This amendment has only one purpose: to delude voters into thinking that state legislators are doing something about the pension problem.

This law would take a super majority to get anything approved - much like in the federal congress. Do we really want to mimic the feds where absolutely nothing is getting done for the citizens? This change should definately not be approved - VOTE NO!

Much Ado about nothing...."85-200 billion shortfall". Turn out the lights...the parties over! What possible difference one way or the other does all this "amendment" make? Just moving the deck chairs on the titanic....

And yet the people of Illinois keep putting Madigan and his Democratic cronies back in charge of the state each election. Remember what they say about insanity........

I praise the HP Patch for covering this story. I read the blue guide on the constitutional amendment that generated more questions than answers. I have already voted and there was not enough information available to make an easy decision. Thank you for opening up the dialog!

Re :the democrates continued delusional behavior.. Socialism only works until politicians run out of other people's money... Illinois worst credit rating in the country and no question will be seeking a Greek style "bailout". Sooner rather than later.... If Obama re elected....federal government will be totally bankrupt / just like illinois/with rampant inflation before he finishes a second term....maybe china would be interested in buying Illinois ?:)

"Amanda Kass, a pension expert with the center, said it’s also impossible to know the full implications of the amendment until after it’s in place."

That's okay Amanda. As Nancy Pelosi said you sometimes have to pass things in order to know what's in them.

The only resolution is to amend our State Constitution to reverse the Amendment that protects public pensions.

Make sure to hold your State Representative and State Senator accountable for this situation, as well as the backlog of overdue State bills ($9 billion) and budget "deficit", if they have been in office for more than 2 years. Why? The entire fiscal situation of the great State of Illinois has been 10 years in the making and well known. Organizations like CTBA (based right here in Illinois) have been documenting the coming situation for a long time. Your State elected officials ignored the news and banked instead on their own re-elections i.e. 1) campaign endorsements, 2) campaign cash, 3) campaign workers over our i.e. chumps=citizens future.

One word. MADIGAN . Anything this slime ball does is shady . Why else would this be slipped in without much fanfare or explanation ? I will vote NO on all incumbents in Illinois until we rid the state of him and all his crooked buddies. This is what the definition of organized crime. When will we the people stop voting this group of organized criminals in ? We put the little fish in jail and we leave the real thieves unchecked like Daley, MADIGAN et al. It's sick and needs to stop.

It's wonderful to see the union drones panic. In the end it won't matter, there's too much debt. One way or the other, unions will lose. Math is still math no matter how the drones spin it. Say hello to the new normal drones!

If you would like to learn more about the five public pension systems and possible solutions, the League of Women Voters - Lake Forest/Lake Bluff is having a public program on Thurs. Nov. 1, 7:00 p.m. at Gorton Community Center, 400 E. Illinois Rd. Lake Forest. Amanda Kass from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and Robert Riley, a Partner with Robbins Schwartz, will outline the status and possible solutions. More informaiton on our website www.lwv-lflb.org

LETS DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE ILLEGALS USING OUR AMERICAN CITIZENS SERVICES FIRST. LIKE FREE HOSPITAL CARE--FREE SCHOOLING FOR THEIR KIDS--FREE WELFARE---FREE FOOD STAMPS---FREE SECTION 8 HOUSING...
STATES IN FINANCIAL TROUBLE ? have huge numbers of illegals...California--Illinois to mention 2.
Fact is that democrats do not want to deal with the huge problems of the illegals, they want the Hispanic votes.
I'm a conservative Democrat and a Hispanic, I'm honest and i call it the way i see it.

pending approval ?

We no longer allow to speak the truth on patch ? ? Because it offense someone ?? that is not the America i know. first time one of my comments is getting pending approval....is everybody afraid of the Hispanic people ?? CNN--Huff post you can't talk about the hispanics--illegals--gays---if you do ? you get banned. un--American.

Jose.....vote. For Romney!

VOTE NO on 49 !! Dan Biss, Mike Madigan and the other Springfield political elite have shamefully kicked the Pension Liability "can" down the road. This Amendment will consolidate their power to place the Future Pension Liability costs directly on the backs of property taxpayers via shifting the costs to Illinois school districts. This is financially catastrophic for local taxpayers and school districts alike. VOTE A RESOUNDING NO !!!

