The Illinois Public Pension Amendment was a proposed amendment to the Illinois state constitution. On November 6, 2012, Illinois voters rejected it in a statewide referendum.
A legislatively referred constitutional amendment, if approved, it would have amended the Constitution of Illinois.[1] The measure would have made it so that a three-fifths approval would be required by the General Assembly, city councils, and school districts that wish to increase the pension benefits of their employees.[1]
In the legislature, the bill that referred the amendment to voters was entitled "HJRCA 49 (2012)" and was sponsored by Michael Madigan.[2] It was required that, in order to qualify for the ballot, the measure be approved by 60% approval of both the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate.[1] On April 18, 2012, it passed the House unanimously, 113–0.[2] On May 3, 2012, the bill passed the Senate, 51–2.[1]
The amendment was referred to the voters in a referendum during the general election of 2012 Illinois elections on November 6, 2012.
The ballot text read,
In order to be approved, the measure required either 60% support among those specifically voting on the amendment or 50% support among all ballots cast in the elections.[3] The measure failed to achieve either.[3]
| Illinois Public Pension Amendment[4] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Option | Votes | % of votes on measure | % of all ballots cast | ||||
| text align=center | Yes | text align=center | 1,901,837 | text align=center | 43.84 | text align=center | 36.32 |
| text align=center | No | text align=center | 2,436,051 | text align=center | 56.16 | text align=center | 46.52 |
| text align=center | Total votes | text align=center | 4,337,888 | text align=center | 100 | text align=center | 82.84 |
| Voter turnout | colspan=3 text align=right | 57.68% |