Some suburban Republicans vote against state budget plan

SPRINGFIELD — A handful of suburban Republicans who typically argue the state should make required payments into the state’s retirement plans voted against legislation Friday that did just that.

The Illinois Senate Friday voted to send billions of dollars to the state’s pension systems. That way, lawmakers could focus on controversial spending decisions for schools, health care and other expenses in May.

But Sen. Chris Lauzen, an Aurora Republican, argued that the whole state budget should be considered at the same time, not piecemeal.

“The least we should look at is a total framework for one year, if not five years,” he said.

Lauzen joined Republican Sens. Tom Johnson of West Chicago, Dan Duffy of Lake Barrington and Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale in declining to vote for the proposal.

Duffy said he supports paying what the state owes into employee retirement plans. But, he said, lawmakers should have a full plan for the state’s cash before they start writing checks.

“We didn’t talk about any reforms,” Duffy said. “We didn’t talk about any comprehensive plans.”

The cost of the state’s pension system is a huge expense every year. Lawmakers sometimes take heat because the state has a significant pension debt, partly because past lawmakers skipped planned payments.

Sen. Dan Kotowski, a Park Ridge Democrat, said paying into the pension system is required, so lawmakers might as well get it out of the way. Now, Kotowski says, lawmakers know how much money they have leftover to pay for schools, prisons, universities and other expenses.

Lawmakers know, Kotowski says, that they don’t have as much money as they’d like.

“You’re going to have to make significant cuts,” Kotowski said.

State budget talks will continue in earnest in May.