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Illinois General Assembly Quickly Moving to Raise State’s Hourly Minimum Wage Rate to $15/Hour


Stop me if you have heard this before:  a newly elected Democratic Governor, who made increasing the hourly minimum wage rate in the state a major campaign theme during the election, quickly moves to pass legislation approving a minimum wage hike upon taking office.  No, I am not talking about New Jersey, although Democratic Governor Phil Murphy did recently sign off on a bill to raise the hourly minimum wage rate in the state to $15/hour.  Instead, I am referencing J.B. Pritzker, the Democratic Governor of Illinois that took office last month.  During the campaign against incumbent Republican Governor Bruce Rauner, Pritzker made no secret of his desire to hike the hourly minimum wage rate in the state if he were to be elected.  As of this writing, Democrats in the state are on the fast track to approving this wage hike.

Last Thursday, the Illinois Senate approved a bill with a 39 -18 vote, along party lines, that would raise the state’s hourly minimum wage rate from $8.25/hour up to $9.25/hour next year and up to $15/hour by 2025.  It is worth noting that the legislation includes a tax credit that would be provided to employers in the state with 50 or fewer full time employees to help them offset the increase in labor costs.  As well, the legislation would allow employers to pay employees younger than 18 a lower wage so long as these employees worked fewer than 650 hours in a year.  (The hourly minimum wage rate for these employees would increase from $7.75/hour up to $8/hour in 2020 and peak at $13/hour in 2025).

Next stop for the legislation?  The Illinois House of Representatives, where the legislation could be voted on as early as this week.  Even if changes were made to the bill, which most do not think would happen, Governor Pritzker could sign off on the wage hike before the end of this month.  While this (seemingly likely) wage hike would be viewed as another victory for employees and labor activists in recent weeks, business leaders and Republicans in the state have cautioned that the wage hike could lead to jobs leaving the state, the closure of businesses, increased costs passed onto consumers, and a downturn in the state’s economy.

While Republicans have previously been able to block a statewide hourly minimum wage hike, they have had less success on the local level.  Readers might be aware that in traditionally Democratic parts of the state, the City of Chicago and Cook County currently have hourly minimum wage rates higher than the statewide rate:  Chicago has an hourly minimum wage rate of $12/hour that is set to increase to $13/hour this July while Cook County’s hourly minimum wage rate of $11/hour is set to increase to $12/hour in July and then again to $13/hour in 2020.  With that being said, with Democrats having majority control of the Illinois General Assembly (comprised of the House of Representatives and Senate) and now a Democratic Governor, there appears to be little that can be done to stop this statewide legislation from becoming law.  Now that Republican Governor Rauner is no longer in office, Republicans in the state appear to have lost the final ‘roadblock’ to this legislation.  (Governor Rauner had previously vetoed a bill in 2017 that sought to raise the state’s hourly minimum wage rate to $15/hour over the course of five years).  

If I were a betting man, I think Illinois becoming the next state to approve a $15/hour minimum wage rate in the coming weeks is as close to a sure thing as we are likely to see.


For additional information:  https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-illinois-senate-minimum-wage-15-story,amp.html

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