The extension of the Personnel Code in 1971 to certain positions in the office of secretary of state has been ruled valid by the Illinois Supreme Court (Justice Schaefer), but scores for qualifying examinations taken by employees under Republican Secretary of State John W. Lewis, appointed to fill the unexpired term of Democratic Secretary of State Paul Powell, must be reassessed.

Approximately 2,000 non-civil service employees under Powell were discharged during 1971 after Lewis took office. Lewis hired replacements, and then requested the extension of the Personnel Code. The governor approved. The court said this procedure was proper as provided for under section 4b of the Personnel Code, but that when the provisions of the code are extended, "qualifying examinations shall be of the same kind as those required for entrance examinations for comparable positions." [Illinois Revised Statutes, 1971, ch. 127, par. 63bl04b.)

There were 1,758 Lewis employees who took qualifying examinations for "similar positions"—those involving qualifications, duties and responsibilities similar to those previously established by the Department of Personnel for other departments and agencies of the state. But, "while the cutting scores for other agencies were determined and established before the exams were administered, the cutting scores for those seeking certification in the office of the Secretary of State were determined after the examination had been given and the results had been compiled."

Exams were devised for "dissimilar positions"—those which are peculiar to the office of secretary of state—but the cutting scores applied here were substantially lower than the cutting scores for open competitive examinations subsequently designed for those positions.

"The appropriate disposition in this unique situation involves an examination by Ihe trial court to determine the score of each of the replacement employees upon the qualifying examination .... Any employee whose score exceeded the cutting score on examinations given for similar positions, or exceeded the cutting score upon subsequent open competitive examinations in the case of dissimilar positions, and who has satisfactorily completed his probationary period, shall be certified in accordance with section 4b." Other employees may not be certified.

Actuarial soundness of pension systems
People ex rel. Illinois Federation of Teachers et al. v. George W. Lindberg, et al.; American Association of University Professors, et al. v. Daniel Walker. Decided March 24, 1975

The court (Justice Kluczynski) upheld the governor's use of the reduction veto of certain appropriations for fiscal year 1974 to the downstate teachers' pension system, the state universities' pension system, and the Chicago teachers' pension system, overturning the argument that these systems were entitled, by contractual right, to "adequate" funding by the state.

This argument was based on a state constitutional provision (Art. XIII, sec. 5), which speaks of "an enforceable contractual relationship," and on provisions in the Pension Code. With respect to the Constitution, the court quoted from the Constitutional Convention record in which Delegate Helen C. Kinney said the section "was not intended to require 100 per cent funding or 50 per cent or 30 per cent funding or get into any of those problems . . . ." With respect to the Pension Code, the court said that the provisions relating to funding or predecessor provisions were drafted at a time when decisions "clearly established no vested right in compulsory statutory pension plans for public employees . . . ."

The court's decision overturned a finding by the Court of Claims that a contractual relationship did exist and that the state should make contributions of $205,600,000 to the downstate system for fiscal 1974 and $55,882,691 to the universities' system. The amounts appropriated to the three systems and the amounts of the governor's reduction vetoes were respectively: downstate system, $205,600,000, reduced to $96,000,000; universities system, $66,908,000, reduced to $20,190,000; Chicago system, $57,707,000, reduced to $27,000,000. The legislature let the vetoes stand.

The court also found the governor "could properly utilize his veto or item-reduction authority over the pension appropriation bills."

As to the assertion that the pension systems are inadequately funded, the court said, "The question of the specific fiscal appropriations necessary to meet these deficiencies is one which, at this time, should be directed to the legislature."

Suing the state
Williams v. Medical Center Commission. Decided March 24, 1975

The court (Justice Schaefer) held that the Medical Center Commission is an arm of the state and is immune to injury suits in the law courts (such claims must be filed in an administrative agency, the Court of Claims). The plaintiff had allegedly been injured in a building owned by the commission in which she was a tenant; it was her contention that she had "an absolute right of recovery for the misdeeds of a governmental agency while in the discharge of a proprietary function—the operation of an ordinary commercial, profitable enterprise." The court overruled this, stating, "immunity granted by legislation was authorized by Article XI11, section 4 of the 1970 Constitution."

The plaintiff also contended that the immunity of the commission was invalid under the equal protection clauses of the U.S. and Illinois Constitutions. The court would not accept this position. "A constitutional grant of immunity to a sovereign government has never, so far as we are aware, been held to be an arbitrary classification which violates equal protection."

Pollution Control Board fines invalidated
Southern Illinois Asphalt Co., Inc., v. Pollution Control Board; Airtex Products, inc., v. Pollution Control Board. Decided March 24, 1975

The Environmental Protection Act provides in separate sections for civil and criminal penalties to be assessed by the Pollution Control Board. The purpose of civil penalties, the court said (Justice Ryan), is to aid enforcement of the act, and civil penalties assessed against the two corporations were held invalid on the basis that they did not aid enforcement. Both firms had ceased operations when complaints were filed by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency in 1971.

Reaffirm eavesdropping statute
People v. Richardson. Decided March 24, 1975

The Illinois Supreme Court (Justice Schaefer) reversed a Chicago circuit court ruling and affirmed that the state eavesdropping statute (Ill. Rev. Stat., 1973, ch. 38, sec. 14-2) is constitutional. Section 14-2 permits eavesdropping if it is done with the consent of any one party to a conversation and at the request of a state's attorney. 

June 1975/Illinois Issues/189