The Illinois Senate has approved a $3.7 billion bond measure by the state for payment into underfunded employee pensions, Bloomberg reports. The debt issue was approved after the Senate cleared a 67% hike in the income-tax rate. The state had $64 billion in pension assets to pay estimated liabilities of $126.4 billion to 723,000 retirees and beneficiaries. Illinois raised $3.47 billion in a sale of taxable pension bonds a year ago.

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