A member of the Illinois legislature's special committee on pensions says the group is closing in on a compromise. But it remains to be seen whether the measure will have enough support in the full General Assembly.
The 10-members of the bipartisan conference committee have been meeting for more than a month. A good chunk of that time has been waiting for actuaries to analyze the various proposals — seeing how much of Illinois' nearly $100 billion in unfunded pension liabilities might be eliminated.
"We sent a — hopefully — a final round of scoring back to the actuaries to come up with some solution," says Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington.
He says there's been "a great deal of compromise" among his fellow pension committee members.
"I'm hopeful that our work and effort will bring the conference committee to a consensus resolution, and then we can employ the legislative leaders to help us pass a bill," he says.
Like other members of the committee, Brady says he hasn't heard from Gov. Pat Quinn — or anyone on the governor's staff — since Quinn vetoed lawmakers' salaries as punishment for not passing pension legislation.
