04 / 2024
By Maxwell Laraia and Edward N. Tiesenga
Originally published by the DuPage County Bar Association, reprinted with permission
The 1864 French science fiction novel Journey to the Center of the Earth follows an expedition by eccentric geology professor Otto Lidenbrock, his nephew Axel, and a local guide Hans down a passageway below the depths of Iceland to the center of the Earth. At the center of the earth, the trio find a volcanic chimney whose pressure blows them back up to the Earth’s surface, where they land in Sicily. Climbing down the depths of the Illinois Pension Code reveals a similarly pressurized center, as we shall see on our own difficult and complex journey.
Section 1: Fire and Police Pension Code Overview
The Illinois Pension Code (hereafter, “Code”) is found at Chapter 40 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes, with separate sections for fire and police pensions. The section pertaining to police is found in Article 3, with fire in Article 4. Both Articles are similar, except that pension benefits for firefighters skew mathematically higher than for police. We will cite mainly from Article 3 in this article, to avoid duplicative mirror cites from Article 4.
There is also a constitutional convention going on in Illinois. And DuPage County figures right in the middle of it.
Key Role of Two Republican DuPage County Attorneys
Helen Kinney was a DuPage County Assistant States Attorney (1962-69) and later circuit judge (the first woman to hold either position in DuPage). Kinney was also a Republican party activist, whose name is now on the annual scholarship award given by the DuPage Association of Women Lawyers (DAWL) to an outstanding female law student in DuPage County each year.
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