Fragged: Shrapnel of SB1 in the Senate!

Fragged: HB1135 in the Senate.

Fragged: (military/ Vietnam) – wounds or death caused by military FRAGmentation weaponry, like grenade, mortar, or landmine. The urban dictionary also explains it as political maneuvers to destroy the marginalized as a result of friendly fire or perhaps something like a remnant of SB1 (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fragged).

SB1, Madigan’s principle piece of draconian and unconstitutional cuts to active and retired public sector workers has been held enthralled in Senate Leader Cullerton’s pension committee, but Cullerton may allow various pieces of the SB1 bill to arrive unattached on the floor of the Senate in order to either appease Madigan, test the viability of Madigan’s SB1, or demonstrate the Senate’s unwillingness to abandon their own bill: SB2404.  Only Madigan and Cullerton truly know.  Either way, we in public sector will take the pain for Springfield’s decades of non-payment to our pensions.

It is likely that these deadly shards and splinters of SB1 could become subject to voting in the next two days.  Please call your Senator to dissuade them from voting “yes” on such unconstitutional segments of SB1.  From We are One:

•   HB 1165 (deep COLA cuts) is opposed by the coalition. It caps cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) at extremely low levels and delays all COLAs for five years or until age 67, whichever comes first. The caps alone have the effect of reducing the value of a pension by one-third to one-half after twenty years in retirement.

•                     All the while, senior citizens – as major consumers of health care services – are one of the most at-risk demographic groups subject to inflationary pressures. The bill makes it near impossible to keep up with the rising cost-of-living.

•   HB 1166 (retirement age increases) is opposed by the coalition. It increases retirement ages anywhere from one to five years. Employees under age 35 would face a five-year increase, employees between age 35 and 40 would face a three-year increase, and employees between age 40 and 45 would face a one-year increase. 

•                     It contains no consideration for employees with physically-demanding professions, such as police officers, fire fighters, corrections officers, and nurses.

•                     An increase in retirement age effectively causes an individual’s accrued benefits to lose 6% in value for each year of increase. A younger worker – under the age of 35 in this instance – would lose 30% of his or her pension’s value if this amendment became law. Even slightly older workers – those between 35 and 40 – would face a loss in value of 18% upon retirement.

•   HB 1154 (pensionable salary caps) is opposed by the coalition. It puts a cap on the amount of salary that qualifies for a pension.

•                     The bill fails to recognize the mandatory overtime worked by many public servants.

•                     Caps on pensionable salary also create disincentives for hiring and recruiting for critical public professions, particularly ones that require advanced degrees, such as those in the medical or higher education fields. It can also hurt filling these types of civil service positions, which are often more cost effective than contracting out for expensive, specialized services.

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SB 1 (Speaker's mega-bill) is opposed by the coalition. It essentially packages these three pension-cutting House bills together into a single, destructive piece of legislation.

Call 888-412-6570 NOW!  Tell your friends and families to make the call.  Tell them NO to SB1, HB1154, HB1166, and HB1165!