As a second Trump administration approaches, we’re running out of time to confirm as many federal judges as possible to provide a check on his presidential power and curb his stated policy priorities.
There are 40 federal judicial vacancies and 16 nominations before the Senate right now—as our civil rights hang in the balance, take action now!
The Salary History bill (HB 123/SB 217) is a simple, straightforward measure that will help stop practices that are harming Maryland employees and businesses by (1) ensuring that employers no longer rely on job applicants’ salary history in hiring and setting pay and (2) requiring employers provide the wage range for a position if the applicant applying for the position requests it.
Relying on applicants’ salary history to set pay and keeping salary ranges secret harms many types of job applicants, but it particularly hurts women and people of color by forcing them to carry discriminatory wage gaps from job to job. Fortunately, research shows that legislation like the Salary History bill helps to narrow wage gaps, as does the practice of providing job applicants the wage range for a position. Given that Black women in Maryland are paid only 69 cents on the dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men and Latinas are paid only 46 cents—the 4th largest wage gap for Latinas in the country—Maryland lawmakers have an urgent obligation to Maryland women, families, and the state economy to pass this legislation.
