Illinois has an 83-billion-dollar underfunded pension liability but lawmakers aren't expected to do anything about it for at least another month. Jonathan Ingram with the Illinois Policy Institute says the state is losing millions of dollars each day because of the shortfall.
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Ingram adds the state needs to shift away from a defined benefit plan.
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Lawmakers have failed to reach a compromise on how to reform the system. Republicans criticize a cost-shift plan that would force local school districts and universities to pay more into the retirement systems. They say the shift will put too much of a burden on schools and families in their areas. Pension experts argue that of lawmakers don't do anything at all, or continue to push the problem down the road, retirees in Illinois will stop receiving a paycheck in between six and 20 years.