< The 2015 Pension 40: The Long Climb

Chicago is threatening to go up in flames again. In May, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the Windy City’s outstanding debt from investment grade to junk status — the seventh reduction in two years — citing Chicago’s unfunded pension liabilities. Moody’s research describes Chicago as the U.S. city most heavily burdened by unfunded liabilities: The current level of retirement debt is more than eight times annual revenue. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, 56, who inherited $32 billion in unfunded liabilities when he took office in 2011 (it’s now $29 billion), had hoped to restore part of the retirement system to financial health in 40 years through a 2014 bill that would lower annual cost-of-living increases for retired workers, raise the amount of taxes earmarked for the system and bump up city workers’ contributions by 2.5 percent annually over five years. The plan, however, involves just two of ten Chicago pension systems. Then–Illinois governor Pat Quinn approved the Chicago plan only to find his own state pension-overhaul plan, which reduced future benefits, overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court on constitutionality grounds. As Moody’s feared, a Cook County circuit court declared Emanuel’s reforms unconstitutional in July, and the case was appealed to the state supreme court. Emanuel and his lawyers argue that without reductions the two funds will become insolvent in 2025 and 2028. The mayor, who served as President Obama’s first White House chief of staff, incorporated his pension reform bill into his 2016 budget, which was approved in late October. If the Illinois Supreme Court is successful in smacking down the Chicago reforms, Emanuel, like Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner (No. 1), will have to start all over again.

 
The 2015 Pension 40

1. Bruce Rauner Illinois 2. John & Laura Arnold Laura and John Arnold Foundation Podcast: Uncovering Opportunities in Direct Real Estate Sponsored by Fidelity Investments June 30, 2025 3. Chris Christie New Jersey 4. Randi Weingarten AmericanFederation of Teachers 5. Phyllis Borzi U.S. Department of Labor

6. Kevin de León California 7. Alejandro García Padilla Commonwealth ofPuerto Rico 8. Laurence Fink BlackRock 9. Rahm Emanuel Chicago 10. Sean McGarvey North AmericanBuilding Trades Unions

11. John Kline Minnesota 12. J. Mark Iwry U.S. TreasuryDepartment 13. Damon Silvers AFL-CIO 14. Jeffrey Immelt General Electric Co. 15. Joshua Gotbaum Brookings Institution

16. Robin Diamonte United Technologies Corp. 17. Mark Mullet Washington 18. Terry O'Sullivan Laborers' International Union of North America 19. Raymond Dalio Bridgewater Associates 20. Ted Wheeler Oregon

21. Thomas Nyhan Central States Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund 22. Karen Ferguson & Karen Friedman Pensions Rights Center 23. Randy DeFrehn National Coordinating Committee forMultiemployer Plans 24. Robert O'Keef Motorola Solutions 25. Caitlin Long Morgan Stanley

26. Kenneth Feinberg The Law Offices of Kenneth R. Feinberg 27. Orrin Hatch Utah 28. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend Center for Retirement Initiatives, Georgetown University 29. Ian Lanoff Groom Law Group 30. Joshua Rauh Stanford Graduate School of Business

31. Ted Eliopoulos California Public Employees' Retirement System 32. Edward (Ted) Siedle Benchmark Financial Services 33. Teresa Ghilarducci New School for Social Research 34. Denise Nappier Connecticut 35. W. Thomas Reeder Jr. Pension BenefitGuaranty Corp.

36. Hank Kim National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems 37. Paul Singer Elliott Management Corp. 38. Bailey Childers National PublicPension Coalition 39. Amy Kessler Prudential Financial 40. Judy Mares U.S. Labor Department