Governor Pat Quinn outlined a plan last week to reform the state's troubled pension systems. In doing so, Quinn appeared to outright reject some pension ideas offered up by House Republican Leader Tom Cross and Senate President John Cullerton.

The governor said pension-reform negotiations, which have dragged on for well over a year, are in need of a fresh start. Republican Leader Cross' reform proposal raises employee pension contributions to force public employees into either a lower-cost system or to a 401(k)-style plan. The state's pension plans have billions of dollars in what's called unfunded liability, and the idea is to lower that liability by reducing retiree pension payouts.

The governor all but said Leader Cross' plan, which is hotly opposed by labor unions, needed to be tossed out. "I don't think there's a lot of enthusiasm by members of either party and either house for that particular bill," the governor said. "We're going to start from scratch, and everybody will have a voice and we'll get to a good place."

Last week, powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan appeared to all but endorse an idea to force Downstate and suburban school districts to pay a significant share of their state pension contributions for the first time in anyone's memory.

Senate President John Cullerton floated that very proposal last year, and Governor Pat Quinn added his support not long ago.

Needless to say, if all three Democratic leaders are talking about it, you can probably expect some action this year. However, there will be strong pushback from suburban and Downstate legislators who'll undoubtedly fear a voter backlash over potentially massive local tax increases to pay for the idea.

As you might know already, Moody's earlier this month slapped Illinois with the worst credit rating of any state in the nation. But while Moody's report was damaging, S&P's rating was far more negative about the state's future.

Moody's cited Illinois' "weak management practices" as one reason for its ratings downgrade. The state's failure to implement any pension-funding reforms and to pay off its mountain of overdue bills were the two top reasons for the downgrade. But Moody's moved Illinois from a "negative" to a "stable" outlook for the future.

Fox Chicago News quoted a spokesperson for Governor Pat Quinn saying that the Moody's rating drop was an "outlier" because ratings agencies S&P and Fitch had decided not to lower the state's credit rating last week. On the surface, that's true. Underneath, not so much. Trouble is, S&P's rating contained much harsher language about Illinois' credit future, the agency also put Illinois on negative watch, and it issued a sternly worded warning that the state is in danger of another ratings downgrade this year.

I talked with former state Senator Howie Carroll last week about the proposal by state Representative Bill Mitchell (R-Forsyth) to kick Chicago and suburban Cook County out of Illinois. Mitchell's resolution has just a tiny number of co-sponsors, but he's managed to get himself lots of statewide and national media coverage, and he clearly appears to be enjoying his 15 minutes of fame claiming that his region of the state is tired of paying for Chicago's liberal programs.

Carroll knows all too well about breaking the state in two because he sponsored just such a resolution back in 1981. Carroll, a Chicago Democrat, proposed to make Cook County a separate state. According to newspaper accounts from the time, the resolution was introduced in the midst of heated fighting between Chicago-area and Downstate legislators over funding for mass transit.