Some of the 6.1 million Americans who have been out of work for over six months are stuck in a Catch 22: because they're unemployed, they have bad credit history, potential employers check their credit history when they apply for a job and reject them because they don't look good on paper.

But today the Oregon Senate just passed the Job Applicant Fairness Act, a bill that will ban companies from using good credit history as a requirement for getting a job. Banks and financial institutions are exempted from the bill, which is modeled on a national bill. The Oregon bill next heads to a vote in the House.

Job Applicant Fairness Act sponsor Representative Tina Kotek points out that Americans can acquire poor credit history because they have medical debt, lost their job or went through a divorce, which doesn't mean they're a bad employee. "There's no statistical evidence that says someone's credit history affects their job performance," says Kotek. In researching the bill, Rep Kotek, who is openly gay, pulled her own credit history and was shocked how much personal information it revealed. "It shows any bank account you've ever had, any debt you've ever had, any credit card. That would be an easy way for an employer to know whether you're in a same-sex relationship, because I have the same person of the same gender registered on all my cards."

Despite the fact that there's no research to back up the idea that people with poor credit scores will commit fraud or steal from their employers (check out the damning video of one of the bill's opponents admitting that to the Oregon Senate), 43 percent of businesses nationwide run credit history checks on potential employees, up from 25 percent in 1998.

Jobs on Portland's Craiglist that have nothing to do with finance or banking tell potential applicants that they will be pulling their credit history, like this ad for a "Caregiver With a Heart."