Republican State Representative Dan Swanson of Alpha issued a statement following Thursday’s vote to increase the minimum wage in Illinois to $15/hour by 2025. Swanson said he’s “thinking of the small-business groups who potentially are going to have to lay off people if they’re going to keep their business open. Of more than 500 Central Illinois businesses surveyed, 51% of businesses responded they are likely to lay off employees, 71% of companies replied they would raise prices to cover the cost, 63% report they will reduce hours, and disturbingly, 17% of businesses surveyed would consider closing,” he said. Representative Swanson made the statement before casting a NO vote on Senate Bill. His information was compiled by the Central Illinois Regional Chamber Legislative Effort (CIRCLE), which surveyed over 550 businesses in Central Illinois. “So it’s pretty disturbing: it’s going to be a major impact in our area,” Swanson said. “We see businesses start laying-off people once again. We see businesses start closing their doors. We see businesses start to move across the river.”
Republican State Representative Norine Hammond of Macomb called the passage of the bill a disaster. She said, “To say that I am disappointed would be minimizing to what happened. It’s going to be a disaster for our schools; it’s going to be a disaster for our universities, for our healthcare providers, for our hospitals. We’re going to look back on this and say, “What were we doing?” And the fact that it’s $15 an hour across the state is absolutely incredulous.”
Under the plan, the state’s minimum wage would go from $8.25 to $9.25 on Jan. 1, 2020, and then to $10 on July 1, 2020. It would then go up $1 more each Jan. 1 after that until it reaches $15 in 2025. Gov. Pritzker is expected to sign the bill before Wednesday’s budget address.
