After Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel dropped a $250 million property tax hike from his proposed pension bill for city workers, the Illinois General Assembly passed the legislation Tuesday, sending it to the governor's desk. The bill passed the House 73-41, with one lawmaker voting present, and it passed the Senate 31-23, with two present votes. 

The bill, which only addresses two of the city's four pension plans — all of which are underfunded — cuts benefits, reducing the annual increase seen by pensioners, making it very likely that the bill, if signed, will see a legal challenge.

Nonetheless, Emanuel lauded the bill's passage this afternoon.

"Today is an important day for Chicago residents and our city's future. We are stepping up and taking on our toughest challenges, many of which have been decades in the making. We have shown that we will not let the politics, and the politics of the past stand in the way of progress as we build a stronger Chicago. For the sake of our city, we have asked a lot of our residents, our employees and our retirees to accept change, and that's never easy. I believe that the certainty we are now providing will make the change worth it,” said Emanuel in a statement made to reporters after the bill's passage, according to the Chicago Tribune.

And although it was stripped from the bill, SB 1922, the possiblity of a  property tax hike is not completely off the table. Removal of the tax hike simply removes the burden of imposing the increase from the general assembly, moving it back to the city council. After the bill's passage, Emanuel stated that Chicago's "work is not done." And, Republican State Rep. David McSweeney, who is critical of the bill, said lawmakers are fooling themselves if they think city landowners will not see a property tax increase.

“Let’s don’t pretend that this is not a massive property tax,” said McSweeney, who also noted that there has been no independent financial analysis of the plan. 

Meanwhile, the We Are One Coalition of labor unions is pressing the governor to veto the bill and released the following statement after the legislation passed both chambers:

Nurses and public health employees, cafeteria workers, teachers' aides, librarians, and other city employees and retirees could lose a third of their retirement life savings through the Illinois legislature's latest threat to retirement security. It's nothing more than another attempt at pension theft.

 

Many of the individuals this legislation targets are women, people of color, senior citizens on fixed incomes, and the city's lower-paid wage-earners. These working and retired families anchor Chicago's neighborhoods and contribute to their local economies.

 

We urge Governor Pat Quinn to veto this unfair, unconstitutional legislation and instead call for renewed discussions among Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the City, and our unions.