Kane County Reporter

In Illinois' long-overdue, much-needed commitment to pension reform, freshmen state Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) believes lawmakers have finally taken a valuable first step.

“There are rarely any perfect bills, and this legislation could have done some more things to save even more money, but it’s a good first step toward saving the residents of Illinois more of their hard-earned money,” Ugaste told the Kane County Reporter about the recent passing of Senate Bill 1300. “There’s still plenty of work to be done, but this is a start.”

Ugaste was one of a handful of GOP lawmakers casting votes in support of SB 1300, which consolidates Illinois’ 649 downstate and suburban police and fire pension funds in hopes of increasing investment returns and decreasing the cost of managing the funds. After the final votes were tabulated, Gov. J.B. Pritzker quickly moved to sign into law the bill that was crafted through the work of the bipartisan Pension Consolidation Feasibility Task Force. 

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker

Ugaste anticipates that more Illinoisans will benefit as a result of the collaborative effort.

“I know everyone’s big on having local control, but when it comes to some things it's better when we allow ourselves to have greater investment power that can mean greater returns,” Ugaste said. “We need all the help we can get when it comes to our pensions.”

Some estimates have pegged revenues that could be added by the consolidation plan as high as $2.5 billion, with hopes that it will ultimately go a long way toward reducing the reliance on property taxes for funding pension systems.

“I would like to think we’ll keep moving forward from here,” Ugaste said. “I know there’s much more we could be doing.”

Current data suggests that downstate and suburban police and fire pension funds are now underfunded by as much as $11 billion.