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Pension Committee Gets to Work

Rich Egger

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn had harsh words for the pension conference committee that met in Chicago Thursday.

The conference committee, which was formed last week, was Quinn's idea. But he said he thought they would get to work right away.

“I think it was a little disappointing that the members of this conference committee took their own sweet time at even coming together," Quinn said 

Quinn has demanded a bill be on his desk by July 9. But some lawmakers say that's too short a timeline.  Even if they reach consensus on a plan, it would take time to get an actuarial analysis to determine how much money it might save.

“Just listening to some of these folks on that committee, they've spent more time complaining about the deadline (when) they should, in my opinion, spend time doing the work of getting pension reform," the governor said. 

July 9 is just the latest in a long series of Quinn deadlines. When asked what the consequences would be for blowing it, Quinn would only say the legislature would have a lot of explaining to do.