Pension special session on June 19 – act now!

Gov. Pat Quinn has called the General Assembly into a June 19 special session in an attempt to press lawmakers into passing drastic cuts to public employee pensions.

State senators will be under a new round of pressure to pass SB 1—unfair, unconstitutional pension-slashing legislation backed by House Speaker Michael Madigan. It’s critical that senators who rejected SB 1 at the close of the spring session know you’re standing behind them.

The special session also gives the House the opportunity to pass SB 2404, legislation backed by the We Are One Illinois union coalition that stands as the only legal and fair pension solution considered by the legislature.

Speaker Madigan is attempting to cause confusion by amending language identical to SB 1 onto SB 2404. Don't be misled! Here's a fact sheet [PDF] summarizing the provisions of 2404.

Madigan has refused to allow a vote on the Senate-passed version of SB 2404, even though it prevailed with a large, bipartisan majority.

Contact your legislators now. Tell them to reject Madigan’s amendment and demand a vote on SB 2404 as passed by the Senate!

E-mail your senator and representative here.

Call your senator and representative toll-free at 888-412-6570 or use Click-to-Call. You can also call legislators directly by looking them up here.

“The special session is another chance for the House to do the right thing and pass SB 2404 without amendment,” said AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Henry Bayer. “We need to do everything we can to make sure that happens, and also to tell senators to resist pressure to pass SB 1. It’s clear that SB 2404 as passed by the Senate is the only fair and constitutional way to end Illinois’ pension-funding crisis.”

Watch AFSCME Council 31 public affairs director Anders Lindall make the case for SB 2404 on “Fox Chicago Sunday”: