A bill to create a state law to prohibit employers from paying employees differently for essentially the same work based only on sex or race got final passage this morning in the Alabama Legislature.

The House, on a 90-0 vote, accepted changes the Senate made to the bill.

Gov. Kay Ivey later sent back the bill with an executive amendment. The House and Senate both concurred with the amendment. The bill is now set to become law in August.

Rep. Adline Clarke, D-Mobile, who had worked on the bill since 2016, said Alabama becomes the 49th state to pass an equal pay bill. Although there is a federal equal pay law, Clarke said it was antiquated. Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, handled the bill in the Senate.

“This bill will create an awareness, first and foremost, I think for the workers in the state of Alabama that they have a right to file pay discrimination suits when and if they exist,” Clarke said.

Clarke said she did not think pay discrimination is pervasive in Alabama but has heard from people who say they’ve experienced it.

“The bill is going to help not only employees in the state of Alabama but it’s also going to help to clarify for employers what bona fide factors there are that will allow for them to pay different wages for similar work,” Clarke said.

After the bill passed, Clarke said she called Lilly Ledbetter, who became a leading national advocate for equal pay after challenging the discrimination she experienced as a supervisor at the Goodyear Tire plant in Gadsden decades ago. Ledbetter carried her fight to the U.S. Supreme. A federal equal pay law signed into law by President Obama bears Ledbetter’s name.

“She is elated that her home state has finally passed pay equity legislation,” Clarke said.

Ledbetter, in a prepared statement, said she was “proud that my home state has finally passed this important legislation, which ensures greater fairness in the workplace. While women are those who most often suffer because of pay disparity, the lack of these protections impact us all. It truly is a good day for women and all the citizens of Alabama.”

Updated at 8:35 a.m. to say that Gov. Ivey sent bill back with executive amendment, that both houses concurred and bill is set to become law in August.