The IEA and the fight against Constitutional Amendment 49.

The General Assembly voted to put House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 49 (HJRCA49) on the November ballot.

If approved by 60% of those voting it will be part of the Illinois Constitution. This is not advisory. It will be law.

It is a sloppy piece of work pushed through by Michael Madigan. There are different legal views on what the impact of HJRCA49 will be. Every House member voted for it. Every single one.

It requires that every governing body in the state is required to have a 3/5 vote on financial issues not including salary and benefits for employees.

I believe pensions will probably be impacted.

Many teachers have expressed concern that the public employee union leadership is keeping a low profile on the issue. They are concerned that the union leadership believes that if they fly under the radar, many voters will not notice the issue and that there will be enough no votes from state employees, their families and friends to defeat it.

I asked IEA President Cinda Klickna about this.

IEA is strongly against the Constitutional Amendment 49 and has begun the campaign to defeat it.

Several people have questioned a rumor saying that passage of this amendment would prevent a court case if that occurs. Our General Counsel has reviewed the origin of that rumor and determined that this view is just not so.

The most compelling argument against the Amendment is that requriing a 3/5 vote takes away simple majority vote (on school boards and other bodies, including the General Assembly), and that is not the democratic way.

Requiring a 3/5 vote by the General Assembly means that fixing Tier II pension rules will be much harder.

Other arguments about the Amendment are listed on the IEA fact sheet

http://www.ieanea.org/media/2012/05/HJRCA-49-Vote-No.pdf

We all need to pull together to defeat this Amendment proposal.

Cinda

Teachers and other state employees have a right to be concerned. This is a dangerous piece of legislation.