Photo courtesy of State of Illinois
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn delivers the State of the State address Feb. 6 in Springfield.

By Pat Barcas
Staff Writer
Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013
     SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn touched on a number of issues in his fourth annual State of the State address last week, including high praise for construction projects in Illinois, and a desire to increase the state minimum wage by almost $2 to $10 per hour. But he didn’t get into specifics on the state’s nearly $100 billion pension problem, an issue that will be talked about at Quinn’s annual budget address later in February.
     “This is a choice about whether we’ll make the tough decisions necessary to balance our budget by reforming our public pension systems … or whether we will let our jobs, our safety, and our schools be squeezed out by skyrocketing pension costs,” he said.
     Quinn said he doesn’t agree with the current minimum wage rate of $8.25 per hour.
     “Nobody in Illinois should work 40 hours a week and live in poverty. That’s a principle as old as the Bible,” he said.” That’s why, over the next 4 years, we must raise the minimum wage to at least $10 an hour.”
     The prospect was embraced by Chicago-based activist group Action Now, who said they were excited by the news.
     “We’ve been following this and pushing for an increase in the minimum wage for a long time,” said Mike Frosolone, field director for Action Now. “We’re excited he talked about it, but there’s still a lot of details to be worked out.”
     Currently, Senate Bill 68, a bill to raise the minimum wage sponsored by Senator Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood) awaits action by the democratically-controlled Senate.
     Frosolone said the benefits of increasing the minimum wage are varied.
     “Throughout history, this has been a constant issue. Raising the minimum [wage] puts money in working families’ pockets, they then spend it on the local economy,” he said.
     Quinn also addressed, of course, jobs in Illinois, and the recent progress his administration has taken to create construction jobs in the state.
     “When I took the oath of office four years ago, Illinois had not had a jobs program to build highways, bridges and schools in more than 10 years,” he said in his address. “Within 10 weeks, we passed Illinois Jobs Now! … the largest public works investment in our state’s history. Between that and our Tollway initiative, we’ve been investing $43 billion to build and strengthen our infrastructure. This is supporting more than half a million jobs.”
     Lt. Governor Sheila Simon applauded Quinn for calling in compromise when working on pension reform in the spring session.
     “The state of Illinois is at a critical juncture, and lawmakers will be asked to make many difficult decisions in the coming months. I applaud Governor Quinn for calling attention to the state’s pension crisis and urging the General Assembly to work together on a solution. Reforming our state’s pension systems will enable us to fund priorities like education, health care and social services,” she said.

Pat Barcas’ e-mail address is pat@foxvalleylabornews.com.