Kendall County Times

House Republican Spokesperson for the Personnel and Pensions Committee Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfeld) received bipartisan support on his bill disallowing pension board members from being employed by the same board after their membership term.

Batinick proposed to amend the state Pension Code initially prohibiting the member for a period of 5 years but an amendment made the bill better.

“Floor Amendment 1 removes a complicated part,” Batinick explained. “The bill puts a 12-month ban on someone from a pension board going to immediately work for a member of that pension board. It takes that down from 5 years to 1 year.”

The bill was first introduced to amend the General Provisions Article of the Illinois Pension Code that “Provides that no individual who is a board member of a pension fund, investment board, or retirement system may be employed by a pension fund, investment board, or retirement system established under the Code or by any vendor of a pension fund, investment board, or retirement system established under the Code for a period of 5 years after he or she ceases to be a board member.”

The bill was passed unanimously with 114 votes.

The Plainfield representative said that HB3004 “will address a clear conflict of interest and put a stop to revolving doors for pension board members’ future employment when they step down from their board member roles.”