CAT Tracks for August 26, 2004 EARLY RETIREMENT OPTION MEETING!

Received this notice from IEA Region 2 headquarters today...

FYI...ERO was NOT renewed by the Illinois General Assembly during the last legislative session. From the IEA website:

"Early Retirement Option in TRS - IEA attempts to extend the Early Retirement Option Program (ERO) were stopped in the House. In April of 2003, the Senate approved Senate Bill 193, 55-0. Once again, House Speaker Michael Madigan did not allow a vote on the extension."

"The bill, sponsored by Senator Denny Jacobs (D-Moline) and Representative Gary Hannig (D-Litchfield), extends the Early Retirement Option in the Teachers’ Retirement System from June 30, 2005 to June 30, 2010 and reduces the number of years in the calculation rate from 35 to 34."

"The Speaker told the IEA that his main concern to this legislation is the cost of the extension. TRS estimates that extending ERO five more years would add more than $800 million to the unfunded liability. We plan to revisit this issue during the fall veto session."

So...if this is something important to you, consider attending the meeting!