State Rep's Report

Pension Reform Is The 800-Pound Gorilla

You cannot address budgetary reform in Illinois without addressing pension reform. You cannot address high property taxes in Illinois without addressing pension reform. You cannot understand the push by the tax-and-spend crowd to tax retirement income without understanding the need for pension reform. You see, pension reform is the 800-pound gorilla of state government dysfunction.

Illinois has a Pension Protection Clause in our State Constitution. The courts have decided time and again that, once extended, pension and healthcare benefits may not be dimi...