SUAA MINI BRIEFING – June 1, 2011

Wrapping Up . . .

As the Memorial Day weekend approached emotions began to intensify. Some called it exciting, others nail-biting, and then some determined that these last days of session are not for the weak or the faint of heart. Of course, as with all competitions there are winners and there are losers. SUAA issues, while not resolved, were at least stalled allowing us to feel like winners for a short time.

SB512 – Pension Reform for those who are currently working will be discussed over the summer and revisited during fall Veto Session. House Speaker Madigan, House Republican Leader Tom Cross, along with Tyrone Fahner, President, Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago provided a Statement Regarding Pension Reform. Their “goal is to enact reforms to our pension systems that provide a long term solution for both those who are members of the pension systems and those who fund them”. SUAA will work with others to provide responsible solutions during the summer meetings. John Carr, SUAA sub-contracted lawyer/ lobbyist, testified on the Constitutionality of SB512. SUAA remains an opponent on the current language.

SB175 – State Health Insurance Premiums for university and State retirees, was also slowed down. Again SUAA testified as an opponent on the content of this language. SUAA is concerned about the almost 9,000 people in SURS who are not Medicare eligible and the pre-1980 retirees. SUAA prepared an amendment to protect those within this description just in case the legislation began to move. Of course there are many other concerns for which we continued to point out to the Senate Legislative Leaders. SUAA will also be involved in these conversations throughout the summer.

SB178 – this bill was in response to the Department of Health and Family Services decision to award the HMO contract to Blue Cross/Blue Shield leaving over 100,000 State workers without HMO coverage in many Downstate Illinois Districts. This bill grants the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) the responsibility of assisting in approving health insurance contracts. The passage of this legislation annuls the execution of recent decisions to award the health insurance contracts. However, Governor Quinn vetoed SB178. According to Central Management Services (CMS) the choice for health insurance will remain with Blue Cross/Blue Shield for the HMO coverage. Open enrollment is extended to June 17th. If you make a choice then decide that you are not happy with your selection, CMS will offer an opportunity for you to change the health care coverage to another provider or tier in either September or October. If you were covered by Health Alliance or Humana HMO and do not make a selection, you will automatically be enrolled in Quality Care. For more information, please follow this link http://www.state.il.us/cms/3_servicese_ben_choice/state-ben.htm . It should be noted that PersonalCare OAP is a different plan than PersonalCare HMO; therefore, members currently enrolled in PersonalCare HMO MUST change their health plan during the enrollment period in order to avoid being defaulted into the Quality Care Health Plan.

It seemed that discussions disappeared for the CIP after the many meetings from December through February. Then in March new proposed legislation came from Speaker Madigan’s office. The stakeholders were asked to provide input to the “new” language. No one was satisfied with what seemed to be going forward. On Tuesday, the new College Insurance Program language was attached to SB1967 as House Amendment 4. House Speaker Madigan’s purpose is to remove all of the State’s liability for funding this health insurance program. It is his contention that the State should not be responsible for retirees who were not employees of the State. Community Colleges are the responsibility of local units of government, therefore so should retiree programs.

The original agreement between the stakeholders was reduced to unsatisfactory language that included:

• Chicago City Colleges (CCC) buy-in was reduced to $7.8 million (from $10M plus another $174,00);
• a four year phase out of the General Revenue Fund – frozen at FY11 ($4.8M);
• FY 2012 same as FY 2011;
• FY 2013 $600,000 and an amount equal to two-thirds of the FY2012 amount;
• FY 2014 $600,000 and an amount equal to one-third of the FY 2012 amount;
• A Community College Fiscal Board is created (SUAA would be in agreement):
  
  (a) three trustees shall be appointed by the organization that represents the largest
  number of community college trustees;
  (b) one trustee shall be appointed by the organization that represents the largest
  number of community college employees;
  (c) one trustee shall be appointed by the organization that represents the second
  largest number of community college employees;
  (d) one trustee shall be appointed by an organization that represents community
  college benefit recipients;
  (e) one trustee who is a professional fiduciary with experience in the area of collectively
  bargained retiree health plans shall be appointed by the Illinois Community
  College Board; and
  (f) one trustee shall be appointed by a community college district subject to Article VII
  of the Public Community College Act.
  
