NEW YEAR OF LAWS
State legislation taking effect in 2018 runs gamut from immigration to dinosaurs
From a higher minimum wage and new vehicle fees to legal sales of recreational marijuana, an abundance of new laws awaits Californians in 2018.
Most take effect on New Year’s Day, though a substantial number are scheduled to kick in as late as early summer.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed 859 new California laws, a slight decrease from 2016. Many were inspired by events of the year, including new punishment for violent attacks broadcast live on social media platforms such as Facebook. Others were a direct response by the Legislature’s majority Democrats to the policies of President Trump, most notably on immigration.
Other new laws continue a tradition of mandates that hardly will leave a trace on modern life in the Golden State — with one, the designation of an official state dinosaur, harkening back to a time before laws existed at all.
Crimes and courts
No California school employee can carry a concealed weapon onto campus, a change from the former rules in which school officials had discretion over the issue.
Anyone who “willfully recorded a video” of a violent attack that was streamed on a site such as Facebook could receive additional punishment in a California court of law.
No juvenile offenders have to serve life without parole, and those already behind bars would become eligible for release after 25 years. This is part of a series of laws easing punishment and fines for young people.
Counties can no longer charge fees to a family for everything from detention to monitoring of juveniles, a policy that critics said hit low-income families and communities of color the hardest.
Local officials can now make illegal the “open carry” of unloaded shotguns and rifles in urban unincorporated areas, places not covered in an existing ban on carrying handguns in public places.
Starting July 1, Californians who assemble their own gun — a process one police chief said is now “easier than putting together Ikea furniture” — must first get a serial number from the state Department of Justice.
Californians convicted of crimes that require them to get rid of their firearms must now prove they’ve done so before their court cases can be closed, a mandate approved by voters in a 2016 ballot measure. Additional punishment can be imposed on those who don’t comply.
Law enforcement agencies must gather information on sexual assault evidence that hasn’t been tested — known as rape kits — and explain to state officials why nothing’s been done.
Your commute
You can’t smoke or consume marijuana in any way while driving or riding in a car on California roadways.
You can be fined $20 for not wearing a seat belt on a commercial bus. Drivers will tell you to buckle up.
Drivers for ride-hailing companies such as Lyft and Uber can be cited for driving under the influence if they have a blood-alcohol content of 0.04%, the same as other commercial drivers.
Drivers for ride-hailing companies such as Lyft and Uber will only need a single permit to drive anywhere in California.
State officials will do more to crack down on Californians who are misusing disabled driver placards.
Health and wellness
Californians with HIV can no longer be charged with a felony for exposing a partner to the disease, a distinction it used to have from all other communicable diseases.
Farm animals in California can no longer be given antibiotics without a veterinarian's prescription — a law designed to help lessen the spread of infections that are resistant to antibiotics.
Hazardous chemicals in cleaning products have to be clearly identified on labels and online.
Your pocketbook
California’s lowest-paid workers are getting a raise, as the 2016 law to phase in a minimum-wage increase has raised that pay to $11 an hour for most businesses. Workers at the smallest companies will see their minimum wages rise to $10.50 an hour.
Owners of gasoline- or diesel-fueled cars must pay a new annual fee to help pay for road repairs. The fee ranges from $25 to $175, depending on the vehicle’s value.
Californians will pay a new $75 fee to refinance a mortgage and make other real estate transactions, money to be spent on providing more low-income housing in the state.
Immigrant rights
Local law enforcement officials across California have new, strict limits on how much they can help federal immigration authorities — a law that pushes back against Trump’s policies on illegal immigration.
A landlord can face civil penalties for threatening to report a renter to federal immigration authorities.
It now takes a warrant from a judge for federal agents to come to someone’s workplace on an immigration raid, and employers can be fined for not giving workers a 72-hour notice that those agents will be inspecting employee records. State agencies that provide help to juveniles and the developmentally disabled no longer have to report immigration violations to the federal government.
Education
California schools can no longer deny a lunch to a child whose parents haven’t paid their meal fees.
Schools in low-income communities must provide free tampons and other sanitary products to students in grades six through 12.
This fall, school buses must have a child safety alert system that requires a driver to make sure no kids are left on the bus.
2018 elections
Voters in five counties will find their neighborhood polling places closed and ballots sent to them in the mail, the first phase of a shift to the use of “vote centers” across California. The 2018 rollout begins with Sacramento, San Mateo, Madera, Napa and Nevada counties. Los Angeles County can move away from traditional polling places in 2020.
Following reports of too little help at polling places in 2016 for California voters who speak limited English, more sample ballots in other languages will be available.
Big donors to state ballot measure campaigns will have to be better identified in political advertisements in 2018.
The environment
California officials will get a chance to snatch up any public lands the federal government might try to sell in the state.
State regulators will unveil new rules on toxic air contaminants by the end of the year and new fines could be imposed on polluters — a law enacted as part of the 2017 effort to extend California’s cap-and-trade climate program.
Work and lifestyle
New parents at small businesses of at least 20 employees will be able to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for the child and won’t lose their health coverage while away.
When you apply for a new job in California, you can no longer be asked, “How much did you make at your last job?”
California’s equal pay law has been expanded to government jobs in an effort to remove any gender-biased pay rates.
Beginning in September, Californians can choose a gender-neutral option on their birth certificate for those who are transgender, intersex or don’t identify as male or female. That change will be allowed on a driver’s license in 2019.
More parents taking high school equivalency or English-language courses will be eligible for subsidized child care.
Water cooler talk
Some California cities will allow sales of marijuana for all uses, the first retail transactions since voters fully legalized pot in November 2016.
More buildings — from theaters and restaurants to government offices — must provide diaper-changing stations in men’s restrooms.
No more jaywalking tickets can be issued for stepping into a crosswalk after the flashing signal begins — as long as you can still cross safely before time runs out.
Local officials can place new restrictions on Hollywood bus tours, limiting the streets traveled and loudspeakers on open-topped buses and vans.
All landlords in the state must provide information about bedbugs — how to identify them and how to report them — to apartment renters and must follow new rules if an infestation is found.
Using a bullhook to handle or control elephants will be against the law in California.
If you’re 20 years old or younger, you will need a boater safety card before operating a boat.
8 California’s first vegetarian gets a formal title: Augustynolophus morrisi ,a plant eater whose fossils have only been found in the Golden State, is now the official state dinosaur.