By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – How much do you make now? In a new law taking effect in sixty days, potential employers cannot ask that question. The law is intended to close the pay gap between men and women.

Wendy Pollack of the Shriver Center on Poverty Law says this is a giant step forward. “Asking a job applicant their salary history only perpetuates lower wages. There is simply no reason to ask the question.”

Women reportedly make 79 cents for each man’s dollar. Pollack says after two vetoes from then-Gov. Bruce Rauner, Illinois finally has a governor, JB Pritzker, who will put his bill-signing pen where his mouth is on equal pay.

The Chicago venue of the bill-signing Wednesday afternoon, Pritzker noted, is just steps from the U.S. Soccer Federation, which is defending its paying women less money than the men – who are less successful.

But what about the Job Creators? The National Federation of Independent Business says employers can’t waste time and money interviewing people who won’t work for what they can pay.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]