SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- State lawmakers are supposed to use this veto session to override the Governor's vetoed bills or vote to sustain them.
Wednesday, the Senate agreed to restore funding to several correctional facilities Governor Quinn wanted to close, including prisons at Dwight and Tamms.
Quinn cut $56 million from the measure.
The House still needs to vote to override the veto, and both chambers still have a lot of decisions to make on hot-button issues like pension reform, expanding gambling, and legalizing medical marijuana.
Lawmakers expect those topics to get pushed to the lame duck session scheduled for the first week in January, before the new General Assembly gets sworn into office.
"We need to take the time and make sure we do pension reform correctly," said St. Sen. Dave Koehler, (D) 46th Dist, "because this is a long-term issue, It's not just something we should just slap together hastily. We need to spend the time and do this right."
"Kicking the can down the road is no longer an option," said St. Sen. Darin LaHood, (R) 37th Dist. "We're dead last in every category. We have the worst pension system in the entire country. We just had our credit rating downgraded again. We have to do something about it."
The veto session is expected to last six days.
However, the House has cancelled its meeting for Thursday.
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