New Illinois $15 minimum wage bill reopens wage fight

SPRINGFIELD, IL (Alexia Ejadle Ruiz – Chicago Tribune Please Click on the link to read the full story. Here is an excerpt) A new bill to raise the Illinois minimum wage to $15 an hour is expected to be introduced in the state House this week as Democratic representatives revive a push they had largely abandoned over the past several years. State Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, who plans to be the lead sponsor of the legislation, hopes Illinois follows the lead of California and New York, which last year approved laws to advance toward $15 amid growing support across the country for boosting the incomes of the lowest-paid workers. Seventeen other states began this year with minimum wage hikes of varying degrees.