Illinois

Here's an idea:

Give each public employee a choice.

Either give up the compounded 3 percent annual cost-of-living increase guaranteed in your pension and accept a lower annual increase, or …

Keep the generous* COLA, but agree that any future raises you receive will not count toward the salary upon which your pension will be based — so if you make $30,000 a year now, your retirement benefits will be calculated using that amount no matter when you retire or how much you're actually earning.

Admittedly, it's not an attractive choice. Either option reduces the amount of the pension check the employee will receive.

But the idea of forcing employees to make the choice may well be constitutional, unlike nearly every other proposal to reduce Illinois' worst-in-the-nation unfunded pension liability.