SPRINGFIELD — Minimum wage workers in Illinois will see a boost in their hourly pay to $12 per hour starting Jan. 1, while tenants in affordable housing units will be allowed to keep pets.Those are just some of the more than 300 new laws that take effect in the new year.The minimum wage increase is actually the result of a 2019 law that phases in a state minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. This year, it will increase by one dollar to $12 an hour.The law allowing public housing tenants to keep pets is the result of Senate …