Senator Mulroe celebrates vote.SPRINGFIELD – Taking up the mantle from the previous legislative session, the Senate today passed Senate Bill 11, which will incrementally raise the minimum wage to $11 per hour. Senator John Mulroe (D-CHICAGO) voted in favor of the bill.

“The minimum wage is not a living wage, but unfortunately Illinoisans have been relying on it as if it were,” Mulroe said. “We need to raise the minimum wage in an effort to give working-class people the opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty.”

The bill quickly passed out of committee yesterday before finding its way onto the floor for the vote. Shortly after the committee, the call to raise the minimum wage was echoed in the State of the State Address.

Under the new legislation, the minimum wage would be raised from $8.25 to $9 beginning July 1 of this year, and would continue to rise by $0.50 every subsequent July 1 until 2019. Further, the new law would establish that the power to control the minimum wage be a function of the state and institute a “denial and limitation” of existing home rule powers.

The new measure also contains language that would benefit small businesses: for companies with 50 employees or less, these companies would receive a credit based on the increase of the minimum wage aimed at covering the difference in wages.

The measure now moves on to the House.

Category: Showcase

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