Governor Bruce Rauner is pushing a proposal to cut pensions of public sector employees, with the exception of firefighters and police officers, by $2 billion. This is not the first time that Republicans have granted special exemptions to "those who put their life on the line". So far, these exemptions have been met with popular appeal.
See "Public Pension Cuts Exempt Police and Firefighters", Naom Scheiber, The New York Times, March 19, 2015