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Pending Illinois Legislation

The 98th General Assembly began in January 2013.

As legislation is introduced, the IMRF Board will take a position on the bill. The Board's position does not directly affect the movement of the bill; the legislation must be passed by the Illinois legislature to become law. You can read a brief overview of how IMRF legislation is passed.

Contact your legislator to make your opinion known regarding IMRF or other legislation. Visit the Illinois General Assembly website click the link called “Legislator Lookup.”

See pending House Bills.

See pending Senate Bills.

View bills signed into law during the previous 97th General Assembly.

A message from the Executive Director

January 9, 2013

As you may be aware, the General Assembly has been discussing legislative changes to the state-funded retirement systems. Some IMRF members are concerned that changes to the state-funded systems would later be applied to IMRF. IMRF has not been included in any of these discussions—we are well funded and structured differently than the state systems—and we do not believe it is appropriate to include IMRF in future legislation. Here are some specific reasons why:

• IMRF is financially strong—we are 85% funded (preliminary and unaudited). The state-funded systems are approximately 39% funded.
  
  
• IMRF receives no money from the State of Illinois, and we are not a part of the State budget. The state retirement systems receive funding from the State of Illinois as part of the budgeting process. The State is in a budget crisis, and one solution lawmakers are considering is to make changes to the state retirement systems.
  
  
• IMRF has the legal authority to collect required contributions from our employers. The state systems lack this authority.
  
  
• While IMRF employer costs have increased as a result of the 2008 financial crisis, costs are stabilizing and may trend downward. Under the current funding mechanism for the state systems, state payments to its retirement systems are increasing exponentially.
  
  
• IMRF retirees do not receive a compounded Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). Retirees of the state systems receive a compounded 3% COLA. This compounded COLA is a major contributor to the state systems’ unfunded liability.
  
  
• IMRF does not provide our retirees health insurance, therefore legislative changes affecting retiree health insurance could never be applied to IMRF. Currently one of the major legislative changes proposed for the state systems involves state-paid retiree health insurance premiums.
  
  
• If benefit changes for current members and/or retirees of the state systems were signed into law, we can expect this legislation to be immediately challenged in the courts. If the courts find the changes to the state systems unconstitutional, such benefit changes for current IMRF members and retirees could never be considered in the future.
  
  
• Tier 2 reduced IMRF employer costs by about 38%. As more Tier 2 employees come on board, there will be further cost reductions for IMRF employers.
  

We understand why some of our members are concerned about potential changes to IMRF benefits. However, due to our unique benefit structure and strong financial condition, IMRF is in a very different position than the state-funded systems. While it’s impossible to predict future actions of the General Assembly, IMRF takes this issue very seriously. The IMRF Board of Trustees and senior staff monitor all proposed pension legislation, and will continue to keep you informed.

Louis W. Kosiba
IMRF Executive Director