Comment: Note the remarks from JPMorgan’s Michael Cembalest, whose work we’ve written about often here. He said Illinois was one of two states where “deteriorations in pension finances … are practically irreversible.” In order to address its pension gap, Cembalest said the state would have to either increase tax revenues by 25 percent, increase public sector worker contributions by 689 percent or achieve an annual investment return equal to 11.5 percent.

Whether you call it pork barrel spending, earmarks or plain old-fashioned horse trading, it took a lot of sweeteners to get lawmakers on board Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s $45 billion state construction plan, which he calls Rebuild Illinois.

“I’m told state representatives were instructed to designate $2.5 million-$3 million worth of projects for their districts, while senators were allotted $5 million-$6 million, not to suggest everyone was treated equally.” Although many of those “member initiatives” are detailed in the legislation, H.B. 62, others are lumped together in large multi-billion categories with more specific appropriations expected to be disclosed later.

Today’s unwelcome example hikes statewide costs for funding teacher and administrator pensions.