Illinois was dealt another round of bad fiscal news at the end of last week, when Moody's credit rating agency downgraded the state's rating from A1 to A2. Gov. Pat Quinn views this lack of confidence in Illinois as another opportunity to push for changes in the state pension system, saying Tuesday that the "best way" to get a rating upgrade is, "take on the challenge of public pension reform."

As PI noted yesterday, it's unclear what pension changes the governor has in mind. But Quinn is poised to be more active on pension changes in 2012 than in 2011 when a major pension bill public employee unions strongly opposed fizzled in a House committee.