A Sangamon County Circuit Court judge on Wednesday granted “a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction” on Illinois’ pension reform law passed last year, according to a news release from We Are One Illinois, one of several organizations contesting the constitutionality of the law.
“This is an important first step in our efforts to overturn this unfair, unconstitutional law and to protect retirement security for working and retired families,” said Michael T. Carrigan, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, in the news release. “We are pleased the court prudently chose to halt implementation of these sweeping changes, which have caused so much fear and uncertainty, and are likely to be overturned.”
Abdon Pallasch, assistant Illinois state budget director and spokesman for Gov. Pat Quinn, said the stay was not unexpected and the governor’s office is confident the courts will uphold the pension reform law.
“We believe this law is constitutional. … This landmark law was urgently needed to resolve the state’s $100 billion pension crisis,” Mr. Pallasch said in an e-mail. “It was also urgently needed to ensure that teachers, university employees and state workers who have faithfully contributed to the pension system have retirement security.”
Maura Possley, spokeswoman for Attorney General Lisa Madigan, said, “The goal of the pension reform law is to stabilize the pension systems. Unfortunately, this decision will likely further burden the systems and hurt taxpayers.”
The Illinois Supreme Court in March consolidated four lawsuits from employee and retiree organizations challenging the constitutionality of the law within the circuit court of Sangamon County.
The consolidated lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of reforms passed by the General Assembly on Dec. 3, aimed at saving $160 billion over the next 30 years, arguing the law violates the Illinois Constitution, which states pension benefits “shall not be diminished or impaired.”
The law decreases cost-of-living adjustments, caps pensionable salaries and raises retirement ages, but actually decreases employee contributions by one percentage point. It also creates a defined contribution plan that will be made available for a portion of employees.