Illinois has written into their State Constitution that public pensions cannot be reduced or impaired. This was a conscious decision by the writers of the 1970 Constitution and has been very well known by lawmakers of both parties.
Illinois will go bankrupt very soon as their pension program is way, way underfunded.
Illinois, welcome to Greece.
Sounds like they need to build more prisons to house all the politicians.
Get a majorityto rewrite and pass.
That is correct. Federal bankruptcy laws take precedence over the Illinois constitution. The pensions will go bankrupt and the federal courts will make the decisions.
I live in Illinois (at least for the next two years, then I'm outta here) and can tell you that you really don't have any idea how under-funded the state pensions are. A payment to the State Pension system hasn't been made in well over five years, probably closer to ten than five.
The state is just over $131 BILLION DOLLARS short in the pension system.
There's no way that money will ever be "found." They can tax every Illinois resident at 100% of income and they'll STILL not have anywhere near enough money to fund the system for as far as the eye can see.
Prediction: This state will declare bankruptcy at some point. It'll have to happen because there's no way out of this mess.
It's just a matter of time...