Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/16-1466_2b3j.pdf
Page Number: 33

28  JANUS v. STATE, COUNTY, AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES 

Opinion of the Court 

problems.10  As of 2013, Illinois had nearly $160 billion in
unfunded  pension  and  retiree  healthcare  liabilities.11    By
2017,  that  number  had  only  grown,  and  the  State  was 
grappling  with  $15  billion  in  unpaid  bills.12    We  are  told  
that  a  “quarter  of  the  budget  is  now  devoted  to  paying
down”  those  liabilities.13   These  problems  and  others  led
Moody’s  and  S&P  to  downgrade  Illinois’  credit  rating  to
“one step above junk”—the “lowest ranking on record for a
U. S. state.”14 

The Governor, on one side, and public-sector unions, on
the  other,  disagree  sharply  about  what  to  do  about  these 
problems.  The  State  claims  that  its  employment-related 
debt  is  “ ‘squeezing  core  programs  in  education,  public 
safety,  and  human  services,  in  addition  to  limiting  [the 
State’s]  ability  to  pay  [its]  bills.’ ”    Securities  Act  of  1933 
Release  No.  9389,  105  S. E. C.  Docket  3381  (2013).    It 
therefore “told the Union that it would attempt to address 
th[e  financial]  crisis,  at  least  in  part,  through  collective 
bargaining.”    Board  Decision  12–13.    And  “the  State’s 

—————— 

10 See  Brief  for  State  of  Michigan  et al.  as  Amici  Curiae  9–24.    Na­
tionwide, the cost of state and local employees’ wages and benefits, for 
example,  is  nearly  $1.5  trillion—more  than  half  of  those  jurisdictions’
total  expenditures.  See  Dept.  of  Commerce,  Bureau  of  Economic 
Analysis,  National  Data,  GDP  &  Personal  Income,  Table  6.2D,  line  92
(Aug. 3, 2017), and Table 3.3, line 37 (May 30, 2018), https://www.bea.
gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?reqid=19&step=2#reqid=19&step=2&isuri=1&19
21=survey.    And  many  States  and  cities  struggle  with  unfunded  pen­
sion and retiree healthcare liabilities and other budget issues. 

11 PEW Charitable Trusts, Fiscal 50: State  Trends and Analysis (up­
dated  May  17,  2016),  http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and­
analysis/data-visualizations/2014/fiscal-50#ind4. 

12 See  Brief  for  Jason  R.  Barclay  et al.  as  Amici  Curiae  9;  M.  Egan, 
How  Illinois  Became  America’s  Most  Messed-Up  State,  CNN  Money
(July 1, 2017), https://cnnmon.ie/2tp9NX5. 

13 Brief for Jason R. Barclay et al. as Amici Curiae 9. 
14 E. Campbell, S&P, Moody’s Downgrade Illinois to Near Junk, Low­
est  Ever  for  a  U. S.  State,  Bloomberg  (June  1,  2017),  https:// 
bloom.bg/2roEJUc.