All Roll Calls
Yes: 620 • No: 94
IllinoisHB3193104th General Assembly (2025–2026)HouseWALLET
PEN CD-SURS-EARNINGS
Sponsored By: Stephanie A. Kifowit (Democratic)
Became Law
personnel & pensionsassignmentsexecutive
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
30 provisions identified: 8 benefits, 6 costs, 16 mixed.
Disability pay for workers and firefighters
If you are disabled off the job, you can get 50% of your salary, paid monthly, for up to 25% of your service (max 5 years), with required medical proof and exams. Firefighters with at least 7 years who get listed occupational diseases get 65% of salary, plus $30 per eligible child each month, subject to caps. Benefits stop when other listed rules apply, such as compulsory retirement.
State plan to keep pensions 90% funded
The State must fund pensions to reach 90% by the end of FY2045 and keep 90% funding each year starting in FY2046. The Board calculates yearly State payments using actuarial methods, with investment gains/losses smoothed over five years and assumption changes phased in over five years. Teacher pension vouchers are paid monthly; if appropriations fall short, the Common School Fund covers the gap. In FY2010, the required State contribution was $702.5 million. Beginning in FY2025, the Comptroller may request advance monthly vouchers. For FY2018–FY2020, the State also paid an extra 2% of payroll for certain elected benefit groups.
Retired teachers face strict work limits
Your teacher pension is cancelled for a school year if you work past the allowed days or earn above the pay cap. The limits change by year, such as 100, 120, or 140 days, or by hours or pay caps. The Board sets and applies these limits.
Police‑fire service transfers and payments
Sheriff’s law‑enforcement employees could elect between July 1, 2022 and December 1, 2023 to transfer up to 10 years from a police fund to IMRF. You either pay the Board‑set difference plus interest or accept fewer credited years. For six months after the relevant law’s effective date, up to eight years of firefighter service can move to a police fund if you left in good standing; the firefighter fund sends employee and matching employer amounts. If you took a refund before, you can reinstate by repaying it with 6% yearly interest. Your old fund membership ends on the transfer date.
Retired teachers can work limited days
For school years starting July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2027, you may work up to 140 days as a temporary or hourly teacher or administrator and keep your pension. For school years starting July 1, 2027 and after, the limit is 120 days. Until June 30, 2027, teaching in a certified subject‑shortage area does not cancel your pension if the employer follows required posting and certification steps. If you exceed the limits, your pension is withheld pro rata for each extra day (or each 7.5 hours over 900 for driver education). Employers must report your status and warn when you near the earnings limit. This work does not create new service credit or require contributions.
Retired teachers working: limits and refunds
Your pension is cancelled if you return as a full‑time or annual teacher, or if you get a disability pension and go back to teaching. You can keep your pension for temporary work: up to 100 days or $30,000 from 2012‑2019, and up to 120 days or $30,000 from 2019‑2022. Driver‑ed only after school is allowed up to 900 hours a year, with the $30,000 cap. If you are rehired within five school months, you are treated as temporarily out; you keep certain payments and must earn 3 new consecutive years before retiring again. If your pension was cancelled due to re‑employment between July 1, 2020 and the Act’s effective date, the Fund recalculates and refunds any over‑payment with interest.
Automatic retirement saving for new hires
Beginning January 1, 2022, new members are automatically enrolled in the optional defined‑contribution plan at 3% of pre‑tax pay. You can opt out by day 30. You can withdraw within 90 days, but you forfeit any employer match. Starting January 1, 2023, automatic increases are allowed but each year’s raise is capped at 2% of pay and cannot exceed legal limits.
Alternative pension rates and caps
If you qualify for the alternative retirement annuity and retire on or after January 1, 2001, non‑covered years count at 3% of final average pay per year and covered years at 2.5% per year. The maximum is 80% for retirements on or after January 1, 2001 (75% if before 2001). Eligibility depends on meeting the required age and service years.
Optional 401(k)-style plan for employees
The system offers an optional defined‑contribution plan to eligible members. Your and your employer’s contributions go to your own account with investment choices. The plan follows State and federal rules, and contributions can help pay plan costs. Employers must meet reporting and administrative requirements.
