Since we last updated our readers on minimum wage increases just a few weeks ago, there has been still more movement in a number of states toward the $15 per hour level. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who has been brandishing his progressive credentials by signing a host of liberal measures, signed a new $15 minimum wage (by 2024) into law earlier this month. Just over a week ago, hotel magnate and new Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a gradual $15 minimum wage bill into law with a $1 increase taking effect next January, $.75 more in July 2020 and another $1 every January thereafter until the $15/hour wage is reached in 2025. The current minimum in Illinois is $8.25 an hour. By a vote of 17-7, members of the Economic Matters Committee in the Maryland House of Delegates, voted to advance compromise legislation that hikes the current $10.10 an hour minimum to $15 by January, 2025 and preserves the tipped wage. Subsequently, the House gave its approval to the bill and sent it to Third Reading. It will likely pass as early as next week and go to the Senate.  And two states back in New England are looking at joining the $15/hour club as the Vermont Senate gave initial approval to increasing the minimum wage in the Green Mountain State to $15/hour by 2024. Meanwhile, Connecticut has been toying with the $15/hour wage for the past few legislative sessions and is expected to send a $15/hour bill to the Governor within the next few months. Finally, the new democratic Governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, just yesterday filed an FY 2020 budget that includes an increase in the minimum wage (currently $7.25) to $15/hour by 2025.