In 2017, the median salary for men in California was around $5,704 higher than the median salary for women in California. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research estimates that it will take around 25 years for California men and women to earn the same amount of money to do the same job.
Gov. Jerry Brown approved Assembly Bill 2282 and the new law goes into effect Jan. 1. AB 2282 will no longer allow employers to rely on salary history to determine the potential hire’s pay.
Assemblymember Susan Eggman (D-Stockton) said in the author comments of the bill’s analysis that using prior salary to justify paying women a lower wage continues the cycle of unequal pay.
The California Employment Lawyers Association said that women frequently begin their careers with lower salaries than men and then when salary history is used, it puts women at a disadvantage throughout their working lives.
Although California ranks #1 in having the smallest gender pay gap, California legislators continue to work towards creating policies to help shrink the gap. In 2015, the California Fair Pay Act was enacted to further enforce the laws in place under the Equal Pay Act of 1963. The California Fair Pay Act has been amended every year since including by this new law.
In the past few years, legislators have also made a point to recognize Equal Pay Day. Nationally, Equal Pay Day is celebrated at the beginning of April. This day signifies the day that women must work until they earn the difference in salary to men the year prior. This year, it took 100 days, until April 10, for women to approximately earn the difference.
Read more about this new law here.
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Mysterious light spotted over California
A classified satellite launch had all eyes in the sky Wednesday night, as Vandeberg Air Force Base prepared for NROL-71. Unfortunately, the launch was scrubbed for a second time this week, and the fourth time overall. 30th Space Wing Vandenberg Airforce base said there were no launches on the west coast at all, that they knew of. So for now, the light in the sky remains a mystery!