A look at significant new state laws recently passed

Issues run gamut from minimum wage to gun control

Several thousand new state laws bubble up from the swamp in Sacramento each year, get the legislature’s approval and then get a signature or veto from the governor.

The 2023 session produced the usual number of ticky-tack bills that merely tweaked previous

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“never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.” laws, but also produced some far-ranging new laws that will impact everyone in the state, including the little enclave of Inyo County.

The following are some of the more significant bills signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Wages and workers Cooking and serving a Big Mac or a Crunchy Taco Combo will be a bit more lucrative, thanks to approval of a mandated, $20-an-hour minimum wage for fast food workers. The pay hike will go into effect on April 1. The state minimum wage for all other workers is $15.50 an hour, the highest in the nation.

Another pay hike has been ordered for employees at large health care facilities and hospitals. Unfortunately, the higher wages will not be felt for several years at Inyo County’s hospitals and long-term care facilities. Statewide, “medical employees” will see a minimum wage of $23 an hour in June 2024; then $24 an hour in 2025; and $25 an hour in 2026. The new minimum wage includes all staff, from medical aids and clerks to office staff.

However, small, independent rural hospitals that serve high rates of Medicare and Medi-Cal patients (that would be Northern Inyo Hospital and Southern Inyo Hospital) will see a pay hike to $18 an hour next year, then slowly rising to hit $25 an hour by 2033. Workers at skilled nursing facilities (such as at Southern Inyo Hospital) will get $21 an hour next year and ongoing raises to reach $25 an hour by 2028.

California employers will have to allow their employees to take a minimum of five sick days a year. The law also increases the number of unused sick days that can be carried over to a new year. The law will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

abortion, textbooks

and guns

The state and Newsom weighed in on the national abortion debate by approving a new law that protects doctors and pharmacists who mail abortion pills to patients in other states.

The law is aimed at stopping other states with strict abortion limits from prosecuting or fining doctors and pharmacists in California who provide the legally protected medications. The law also gives the same protections for those prescribing or providing medication that “affirms a person’s gender identity.”

Tackling another national issue, a new state law will ban school boards from rejecting textbooks based on their contents about people from different racial backgrounds, sexual orientation or gender identities. The law took effect as soon as it was signed and is intended to counter a statewide and national effort to challenge or ban a variety of textbooks.

Gun control is also on the national agenda, and California will probably draw some court challenges to its newly enacted tax on guns. The new law will impose an 11% tax on gun purchases, on top of the federal 10-11% tax. The law also tightens the state rules for carrying a concealed weapon. Several groups have announced they will challenge those laws.

Renters and consumers

California has an extensive set of laws aimed at protecting renters. A new law will add to that list. Landlords who move renters out of units or terminate leases because they claim they are making large repairs or taking the unit off the rental market will have to prove they are following through on those plans, and if they don’t the renters can move back in.

Consumers should get a better idea of the total cost of goods and services when a new law goes into effect in July of 2024 that mandates advertised prices for those goods and services also include mandatory “junk” fees, such as resort fees, ticketing fees, handling fees and others.

A new law would hold social media sites (such as TikTok and Instagram) liable for spreading content showing child sexual abuse or trafficking. Sites can be fined up to $4 million for each of those “acts of exploitation” on their platforms.

Vetoes

Newsom did wield his veto pen to nix more than a few bills that passed the Legislature.

Two of those vetoes involved the evolving issues around drug use. Newsom vetoed a bill that would allow “cannabis lounges” to host smoky events with food and live entertainment. Those events would conflict with laws providing a smokefree indoor space for patrons and workers. He also vetoed a bill to allow psychedelics to be decriminalized for use to treat certain mental health conditions.

A bill that would have made health insurance companies cap the co-pay for insulin at $35 for a 30-day supply was vetoed by Newsom.

Also vetoed was a plan to expand state cash payments to elderly and disabled immigrants.

A bill to explicitly ban discrimination based on caste was also vetoed since, Newsom said, current state law prohibits discrimination based on ancestry.

Newsom vetoed a bill to provide public high school students with free condoms because of the cost of the program.