Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is urging the General Assembly to get pension reform done before it's too late. He says pension debt obligatoins are squeezing out funding for social services and education. Quinn told legislators in his State of the State, it was important to take care of pensions because the state's financial future counted on it. He also pointed out all of Illinois has a "shared vision" towards prosperity, education and giving everyone a chance to work.
The governor is hoping the Legislature will ban the sale of assault weapons and high capacity magazines and wants every school to have a school shooting drill.
He wants the state to start doing more public-private partnerships and moving them into advanced manufacturing. That includes an advanced manufacturing hub at the University of Illinois, in hopes of making the state's manufacturers even more competitive.
The governor also pressed legislators to raise the state's minimum wage to at least ten dollars an hour, saying it was the right thing to do.
Quinn is also hoping to create the Illinois Health Exchange to make sure everyone has access to healthcare and passing more education reforms.
(Posted 2/6/2013 at 1:14pm, Metro Networks)