The proposed amendment would not have made any difference for any past pension vote. If Illinois truly wanted real pension reform, the appropriate constitutional amendment would have been to clarify the "Pension Clause" in the Illinois Constitution to specify that it only protected already earned benefits, thereby without question allowing the State to change benefits for existing employees going forward for yet unearned work. Jobs are not guaranteed for life. Neither should the same level of benefits.

Simple and direct. From here going back, untouchable. From today forward, new rules. Vote NO on the Constitutional Amendment.

Years ago, no one wanted to work for the government. Salaries were increased again and again until we all wished we sat for the Civil Service Exam. In a typical 45-year work life, one could collect at least two pensions!

Adjust salaries for public employees to what private sector employees are paid for similar tasks/skills. Withhold from their paychecks whatever the formula is for Social Security (adjusted as that fantasy is adjusted). Then, each of them can save, invest or stick their earnings in their mattress. If the government wants to write a model defined benefit and/or defined contribution plan for workers to adopt, fine. But few of us can even begin to understand these plans, and the cost of maintaining them is astronomical.

Like most of you, I saved for retirement. It's been decades since anyone now in their 60s or 70s realistically believed Social Security could survive. Nor did we expect to live to be 80, 90 or 100.

Adjusting for these demographic changes is what the government is supposed to do. To be our safety net. Instead, it's become a SAFE NEST for special interests and privileges the rest of us can only dream of.

Deborah Barry, candidate, Lake County Board, D19

This amendment would have done nothing in the past and will do virtually nothing going forward. IMO, this was a ploy by Michael Madigan to turn out the union vote.

Vote YES.
This is kind of like closing the barn door after the horses are already out, but it can't hurt. One of the primary problems with the State pension plan is that the unions have been able to buy enough politicians to vote themselves increased benefits year after year. Of course they don't vote to put enough of their salary into the pension fund to support these increases because taxes can always be raised on the rest of us to pay for promises these people made to themselves.

The real solution is to dump the amendment that guarantees State pensions and unroll the whole mess into individual 401k-style retirement plans so the rest of us don't have to pick up the slack.

... and if we are going to discuss who should make a sacrifice to solve the pension mess, well the taxpayers already took a big hit with the tax increase and it didn't solve the problem. It's time for those receiving benefits to give something up, and here's my plan.

For 40 years State employees have had their salaries boosted in various ways right before retirement so that their pension would be permanently boosted for the rest of their lives. They have been cheating us. I say as an act of good will on behalf of the State pensioners toward the taxpayers who have been cheated all these years, the pensioners should agree to give up the portion of their pension that was scammed out of us through salary spiking.

Let's do that, and then see what the numbers look like.

The amendment is meaningless. Won't solve a thing. In a few short years Illinois will be one trillion in debt. The state will be insolvent (cannot operate day today and cannot borrow) and then all of the idiots who keep voting for the same pols will wonder what happened and how. Anyone who wants to do something about the situation should probably move to another state. That is what Masigan and his minions will do when there is no more money to loot.

$More Tax=Dan Biss. More important to vote Dan Biss out of office then voting NO on Amendment 49. A YES Vote will consolidate Biss' and Madigan's power to dump future pension liabilities on strapped school districts-- and then to property taxpayers.

How about they hand out 401K brochures to teachers, like the rest of us who don't work for government. Pensions went away in 1979 for most private companies, grab yourself a brochure and keep my tax money away from your retiring on my dime at age 52.

Glenn Farkas has it right. He won't take a pension when elected for State Senate.. now that is a start in the right direction in Springfield.

I agree, the ammendment should be to cancel ALL state employee pensions and unions. I don't believe that the public needs to provide for the retirement of government employees (with the single exception of military service). Government unions and pension plans are breeding grounds for corruption. Get rid of both of them. Let the individual save for their own retirement.

I'm voting Farkas and Lieberman!

Simple IL.math.Yes=Farkas; no more Biss

If Madigan has his way in the lame duck session in which only a simple majority is required, the pension funding will be put on the backs of the local school and city taxing districts and in Evanston your property taxes will double. In that event, you will nnot be able to sell your house and most business will leave. Do you think Madigan cares? NO. The state is already ruined but then it will be ruined ruined. And yet the voters will keep electing Madigan's minions who will vote him into the speaker position. It is a little like selling the rope for your hanging to the hangman. But these voters think of themselves as good "liberals" who think that the old fashioned democrats still exist. Go ahead, vote them in again. They are counting on your ignorance.

