Abstract
In response to the State’s failure to consistently fund its pension systems, delegates to Illinois’ Sixth Constitutional Convention adopted the pension protection clause of the 1970 Illinois Constitution, which constitutionally protects the state employee pension benefits. In 2012, during a period of serious financial hardship, the General Assembly passed legislation eliminating the state’s requirement to pay health insurance subsidies to members of a state retirement system. Members of the retirement systems challenged the constitutionality of the Act, and in Kanerva v. Weems, the Illinois Supreme Court held that health insurance subsidies are “benefits” under the pension protection clause, and therefore protected under the clause, thus preserving retirees’ right to healthcare benefits. This Note argues the court’s broad interpretation of the pension protection clause properly covered all benefits arising from membership in a state pension system. It examines the Illinois Supreme Court’s interpretation of the pension protection clause of the Illinois Constitution in Kanerva v. Weems, and argues the majority was correct to hold that health insurance subsidies are benefits under the pension protection clause. The Note analyzes the history of pension rights in Illinois and other jurisdictions and discusses the Court’s holding in Kanerva. Finally, the Note explains why the holding also covers cost of living allowances, but would not extend to the retiree income tax exemption, and concludes that the ruling in Kanerva protects members of any State of Illinois pension system from the diminishment of any benefit received as a member of a pension system.
Recommended Citation
Adam M. Riley,
Can Public Servants Retire?: Analyzing the Illinois Supreme Court’s Decision in Kanerva v. Weems, 2014 Il 115811, 13 N.e.3d 1228,
40
S. Ill. U. L.J.
349
(2015).
Available at:
https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/siulj/vol40/iss2/10