  

Having stated the above, Rep. Roger Eddy filed House Amendment 5 restoring much of the original language taking away the Community College Fiscal Board; restoring CCCs amount to $10M and lowering the contribution percentage this year for each – currently employed, community college, State, and retiree. Changes to the program would have taken place on July 1, 2011. But, it was stalled again in the final hours as the amendment was Re-referred to Rules Committee. The appropriation from the State is in the State Budget for this year. SUAA will continue to work on this with the other stakeholders.

SB342 failed in the Senate. This was one of four bills that together would have allowed the State to borrow almost $6.2 Billion to help pay the backlog of invoices. The money would have been repaid over a period of seven years. The support in the Senate was quite low: only 19 yeas, 23 nays, 4 present and 13 not voting. Why is this important to SUAA? This debt includes the health insurance claims that have not been paid. It is also money owed to businesses and schools throughout the State. Governor Quinn, under the FY 2011 Emergency Budget Act, is not going to voucher the 4^th payment to schools for transportation. Unfortunately, the schools have already spent the money. What is next before June 30, 2011?

The spring legislative session has now ended. Veto session will be October 25, 26, 27 and November 8, 9, and 10. (Word today is that it could start earlier.) SUAA has a lot of work to do as well as those who support SUAA. We cannot back off.

There are many members, supporters, legislators and friends to say thank you to for a successful session. Pat yourself on the back for visiting your legislators, contacting them during the SUAA action alert items, recruiting new members, coaxing former members back to the role, volunteering as an officer, volunteering in any capacity to SUAA. We thank you for inviting us to your chapter meetings, regional meetings and for special events. However, we cannot afford to slack off. There are still threats to pensions and healthcare that cannot be under estimated or ignored. We will need to make the same efforts from now on.

SUAA promotes teamwork between the currently working and retirees; supporting each other is a necessity – you are all in one retirement system – keep it working.

We invite all of you to Springfield on June 21 and 22 for the Annual Meeting of the Membership. If you haven’t made your reservations, please do so. We guarantee you will get your money’s worth. The reduced hotel room rate will disappear on Friday. SUAA will pay each chapter $.30 per mile for one car from each chapter. So fill a car and come to Springfield. You will get to hear insider information that will not be written about this legislative session; learn the importance of being a member of SUAA; how to recruit; and meet staff and others who volunteer for SUAA.

For registration information follow this link - Fighting Back is our theme.

http://suaa.org/events.php?PHPSESSID=0253b9132bec526ca238667622a7cb21

The Fall Membership Meeting will be held in Bloomington-Normal in the early part of October.

Chapter meetings will continue throughout the summer. Let us know what your chapter is doing to become a significant part of your individual campuses. Let us know of events that the State Office can participate on your campuses. We are available to help you recruit new members.

We ask that you get involved! There is an election in 2012 that will either re-elect or elect all 177 legislators. Now is the time to become better acquainted with those running for office. You need to know where they stand on SUAA issues. Now is the time to start volunteering for those who stand in support of SUAA issues.

If you have not made your contribution to SUAAction, please do so. We have a Constitutional Amendment to fight (more information to come). Each chapter is sending out a letter for your continued support of SUAAction. If you have not heard from your chapter, put some pressure on.

If you are wondering why you should make a contribution, think about this – if SUAA is not out there in front, we will be at the back struggling to be noticed. Plus, there are those legislators who worked quite hard on at least one of our legislative efforts. SUAA will be providing a list of those who were most favorable to us. Support SUAAction! Send your contributions to:

SUAAction
P.O. Box 1770
Springfield, Illinois 62705-1770

This was a turning year for SUAA. We made it to the forefront. The legislators know SUAA is a respected organization. We kept a great balance between the House and the Senate. Help grow SUAA. SUAA represents over 201,000 people. Our membership needs to show it!

Have a question? Call SUAA at 217.523.4040 or email suaa@suaa.org. We try to respond within 24 hours. Call back if necessary . . . we stay busy! It will be another filled summer!