Illinois House Caps Salary on Pensions

The Illinois House took the first small step Thursday to reform state pensions by voting to cap annual pensions to retired workers to end abuse. However two other reform measures went down to defeat as lawmakers struggle to put together a comprehensive plan to finance the nation's worst funded state pension system. Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan is offering test votes to see where there is support for the reform before taking a final vote. Lawmakers rejected to freeze cost of living increases for retired workers for 10 years and also rejected a proposal to require state workers to contribute two percent more to their pensions for the next two years. The governor is calling on the Democratic controlled legislature to act quickly on pension reform.