The Illinois General Assembly adjourned Friday night without passing major pension legislation. The Senate completed its hard work, but the House still has work to do.
The Illinois Senate overwhelmingly rejected the worst pension-cutting legislation – Senate Bill 1, backed by House Speaker Michael Madigan. Also on a strong vote, the Senate passed Senate Bill 2404 – the pension solution developed by Senate President John Cullerton working our We Are One Illinois union coalition.
Now we have to act quickly. Our opponents are pushing for the Senate to come back into session and pass SB 1. We’ve got to make sure senators stand firm. Here are three simple tools you can use to help make sure state senators stand their ground against steep pension cuts:
Send a message to your senator and to Senate President Cullerton.
Call your senator at 888-412-6570 to express your thanks or disappointment on their SB 1 and SB 2404 votes.
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.
In coming weeks, state senators will come under immense pressure from Governor Pat Quinn, Speaker Madigan, editorial boards, and others.
That means we have work to do over the summer, too – together. We cannot let SB 1 become law, especially when a much fairer, comprehensive, credible solution remains on the table in SB 2404.
We ask you now to take action – in particular, to thank your state senators for voting no on SB 1 and ask them to continue to stand firmly with Illinois public employees and retirees.
We have written a very important update on our website that goes into greater detail on how you can take action now to make sure SB 1 does not become law. Please click this link right away for details on how you can help and for a summary of the legislative session.
We cannot let up. Our fight for retirement security goes on.
Thanks for your continued support.
We Are One Illinois