SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Cristina Castro met with colleagues today urging for an override of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of a bill she sponsored to address Illinois’ gender wage gap in Illinois and protect working women.

Had it become law, House Bill 4163 would have banned employers from asking prospective new employees about their salary history. This would ensure wages were based on experience rather than the employee’s history.

“It’s a vicious cycle,” said Castro, an Elgin Democrat. “If a woman is unfairly paid a lower wage at one job, and that unfair wage can be used to determine her wage at her next job, then she might never be able to earn the wage she is duly deserved.”

Despite making up nearly half the work force in Illinois, women on average are paid only 79 cents for every dollar earned by men in similar occupational roles. The disparity is even larger among women of color, with black women earning 63 cents to the dollar and Hispanic and Latina women earning only 48.

“Working class families in Illinois are already struggling,” said Castro. “It only makes matters worse when women are denied wages they deserve. All this bill does is help protect working class women in this state from undue financial hardship, so I’m having a hard time understanding why Gov. Rauner opposed it.”

The bill would also have given victims of unfair or gender-based wage discrepancies a method to seek compensation, including the recovery of lost wages, punitive damages and reimbursement of legal fees.

“Similar measures have been proposed, but none of them give women the ability to seek justice for unfair practices used against them,” said Castro. “That makes those laws unenforceable. This bill would have been an enforceable law meant to ensure that women in Illinois are paid what they ought to be fairly paid.”

Castro intends to file a motion to override during the fall Veto Session.

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Cristina Castro (D – Elgin) issued the following statement today after Gov. Rauner vetoed a bill she sponsored concerning the gender wage gap in Illinois and the protection of middle class working women:

“I’m frustrated by this veto, but it certainly doesn’t surprise me. The governor has never been a friend of the working class or of women, so a veto of a bill meant to offer protections to working class women definitely fits his style.”

ELGIN – Nurses will now be protected under the Healthcare Violence Prevention Act thanks to State Senator Cristina Castro’s (D-Elgin) new law that was signed on Friday.

“Health care providers devote their lives to taking care of our community,” Castro said. “Now it is time that we help them. Nurses deserve to feel safe at work.”

The new law creates the Healthcare Violence Prevention Act to protect health care providers, puts in place a violence prevention program and adds whistleblower protections for nurses who report violence to law enforcement.

Castro filed the legislation in response to an incident that occurred in Kane County on May 13, 2017, at Delnor Hospital. Two nurses were taken hostage by an inmate undergoing treatment who managed to obtain a handgun.

“The incident that happened in our home county at Delnor Hospital was alarming and extremely upsetting,” Castro said. “These nurses went to work that day to do their jobs and ensure the wellbeing of their patients, but instead they were assaulted. That’s why pushed this legislation and I am happy that it was finally signed into law.”

House Bill 4100 passed the Senate with unanimous support and goes into effect Jan. 1, 2019.

ELGIN – Gov. Bruce Rauner axed a measure from State Senator Cristina Castro (D-Elgin) Friday that would have protected undocumented immigrant tenants from harassment by landlords.

“This once again proves the governor is no friend of Illinois’ diverse immigrant communities,” Castro said. “Gov. Rauner continues to flock President Trump’s hostile right-wing agenda instead of embracing the contributions diversity brings to our state and society. Illinois needs a leader, not a Trump follower.”

Rauner issued vetoes on three measures, including Castro’s Senate Bill 3103, which would create the Immigrant Tenant Protection Act to prohibit landlords from questioning a tenant’s immigration status as a means of harassment or to force an eviction.

Castro’s measure would allow tenants to report criminal activity or habitability issues without being targeted based on their immigration status.

“This measure would simply put protections in place to ensure that landlords were not holding their tenants’ immigration status over their head to demand higher rent or eviction,” Castro said. “Tenants should have the freedom to come forward and report these crimes, no matter their citizenship status. It is important, not only for the tenant’s safety, but the safety of our communities.”

House Action Illinois, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Latino Policy Forum, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago, Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence and SEIU Healthcare are a few of the organizations in support of the measure.

Rauner also vetoed The Immigration Safe Zones Act (SB 35), which would have directed the Illinois Attorney General to develop model policies for courthouses, schools, libraries, medical facilities and shelters on how to handle immigration enforcement activity, and the VOICES Act (SB 34), which would have set consistent rules for law enforcement agencies that work with survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking and certain other crimes.

Castro pledges to work with her colleagues to override these discriminatory vetoes.

“Gov Rauner refuses to stand up for minority communities across our state,” Castro said. “Every time we need him to lead, he has turned his back on immigrant families who are simply trying to achieve the American dream.”