Senator Michael Noland News

Senator Michael Noland’s (D-Elgin) plan to help Elgin-area residents avoid rush-hour traffic and get to work faster has cleared a significant legislative hurdle by passing the Senate Transportation Committee. Under Noland’s proposal, the Randall Road bus would be allowed to drive on the shoulder, passing cars and other stopped traffic.

“For a lot of people, the daily commute to work is one of the worst parts of the day,” Noland explained.  “It eats up hours of time that they would rather spend living their lives or doing their jobs. We need to find innovative new solutions to cut down on commuting time.  Letting buses drive on the shoulders of major roads is an idea that is gaining traction throughout the country.”

Last year, the state of Illinois launched a pilot project allowing certain buses to travel on the shoulder of the road along certain parts of Interstate 55.

“I think the pilot program to allow buses to drive on the shoulder of the road is a great idea,” Noland added. “But, I was frustrated that it doesn’t do anything to help the people who live in the Western suburbs. I think adding Randall Road will help the state learn if this is an idea that can work everywhere—not just on major interstate highways that lead into Chicago.”

Randall Road is a major north-south artery for the western suburbs. It links Elgin to Aurora, and has wide, well-maintained shoulders.

The bus-on-the-shoulder program has the added advantage of encouraging people to take public transportation, which is cost-effective and good for the environment.

“Cars and trucks are some of the worst sources of pollution, and the world’s supply of oil isn’t growing.  Making travel by bus and train faster and more attractive will help gently encourage people to use public transportation more,” Noland said.

The idea to create the Randall Road bus-on-the-shoulder program evolved after Senator Noland and Elgin Mayor Dave Kaptain held a meeting to discuss the idea in January.

Springfield, Ill. – Senator Michael Noland’s (D-Elgin) plan to help Elgin-area residents avoid rush-hour traffic and get to work faster has cleared a significant legislative hurdle by passing the Senate Transportation Committee. Under Noland’s proposal, the Randall Road bus would be allowed to drive on the shoulder, passing cars and other stopped traffic.

Read more: Randall Road bus project moves forward

Senator Michael Noland (D-Elgin) will hold a Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, January 25 in Elgin to update area residents on new and continuing issues in the Illinois Senate’s upcoming spring session, scheduled to begin January 31. Senator Noland has already hosted two town hall meetings this January, but one occurred during a snow storm. He decided to add another meeting to make sure every interested person in the district had an opportunity to meet with him.

Read more: Senator Noland Schedules Additional Town Hall Meeting

All across the state, Illinois Senate Democrats marked the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. yesterday. Click below to see what some of your State Senators were up to.

Read more: Senate Dems mark MLK, Jr.'s legacy

Senator Michael Noland (D-Elgin) has been appointed to Governor Quinn’s pension reform panel.  Both Quinn and Senate President Cullerton have expressed interest in tackling pension reform during the spring 2012 legislative session.

“Our yearly pension payments are eating up too much of the state budget,” Noland said.  “It’s reached the point where we are cutting spending for education, public safety, and health care to make room for pensions.”

Illinois has the worst funded pension system in the nation.   According to a recent bond-offering statement, the pension systems only have approximately 43% of the funding they need to pay state workers and teachers the retirement benefits they have earned.  The United States government recommends that states try to keep their pension systems at least 80% funded.

The reason Illinois lags so far behind is that the state has consistently failed to make its full legally mandated portion of the pension payment for decades, despite the fact that state workers have never missed paying their share.  In an attempt to fix this problem, then-Governor Jim Edgar passed a law that is generally referred to as the “pension ramp.”  The pension ramp law set a goal of a 90% funding level by 2045.  However, the payment schedule was back loaded—it required low payments in the 1990s and progressively higher payments in later years.  In the meantime, the state continued to fail to make full payments.

“I think it’s important to remember that Illinois made its full pension payment this year—without borrowing,” Noland explained.  “We also passed a major pension reform law less than two years ago that will save the state hundreds of billions of dollars over the next several decades.  We’re moving in the right direction.  We’re just not all the way there yet.”

The situation is complicated by the fact that the Illinois Constitution protects state employees’ pension benefits earned to date.  Some, like Senator Noland, believe that this constitutional mandate must now be reconciled with the US Constitution which may allow states to alter future benefits in order to avoid bankruptcy.

“I hope that by bringing everyone to the table—including both unions and reform groups—we will be able to reach a real, workable solution,” Noland said.  “We’ve seen it work in other cases.  Last year, Illinois passed a nationally acclaimed education reform bill.  At the same time, Vermont worked out a negotiated pension reform law with its state employees.  If we follow their example, I believe Illinois will be able to succeed.  I’m excited to be part of the process.”