More cities and schools must join
All counties are covered. Cities, villages, and towns over 5,000 people join after each federal census, except those over 1,000,000 and other listed exclusions. Covered school districts join without an election. A municipality must apply at least 90 days before its start date; the Board acts within 90 days. Prospective participants must pay for an actuarial cost study, and the State does not reimburse local governments for mandates in this Act.
New pension payment rules for employers
Participating employers must pay set pension contributions, employee‑share amounts, receivables with interest, and, if payroll ends, amortize unfunded liabilities on a closed schedule. The contribution rate includes normal cost, an amortization piece (up to 30 years for municipalities, 10 for instrumentalities), disability and death benefits, and any reserve shortages. Extra unfunded costs from Public Act 94‑712 are paid over 30 years, or 35–40 years by employer resolution. Employers owe the present value of pension increases from pay that spikes over the greater of 6% or 1.5× CPI‑U, with a 30‑day dispute window and interest on late payments; certain pay types are excluded. Separate rates apply to sheriff’s law‑enforcement roles, and the Board can set CETA‑program rates.
Convert past service into pension credit
Listed public‑safety and investigator roles can elect to make prior service count as eligible credit by filing within set windows and paying the Board‑calculated difference plus interest. Certain groups could convert up to eight years of pre‑2020 service; Attorney General investigators also had a one‑year window after the 102nd General Assembly’s effective date. The law adds job titles that qualify for eligible service and counts required basic police training time. If you left for military service and return to an eligible job under the rules, that military time counts as eligible service. Some older service periods can be reclassified as noncovered by paying the required difference (and, when applicable, interest) before retirement.
Employer bills for pay spikes over 6%
If pay used in your final rate rises more than 6% over the prior academic year, your employer must pay the present value of the extra pension cost for the amount above 6%. The System bills using actuarial assumptions, allows disputes, gives 90 days before interest starts, and requires full payment within three years. Some Tier 2 members are excluded. The System must not count certain increases toward this rule, including raises under pre‑June 1, 2005 contracts, raises when you are 10+ years from retirement, approved overtime/overload, qualifying promotions, and overload after an emergency year.
Employers must pay set pension shares
Starting in FY2018, public employers pay a percent of payroll that covers normal pension costs and a 30‑year rolling amortization of unfunded liabilities. For certain elected benefit groups, an extra 2% applies to the normal‑cost piece beginning in FY2021. If pay comes from trust or federal funds, the employer must pay the normal cost from those funds; universities are excused when pay is from local auxiliary, income, or service enterprise funds. Since July 1, 2017, employers also pay teachers’ normal cost on salary from special trust or federal funds. Urbana and Champaign must contribute for their firefighters in the System. All employer payments are due at the same time as payroll.
How final pay counts for pensions
Tier 1 pensions use your highest 48 straight months (or four academic years). Tier 2 uses your highest 96 straight months (or eight academic years). Certain payouts, overtime, and severance do not count. A 20% year‑to‑year cap applies to some academic‑year earnings. Beginning September 1, 2024, the 20% cap also applies to employees who worked half‑time or less for three or more years.
Buy or count more service credit
You can buy up to 24 months of active‑duty military time if not dishonorably discharged; the price is based on your pay before or after service plus interest. You may buy up to 2 years for certified private‑school or career and technical teaching if you apply by June 30, 2028 and have 10 years of contributing service. Some elected officials can get credit if they had continuous service and contributions. The law also clarifies how days and months convert to service credit and caps credit at one year per fiscal year.
Special state receipts don’t cut contributions
Money the system gets under the Budget Stabilization Act or Section 8.12 does not count toward the State’s minimum pension payment. These receipts stay excluded until the fund reaches 90% funding.
Stronger powers for the pension board
The Board can supervise collections, notify employers, invest funds, authorize or stop payments, subpoena records, hire staff, set rules, and charge interest on amounts due. Trustees, staff, and consultants can be indemnified and insured for on‑the‑job negligence (not willful misconduct or gross negligence). Trustee elections may use internet or phone voting.
