Pensions and their accompanying debt has the attention of Governor JB Pritzker. This past week he signed a bill that will allow for the consolidation of first responder pensions around the state.

The bill was the first tangible item from a pension taskforce Pritzker created. He acknowledges it’s a small step and won’t make those systems whole; so with more to do he’s ready for new solutions to a massive problem.

Pritzker says another small step in steadying pension debt in Illinois has been a buyout option for state retirees. In some systems it give them a lump sum of cash in place of the retiree getting a three percent raise in benefits each year for the rest of their life.