Illinois minimum wage stalls, House adjourns

SPRINGFIELD — There won’t be a vote on a statewide minimum wage increase under the current Illinois General Assembly this year or next, but the push continues.

The current General Assembly has officially adjourned. That means there will be no “lame duck” session of the current General Assembly next month.

House Speaker Michael Madigan says there are plenty of problems Illinois lawmakers must tackle.

“This session is no different than others, there have been successes and there has been a lack of success,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that in the next session of the General Assembly that many of us will come back and address the same issues with the same problems and doing that with the same amount of energy and dedication.”

As for the minimum wage increase, the proposal on the table may be brought back up under a new General Assembly but Steve Brown, spokesman for Speaker Madigan, tells Illinois News Network that there were a host of issues, including Chicago’s passage of a minimum wage increase, that made garnering the necessary number of votes for passage before the current session expires difficult. Brown said the 99th General Assembly will convene at noon Jan. 14.