State of the State Address Preview

Springfield - The future and finances, that's what Gov. Pat Quinn (D) will talk about Wednesday during his State of the State address.

One thing most lawmakers want him to talk about is the $97 billion pension crisis.  There's been a lot of debate on how to solve it.  But, obviously there've been no solutions.

The unions don't want to give up their benefits.  Democrats want to shift teacher costs to individual school districts.  But, republicans say that'll cause massive tax hikes.  "It needs something serious" says Rep. Raymond Poe (R-99th Dist.).  "We can lay out and get everybody to work with all our retirees and of course you got to work with the legislators.  We have to decide how to pay for those contracts."

It's expected Quinn will boast how scandal-free the state has been ever since he took office in 2009 in the wake of the Rod Blagojevich corruption case.  He'll deliver his speech on Wednesday.