Starting on April 1, 2015, Seattle, Washington, plans to raise the minimum wage up to $15, a little over twice the national minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

Washington already has the highest minimum wage of $9.32 per hour. The plan, which was announced last May, consists of increasing the minimum wage to $15 over the next three to seven years. The amount given will depend on the size of the business and the benefits provided to the employees.

On April 1, 2015, all employees will receive a $1 per hour raise. The plan will also include a lower training wage specifically for teenagers, according to USA Today.

Some of the downsides of this plan are that it might affect small businesses that would have more costs to cover. Furthermore, employees who work for big companies will get their $15 an hour in a shorter period of time compared to employees who work in small businesses, which is a concern.

“The reason they are raising minimum wage is to help get families out of poverty. But if you think about it, companies are just gonna hire less people because they will have to pay them more and then it will increase poverty rates and amount of people that will get welfare and unemployment,” said junior Sophia Krumrey, an employee at Kmart.

Also, the companies will raise prices for whatever they sell to have them earn more so that they can pay for employees; and if there are fewer people with jobs and higher prices, then less people will buy products because many can’t afford it. It will cause the economy to get even worse than before,”

Businesses with more than 500 employees are required to pay $15 an hour by 2017, or 2018 if businesses offer health care. Smaller businesses are required to pay $15 an hour in the next five to seven years. Another part of the plan is to have the the employee’s tips and benefits applied toward the higher minimum wage for up to 11 years.

As of 2014, Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota have approved for an increase of minimum wage as well, but at different amounts.

San Francisco, California is another city that is following in the steps of Seattle, Washington by raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Of the 38 states that introduced bills for the increasement of minimum wage, 34 have considered raising the minimum wage. Also, 10 states and the District of Columbia have enacted an increase in minimum wage, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“I definitely think Illinois should do the same here because minimum wage can’t support a decent life for someone, especially if they have to help or provide for someone else,” said Maggie McGhee, junior and an employee at Emperor’s Kitchen in Elmhurst.

In fact, Illinois has been talking about raising minimum wage for a while now, precisely 2 years and 6 months. The state minimum wage has been $8.25 since 2010. The Senate even passed a bill that proposed to raise the minimum wage to more than $10 an hour, despite the protests of businesses who claim it would harm their chances to survive the economy, according to the Quincy Journal.

Regardless of the senate’s approval of the bill, not much has been done to go through with the plan of raising the state minimum wage from $8.25 an hour to $10 an hour.

Even Rahm Emanuel wanted to raise the minimum wage in Chicago to $13 an hour over a period of years. As of December 2, 2014, the city of Chicago will raise the minimum wage from $8.25 an hour to $13 an hour by 2019, according to CNN Wire Service.