Pension reform remained Gov. Pat Quinn’s first priority, followed by higher education reform and economy stimulation, when giving the State of the State address on Wednesday afternoon.

Gov. Pat Quinn advocated the need for pension reform in his State of the State address, which he said needed to be solved before Illinois can move forward on any other reforms.

Illinois’s pension debt continues to grow by $17 million each day, which Quinn said then robs education, public safety and other services of the funds they need to perform.

“Our vision for our Illinois cannot be fully realized without pension reform,” Quinn said. “The pension squeeze is draining our ability to teach our students. Our children are being shortchanged. And in the end, that shortchanges our economy, too.”

Quinn praised Senate Bill 1, the pension reform bill filed with Sen. John Cullerton, D-6 on Jan. 9, and called on General Assembly members to make this legislation their first priority.

“Senate Bill 1 (is) a comprehensive bill that stabilizes our pension systems and fixes the problem,” Quinn said. “I urge all of you to be part of the solution. And while refinements may come, Senate Bill 1 is the best vehicle to get the job done.”

Once the pension crisis has been solved, higher education reform can take place, Quinn said. He praised initiatives that help higher education across the state, like the rededication of the new Lincoln Hall that will take place at the University next week.

“In our Illinois, anything is possible…especially when it comes to educating our students,” he said.

Quinn said he plans to continue creating jobs in Illinois. He asked the General Assembly to pass House Bill 190, which was filed by Rep. Michael Madigan, D-22 on Jan. 18 to create more construction jobs.

“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,” Quinn said. “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…but we have much more to do.”

This would create economic growth, but Quinn said small businesses are also the target of reform.

“In our Illinois, small business means big business,” he said. “Driving economic growth for small businesses requires doing all we can to make sure government is not in the way – while always protecting the health and safety of consumers.”

To further stimulate the economy, Quinn plans to increase competitive manufacturing by partnering with the University.

“In the last 3 years, manufacturing has been one of our state’s leading growth sectors, creating nearly 40,000 new jobs,” he said. “We’re at the cutting edge of advanced manufacturing, and we need to stay there. That’s why we’re partnering with the University of Illinois and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications to create an advanced manufacturing hub where companies – big and small – come to learn and use the world’s most sophisticated tools and software.”

Filling jobs and helping the economy also involves raising minimum wage. Quinn wants to see the rate increased to $10 per hour this year.

Quinn remained proud of reforms made in the past year, such as the creation of jobs, improvements on roads, bridges and railroads, and reform on the education system. However, Quinn said there is still much to be done.

“Let there be no mistake; our state is at a critical juncture,” Quinn said. “We have moved Illinois forward. But we have much more to do. At this point, each and every one of us has a choice to make about what we want our Illinois to look like.”