Illinois has an unfunded pension liability of nearly $100 billion—the worst in the nation, according to official government numbers. The problem grows by $21 million every day lawmakers fail to enact reform. This debt growth, coupled with the fact that the quickly growing pension payments continue to crowd out resources for core government services, should have been reason enough for lawmakers to enact reform during the recent spring legislative session. Instead, political leadership punted on pension reform in the legislative session ended May 31—a move that resulted in back-to-back credit rating downgrades. Fitch, Moody’s Slap State Fitch Ratings downgraded Illinois’ credit rating to “A-” from “A,” calling the state’s pension liability “unsustainable.” The agency said it was concerned about the state being able to deal with its “numerous fiscal challenges.” Moody’s Investors Service quickly followed suit and downgraded Illinois’ rating to “A3” from “A2”. The rating agency also said...