Page 22 - December 2019 FOP Magazine

Governor pledges to fix benefits imbalance
After quite a busy year, the General Assembly concluded its session for 2019.
The Legislature passed historic legislation rang- ing from a multibillion-dollar capital funding bill that increases gas taxes and other fees to the legal- ization of medical cannabis and a variety of other issues.
The political issues also seemed to continue unabated. The latest big political news is the an- nounced retirement of Chicago Democratic Senate President John Cullerton.
Cullerton has served in the General Assembly for 40 years and has been senate president for the last 11. He and his wife, Pam, are going to enjoy more time with their kids and grandkids.
In the fall veto session, legislation was passed to consolidate downstate police and fire pension funds. While this does not di- rectly impact the Chicago police and fire pension funds, there was some concern about the benefits for downstate Tier 2 pen- sions not matching up with Chicago.
Governor Pritzker is aware of this imbalance. In fact, he and Deputy Governor Dan Hynes pledged to work to correct this next year. We will work diligently with them to do so.
Two Chicago area legislators resigned their seats as a result of ongoing federal investigations in Illinois.
State Representative Luis Arroyo has already left the Legisla- ture, and State Senator Martin Sandoval announced that he will resign his seat effective Jan. 1, 2020.
There will very likely be more on these stories to come.
22 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ DECEMBER 2019
DAVE SULLIVAN
LEGISLATIVE Report