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Governor calls for special session of General Assembly

By WEEK Producer
July 30, 2012 Updated Jul 30, 2012 at 8:06 PM CDT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Governor Pat Quinn has called for a special session of the Illinois General Assembly to deal with pension reform.

The Governor called for the legislature to meet Friday, August 17th to address pension reform.

Republican leaders Senator Christine Radogno and Representative Tom Cross issued a statement supporting the need for pension reform in Illinois.

The state now has an unfunded pension liability of $83 billion. The Governor says its time for the public to push legislators to act.

"For the people of Illinois to put pressure on the legislature -their members of the legislature that are running for office, and I think this is a good time to say this is a crying need of our state, we must act," Quinn said.

A major stumbling block to pension reform could be the Governor's insistence that downstate and suburban Chicago school districts start paying into the teacher's pension system for their employees.

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