If the Democrats succeed in transferring the burden of pensions to local governments, then what will actually be happening is they will be converting your property values into their pension checks. That process will occur until your property is completely worthless. If you don't think this is possible, check out Detroit.

Without pension reform they HAVE to get the money from somewhere, and that's where they will get it. They will take every dime you have if you don't stop them.

Biss and Madigan are political twins....Gary, if this is really how you feel, then make sure that you do everything you can to reach out to your neighbors, relatives and friends to make sure that Dan Biss is not re-elected as he is a HUGE supporter of what you outlined above in your post. You are right on the money. He believes the wealthy Senate 9th District can afford it as his fuzzy math excuse! He also supports a double whammy of a new, higher Progressive Illinois Income Tax. Fact. So, if you are serious, Vote Biss out.

Illinois voters should be personally offended that the gangsters in Springfield would even propose this! It really only takes minutes to realize that this amendment is nothing but a scam, meant to hyptnotize voters to think that our legislators are hard at work finding us real solutions. The only thing they are hard at work at is getting themselves re-elected so they continue their work of flushing Illinois down the financial toilet. It is sickening and tragic how little respect they have for your intelligence. How many times do Illinois voters have to get hit in the head with a 2X4 before they get it???

Eric Lieberman
www.liebermanforillinois.com

Biss supports The new ATM Pension Machine- your home ! . Having been in the pension business for over 30 yrs., I am getting the sense that a number of bloggers on this micro-blog site don't really understand how DB plans work, are funded or the underlying actuarial calculations in their assumptions. One of the very basic premises is that they need to be funded, right? During some very critical years of investment opportunity the Illinois pension funds were either severely underfunded on their Normal Cost basis or not funded at all. This is a Springfield-made problem. Another important assumption is how the actual performance measures up to the assumed actuarial rate of return. TRS just announced an abysmal .72% return in a year when 12 mos. stock market performance is in the double digits. On another note, in the post above does not take into effect that Teachers must opt of SS, AND pay into the system as well. At this point, this is not about DB vs, 401k ( which may be a good idea , if equitable), private vs. public pensions, teachers vs. Property taxpayers (the current Dan Biss spin) , but about our current legislator's, in Springfield, complete and utter mismanagement of the pension liability problem. Under Dan Biss, Madigan and Elaine Nekritz, their ONLY solution is to use your home's value- through local property taxes- as their Pension ATM Machine . Get ready; if they are elected, this will become the new normal.

Take Back Illinois from corruption foisted on the voters by Springfield. Take Back Illinois from the economic destruction and near bankruptcy instituted by our current Madigan oligarchy. Take Back Illinois for the future of my children and grandchildren who would like to live, and not just visit, our great State. Take Back Illinois for the small business owners who would like to stay here, but are fleeing small business creation in Illinois indroves. This transcends Democrat, Republican, Green, Independent ideology. It is about Taking Back Illinois for ALL voters and taxpayers, including you Guitarman, unless you live elsewhere.

The IL Constitutional Amendment is no solution at all but a smokescreen being cast by Springfield because they cannot do their job (for which they are well paid + benefits). The elected state officials (Reps and Senators) have known about the pension and budget situation for 10 years. Despite this, they now want to "act" and "fix the problem" (which they caused) but oddly, do not speak about accountability. Why? Who could be accountable? Oh yes, you know who...but will you let it happen?

Hey, FUJI! Great news! I am an attorney and a technologist! Seriously, I, too, believe groupthink has replaced Critical Thinking. Let's get together after Nov 6 and talk about CT.

Best, Eric Lieberman, Republican Candidate, 18th DIstrict State Rep

Fuji - and so many people don't get that! Hang in there! - Eric

What has Biss done for jobs creation? Nothing. In fact, he wants to also financially strap school districts by shifting the future pension liability costs to local School districts. Is this nutty or what? I am not voting for this "professor" with his fuzzy math to
further devastate property taxpayers.

Will the real Dan Biss stand up? A vote for Dan Biss is a vote for higher property taxes and much higher Progressive Illinois Income Taxes. Biss is no moderate; he wants to use your home for Springfield's Pension ATM Machine.

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