Governor JB Pritzker signs a new legislation to increase the state minimum wage to $15 an hour by the year 2025.  This was a day before he made his 1st budget address to the Illinois General Assembly.  The plan, known as Senate Bill 1, now is going to bump the $8.25-an-hour rate to $9.25 on January 1st, 2020, then move to $10 on July 1st, 2020, then go up by $1 per year until 2025.  House lawmakers voted 69-41 last week to approve the legislation, which was previously passed by the Senate.  Pritzker used the $15 minimum wage proposal as a centerpiece of his campaign last fall.  Business groups have fiercely opposed the measure, saying that it is going to hurt small business and put Illinois at a competitive disadvantage with neighboring states.  Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa are offering a minimum wage of $7.25, while Missouri offers a minimum wage of $8.60, which is going to increase to $12 by 2023.  Pritzker must now make room in the budget for the increase, since the government will have to finance increased wages for thousands of university students, who make minimum wage in their on-campus jobs or for workers in health care institutions, funded by Medicaid.