Cook County could vote to raise minimum wage

Cook County could raise the minimum wage Wednesday, though it would take effect in the suburbs a year later than in Chicago.

A county board committee Tuesday voted to ultimately increase the wage to $13 an hour, by July 2020, ABC 7 Chicago and the Chicago Tribune reported. The first increase to $10 an hour would take effect July 1, 2017. It would rise to $11 an hour in 2018 and $12 in 2019.

The minimum wage would hit $13 an hour by July 2019 in Chicago, the Tribune reported.

The full county board is expected to seal the deal Wednesday.

Home-rule suburbs could opt out of the increase, but that raises fears of a patchwork of laws throughout the county. Advocates really want the state legislature to enact a new minimum wage instead, the Tribune reported.

Commissioner Richard Boykin of Chicago issued a statement after the board's vote on Tuesday.

"Minimum wage workers deserve a raise," he said in a statement. "Minimum wage workers are not just teenagers or those who are working just to earn a few extra dollars. They are mothers and fathers. They are senior citizens. They are people who cannot survive on $8.25 an hour. And because of the leadership of this Board, they will no longer have to."