The drive to increase Illinois’ minimum wage has stalled for now.
Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago), says Madigan felt “complications of the last few days made it unlikely a bill could be passed during this General Assembly.”
This came within a couple of hours of State Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood) telling reporters she and Madigan were working together on a new proposal to increase the state’s hourly minimum from $8.25 now to $9 in July and $11 in 2019. Madigan’s pulling the plug on that idea until 2015.