Madigan Advances Minimum Wage Ballot Question

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is advancing a plan to ask voters whether the state should increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour.

The plan to put a nonbinding question on the November ballot comes after Illinois Democrats have been struggling to find enough votes to increase the state's minimum wage from $8.25 to $10.65 per hour.

Some Democrats in swing districts joined Republicans in resisting the effort, amid fears that companies might lay off workers or hire fewer new ones.

Madigan noted "differences of opinion" among members at a hearing Friday in Springfield where he presented the latest proposal.

He says it's "clear the state needs to be doing more to reduce economic inequality."