[4] On August 17, 2012, Governor Pat Quinn called the General Assembly into special session to address the Illinois pension crisis.

The House and Senate voted to place the Illinois Public Pension Amendment on the November 2012 ballot, which would have amended the Illinois Constitution to require a 60% majority of both houses for any increase to pension benefits.

[7] As part of the redistricting process following the 2010 US Census, the General Assembly approved new congressional and state legislative maps for the following decade.

The new maps for the Illinois House and Senate districts were signed into law by the governor on June 3, 2011.

[8] Republican leaders of the House and Senate sued to block the map, but a three-judge panel dismissed their suit in December 2011.