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Ill. Lawmakers Want Cap For Public Worker Pay Raises

Illinois lawmakers want to cap pay raises for public employees.

The Illinois State Legislature is looking to cap pay raises for public employees by limiting how much it appropriates for wage increases, Statehouse News Online reports.

The state House plans to set a maximum increase, according to the news agency. The announcement comes as Gov. Pat Quinn and the state's largest public employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, begin negotiations for the union's next contract. Its current contract expires on June 30, 2012.

"Essentially, it's the Legislature putting down a marker and saying (to the governor), 'If you go beyond this, we're not going to fund it,'" Kent Redfield, a political science professor at the University of Illinois in Springfield, told Statehouse News Online.

Dylan Scott is a GOVERNING staff writer.
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