Quinn to Give State of the State Address

Jobs and economic development will be the focus of Gov. Pat Quinn’s State of the State address that he will give today, Wednesday, at the capitol in Springfield.

“That's foremost on the minds of everyday people in our state," Quinn said Tuesday in Chicago, according to The Associated Press. "We have to have robust economic growth and jobs in order to be a good state."

The AP report said Quinn will lay out an agenda that includes tax relief for families, among other proposals, and detail programs that his administration has implemented. Quinn declined to give any specifics of the speech.

A financial government watchdog group recently released a study saying that Illinois could see its overdue bills total an unprecedented $35 billion in five years if the state fails to rein in pension and other costs, Rueters reported.

"Failure to address unsustainable trends in the state's pension and Medicaid systems will only result in financial disaster for the state of Illinois," said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, the financial government watchdog group that produced the report. Msall said the governor and General Assembly need to act now.

The Civic Federation's five-year budget projection showed the backlog of bills owed vendors and others rising to $9.2 billion when fiscal 2012 ends in July.