When JB Pritzker announced he was running to be Illinois's Governor in 2017, some people had their doubts. After all, Pritzker is the heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune and has a net-worth of $3.2 billion. This makes him the richest politician in America, beating Donald Trump's net worth of $3.1 billion.
In Pritzker's campaign announcement, he claimed to be running with progressive values and called the sitting Governor, Bruce Rauner, a “failure”. Many people liked what Pritzker had to say but were unsure why someone with his fortune would want to increase the amount of taxes that they pay. In Pritzker's Pandora ads, he specifically said that he believed that he and Rauner should be paying more taxes. Pritzker also managed to beat the record for a self-funded campaign by forking over $126.5 million.
Pritzker won the election and was inaugurated January 14th, 2019. In just the first six months of his term, he has made headlines multiple times for passing progressive bills and laws.
Only a month into his term, Gov Pritzker signed a statewide law that raises the minimum wage to $15 per hour. This happens to be a popular number amongst progressive politicians that have been pressuring companies and other politicians to raise their wages. Pritzker was praised by politicians like Bernie Sanders shortly after. The only catch is that the wage will not reach $15 until the year 2025. Chicago's current minimum wage is $12 per hour. With inflation, the number might still be behind after a six year wait.
Last month, Pritzker signed a bill legalizing the use of cannabis for those over 21-years-old. The bill also allows Illinois residents to expunge prior cannabis convictions. This would allow about 315,000 residents representing 770,000 cases to have their convictions expunged. Under the new law, anyone that was caught with under 30 grams, would get automatic clemency. This is what many are calling the most progressive cannabis-related law in the country, to date.
Aside from these larger changes, Gov Pritzker also proposed a progressive income tax which was approved by the house committee back in May. He also passed House Bill 2028, which doubles the benefits given to family members of fallen police officers and firefighters that passed on the line of duty. He raised it from 10,000 to 20,000.
Senate Bill 1890 aims at decreasing human trafficking. It requires hotels and motels to train their employees to recognize and report suspicions of human trafficking. The bill holds the companies responsible and they can be fined up to $100,000.
These bills represent a fraction of Gov Pritzker's progressive legislation that has received less public attention. In just six months Gov Pritzker has managed to raise the bar for progressive politics and has encouraged other politicians to follow in his path.
