Will County Gazette

Illinois House Republican Floor Leader Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) is experiencing one of those rare moments in Springfield following the passage of Senate Bill 1300.

“Worked on this for two years,” Batinick posted on Facebook of the bill that consolidates Illinois’ 649 downstate and suburban police and fire pension funds in hopes of increasing investment returns on the assets while decreasing the costs for managing them. “This bill will save money while increasing first-responder retirement security. A rare win-win.”

As the GOP’s chief negotiator on the measure, Batinick worked closely with Illinois' Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker in getting the bill past the finish line.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker

“Our state’s broken pension system has been a heavy weight on the backs of Illinois taxpayers,” Batinick said in a press release. “With today’s bill signed into law, I can proudly say that we are providing relief to our hardworking residents. This was a significant bipartisan reform effort that will make positive change. The work is not done on pensions, but today we can all celebrate this success.”

Between now and 2025, the act of merging the systems is expected to generate up to $2.5 billion in added investment revenues, potentially paving the way for lower contributions funded by property taxes.

Now in his fourth year in Springfield, Batinick has long been a staunch advocate of pension reform. He recently lashed out at the findings of an Illinois Policy Institute study that discovered the state outspends every other state by significant margins when it comes to pension costs.

“We need to do what you see some other states doing when it comes to consolidating government wherever you can,” Batinick previously told the Will County Gazette. “On top of that, we need to be committed to expanding the pension-option buyouts for state workers and putting all the money we save from that toward pension liabilities and property tax costs.”