The Illinois House and Senate have begun a two-week spring break and will return to Springfield on Monday, April 24.
Unfinished includes the so-called “Grand Bargain,” a package of legislation that would include an income tax increase, a new sales tax on services, and a minimum wage increase.
Lawmakers also haven’t considered an alternative budget proposal that would cut spending by $5 billion while raising taxes to pay billions of dollars in debt to government vendors. The House voted 64-45-1 on a stopgap spending measure that provides $800 million for human services and education. It’s unclear, however, whether the Senate will consider the measure when it reconvenes in two weeks.
Meanwhile, NFIB State Director Mark Grant testified against HB 198-Amendment 1, which would raise the wage to $15 per hour by 2022. The sponsor of the bill included a temporary tax credit for small business to help off-set the new financial burden, but NFIB argued that not tax credit will sufficiently make this viable for small business, and since the minimum wage is the floor from which all other wage rates stem, this bill is a government mandated labor cost hike of 80 percent that will be devastating to small businesses.
Contact and go see your state representative and senator while they are back in their districts and let them know how damaging this minimum wage hike would be to your business. Click here to find out how to contact your legislator.
