEL

NEIU Chapter Treasurer

Lisa WALLIS

NEIU Chapter Secretary

Zach SCHIFFMAN

IFT/AFT Conventional Delegates

Audrey Natcone and Richard Grossman

NEIU Chapter Constituency Representatives (1 elected in each constituency)

CAS-Teach Prof

Michael ARMATO

COE-Teach Prof

Dani TRUTY (tie)

Huseyin COLAK (tie)

COMB -Teach Prof

Jian LI

RES Prof

Michael WEINBERG

CAS-Inst

Richard GROSSMAN

COE-Inst

Jason LUKASIK

Main Campus ASP

Carlos LEBRON

Satellite ASP

Amy HENDRICKSEN

NEIU Chapter At-Large Representatives

Teaching / Res Profs (2 elected)

Charles STEINWEDEL
Russell BENJAMIN

Instructors (2 elected)

Nancy SREENAN
Paul LEMPKE

Academic Support / Res Prof

Manesha STIFF

NEIU Chapter House of Delegates (45 of 59 elected)

Anthony Adams
Michael Armato
Lucrecia Artalejo
Pam Bagdzinski
Shelley Bannister
Tim Barnett
Russell Benjamin
Deberah Bernstein
Tom Blackburn
Jennifer Blair
Huseyin Colak
Zanoni Cuesta
Pam Czech
Tim Duggan
Lidia Filus
MT Garreton
Frank Gaytan
Richard Grossman
Karen Hand
Robin Heggum
Amy Hendricksen
Eric Justiniano
Carlos Lebron
Paul Lempke
Jian Li
Flora Llacuna
Eleni Makris
Nancy Matthews
Mary Ellen McGoey
Erica Meiners
Mark Melton
Cindi Moran
Audrey Natcone
Nanette Potee
Terry Puryear
Marijo Readey
Zach Schiffman
Bill Sieger
Nancy Sreenan
William Stone
Santiago Tapia
Dani Truty
Lisa Wallis
Michael Weinberg
Jane Weintraub