Before the spring legislative session is over, Illinois residents might find it pays — literally — to hang onto those bags you get in the store.

That’s because the General Assembly is debating bills that would put a tax on the bags that stores put your groceries and other merchandise in as you check out.

Officials from several public employee groups told state lawmakers Thursday that the pension reform measures enacted in 2010 are patently unfair and possibly illegal.

And, in the case of public school teachers, the relatively new pension structure might soon fall out of compliance with federal regulations, something that could cost taxpayers billions of dollars in the future.

Once again last week, the Illinois General Assembly proved it can move quickly when it wants to.

In the space of three days, both the House and Senate approved the Tobacco 21 bill that raises the age to legally purchase tobacco in Illinois to 21. This comes just a couple of weeks after lawmakers pushed through the minimum wage increase in what amounts to lightning speed for the Legislature.

For at least a decade, most Illinois residents who receive food stamps have been exempt from a federal law that requires them to work or risk losing their benefits.

But a proposal that would make it harder to obtain those exemptions — a move designed to encourage people to find jobs while unemployment is low — has social service agencies in Illinois, like elsewhere, worried that the poor will only plunge deeper into poverty.

Whether you’re for or against the age-old Chicago practice, one thing that’s certain is that “dibs” season ends Monday.

The Department of Streets and Sanitation announced in a statement that crews will begin clearing streets of “debris” on Monday as they travel along their daily garbage collection routes.

The Winnebago County Board will decide in coming months whether to borrow $30.5 million to fix roads, replace voting machines, demolish the Public Safety Building and more.

There’s a catch, of course. County Administrator Carla Paschal has told the board that a bond sale to address the county’s capital needs would cost taxpayers $47 million over the next 20 years because it would come with $17 million in interest payments.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Champaign school board members were determined to do a $25 million upgrade of Edison Middle School, even in the face of the voters’ refusal to sign off on the plan.

This week, the board approved a measure to do just that, selling the plan as a cost-free move because the extra $10 million they’re spending won’t come from increased property taxes but from the district’s cash reserves.