Schools hiring retirees face new payments
An employer must check and report within 60 days when it hires a retiree and decide if the person is an “affected annuitant” (earns over 40% of highest pre‑retirement pay and gets at least a $10,000 annualized annuity). If the retiree is affected, the employer pays 12 times the retiree’s gross monthly annuity for that year’s first paid month (shared across employers), and the payment doubles if the employer unreasonably delayed the check or notice. Employers get one academic‑year exemption to keep critical operations and can get a refund if the retiree forgoes the annuity that same year. Bills accrue interest after one year and may be collected by the Comptroller after two years. A credit applies if total payments for the same affected annuitant exceeded $300,000 across academic years 2021–2023.
Retirement plan limits sales pitches
The retirement plan bars its recordkeeper from using your data to sell nonplan products. Only public website links and replies to your direct requests are allowed. This reduces unwanted marketing to plan participants.
Withhold union dues from your pension
You can authorize the Board to take union dues out of your annuity and send them to your union. At least 100 annuitants must authorize withholding for a union, unless the Board allows a 3–6 month probationary period with fewer.
Pension money shielded and untaxed locally
Pension fund money and benefits are protected from seizure, garnishment, or assignment. They are also exempt from state and local taxes. This shields your pension assets and payments.
Limit on buying past service credit
You can convert at most 12 total years of eligible service under these conversion rules. Any years above 12 are not allowed.
More signatures to run for trustee
Petitions for participant‑elected trustees now need 400 participant signatures, up from 200. Nominations by mayors or presidents still need 20 signatures. Trustees elected by beneficiaries need 100 beneficiary signatures.
Only earlier applicants keep expired boosts
When a temporary pension increase ends, it still applies only to people who applied and qualified while it was active. Their beneficiaries or alternate payees keep it. Others do not get the expired increase.
Pause or start estimated pension payments
You may ask the Board to suspend some or all of your annuity for personal reasons; you forfeit the suspended amounts but can restart full payments later. If you qualify for the alternative retirement annuity, you can start an estimated payment no later than 30 days after your last work day or 30 days after filing, whichever is later. The System fixes any difference between the estimate and your actual annuity within six months.
Rules for elected officials’ pensions
An elected official who revoked participation before January 1, 1992 forfeited service credit from that office and received a refund of their contributions without interest. Starting January 1, 1992, holding elective office does not by itself block a retirement annuity if the annuity is not based on credits from that office.
Simpler survivor annuity and waiver rules
Survivor annuities are paid monthly. Any unpaid amount at death goes to the estate. If you qualify for more than one survivor benefit, you get only the largest, unless eligibility is due to a disability. You may waive survivor benefits by giving written notice within 6 months after the System notifies you and before any payment is made.
Rehired university retirees: pay rules
Employer “return‑to‑work” payments do not increase any retirement benefit. These payments are extra and do not change your benefit even if you go back to work. If your university shows you hold a civil service status appointment and it cannot limit your pay or job length, then the return‑to‑work rule does not apply to you.
