News Local/State

Illinois Pension Case Might Head To Supreme Court

 

A court ruling barring increased health insurance premiums for state-employee retirees might speed up a decision on a separate case over Illinois' overhaul of its public pension system.

The Springfield bureau of Lee Enterprises newspapers reports that Sangamon County Judge Jon Belz said Thursday he'd like to move a challenge over the pension overhaul to the Supreme Court quickly.
 
Litigants initially didn't think the case would be settled before 2015. But the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in July that a law requiring retirees to pay more for health insurance was unconstitutional.
 
Whether changes in conditions on retiree payments are constitutional is also at the heart of the pension challenge.
 
The overhaul was approved in December because of a $100 billion debt in five pension accounts.