ILLINOIS (WAND) – State leaders are reacting with everything from happiness to disappointment after the House passed a minimum wage increase.
A bill would increase the minimum hourly pay rate in Illinois to $15 per hour steadily over a six-year period. On Thursday, it moved through the House by a 69-41 margin. The next step is the desk of Gov. JB Pritzker, who is expected to sign it into law.
Illinois currently has a minimum wage of $8.25 an hour. Should the bill become law, it would move up to $9.25 at the start of 2020 and continue to increase until 2025.
Rep. Chris Miller (R-Oakland) called the bill the “St. Valentine’s Day Job Massacre” in a Thursday press release. He voted against the plan.
“My district runs along the Wabash River and Indiana border, which already has a lower minimum wage at $7.25 an hour,” he said. “This day will go down as the day the legislature voted to kill thousands of jobs in Illinois and drive more people out to our neighboring states where the jobs will be.”
House Speaker Mike Madigan voiced his approval.
“Today we made history in Illinois by increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour for the hardest-working people in our state,” Madigan said. “We heard from people across Illinois and took their message to heart.”
One of the organizations backing the change was the Fight for $15 group in Chicago. Leader Adriana Alvarez said the bill’s passage meant “the impossible becomes reality” and will allow millions of workers to afford a better life. The Illinois Retail Merchants Association, on the other hand, said in a statement that it’s disappointed because “a readily achievable compromise” wasn’t reached.