What pay counts toward teacher pension
Salary for pension rules includes pay for service to the District or Board, including vacation, sick leave pay, and deferred compensation. It excludes payouts for unused vacation or sick leave, overtime, termination pay, and non‑salary benefits. If you are on a disability benefit, your salary is the amount used to set that benefit.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Stephanie A. Kifowit
Democratic • House
Cosponsors
Amy Briel
Democratic • House
Anne Stava
Democratic • House
Bob Morgan
Democratic • House
Eva-Dina Delgado
Democratic • House
Janet Yang Rohr
Democratic • House
Justin Slaughter
Democratic • House
Martha Deuter
Democratic • House
Mary Beth Canty
Democratic • House
Maurice A. West, II
Democratic • House
Rachel Ventura
Democratic • Senate
Robert F. Martwick
Democratic • Senate
Tracy Katz Muhl
Democratic • House
Roll Call Votes
House vote • 5/31/2025
Senate Floor Amendment No. 3 House Concurs
Yes: 103 • No: 12 • Other: 1
House vote • 5/31/2025
Senate Floor Amendment No. 4 House Concurs
Yes: 103 • No: 12 • Other: 1
House vote • 5/31/2025
Senate Committee Amendment No. 1 House Concurs
Yes: 103 • No: 12 • Other: 1
House vote • 5/31/2025
Senate Floor Amendment No. 2 House Concurs
Yes: 103 • No: 12 • Other: 1
House vote • 5/30/2025
Senate Floor Amendment No. 3 Motion to Concur Recommends Be Adopted Personnel & Pensions Committee;
Yes: 8 • No: 4
House vote • 5/30/2025
Senate Committee Amendment No. 1 Motion to Concur Recommends Be Adopted Personnel & Pensions Committee;
Yes: 8 • No: 4
House vote • 5/30/2025
Senate Floor Amendment No. 2 Motion to Concur Recommends Be Adopted Personnel & Pensions Committee;
Yes: 8 • No: 4
House vote • 5/30/2025
Senate Floor Amendment No. 4 Motion to Concur Recommends Be Adopted Personnel & Pensions Committee;
Yes: 8 • No: 4
Senate vote • 5/29/2025
Third Reading - Passed;
Yes: 57 • No: 0
Senate vote • 5/28/2025
Senate Floor Amendment No. 2 Recommend Do Adopt Pensions;
Yes: 9 • No: 0
Senate vote • 5/15/2025
Do Pass as Amended Executive;
Yes: 9 • No: 4
House vote • 4/11/2025
House Floor Amendment No. 1 Recommends Be Adopted Rules Committee;
Yes: 5 • No: 0
House vote • 4/11/2025
Third Reading - Short Debate - Passed
Yes: 85 • No: 26
House vote • 3/20/2025
Do Pass / Short Debate Personnel & Pensions Committee;
Yes: 11 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Public Act . . . . . . . . . 104-0284
8/15/2025HouseEffective Date January 1, 2026; some provisions
8/15/2025HouseEffective Date August 15, 2025; some provisions
8/15/2025HouseGovernor Approved
8/15/2025HouseSent to the Governor
6/24/2025HousePassed Both Houses
5/31/2025HouseHouse Concurs
5/31/2025HouseSenate Floor Amendment No. 4 House Concurs 103-012-001
5/31/2025HouseSenate Floor Amendment No. 3 House Concurs 103-012-001
5/31/2025HouseSenate Floor Amendment No. 2 House Concurs 103-012-001
5/31/2025HouseSenate Committee Amendment No. 1 House Concurs 103-012-001
5/31/2025HouseAdded Co-Sponsor Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado
5/31/2025HouseAdded Co-Sponsor Rep. Amy Briel
5/31/2025HouseSenate Floor Amendment No. 4 Motion to Concur Recommends Be Adopted Personnel & Pensions Committee; 008-004-000
5/30/2025HouseSenate Floor Amendment No. 3 Motion to Concur Recommends Be Adopted Personnel & Pensions Committee; 008-004-000
5/30/2025HouseSenate Floor Amendment No. 2 Motion to Concur Recommends Be Adopted Personnel & Pensions Committee; 008-004-000
5/30/2025HouseSenate Committee Amendment No. 1 Motion to Concur Recommends Be Adopted Personnel & Pensions Committee; 008-004-000
5/30/2025HouseAdded Chief Co-Sponsor Rep. Mary Beth Canty
5/30/2025HouseChief Sponsor Changed to Rep. Stephanie A. Kifowit
5/30/2025HouseAdded Co-Sponsor Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl
5/30/2025HouseAdded Co-Sponsor Rep. Bob Morgan
5/30/2025HouseAdded Co-Sponsor Rep. Martha Deuter
5/30/2025HouseSenate Floor Amendment No. 4 Motion to Concur Rules Referred to Personnel & Pensions Committee
5/30/2025HouseSenate Floor Amendment No. 3 Motion to Concur Rules Referred to Personnel & Pensions Committee
5/30/2025HouseSenate Floor Amendment No. 2 Motion to Concur Rules Referred to Personnel & Pensions Committee
5/30/2025House
Bill Text
Engrossed
Enrolled
House Amendment 1
Introduced
Senate Amendment 1
Senate Amendment 2
Senate Amendment 3
Senate Amendment 4