2020 to bring notable new state laws
A slew of state laws take effect in 2020, ranging from mandatory composting to child abuse registries to access to diaper changing stations.
A few of the more notable changes:
❚ Food scraps can’t go in Vermont landfills beginning July 1. Residents will have four ways to handle rotten leftovers and items such as peels, eggshells, seeds, pits, coffee grounds and oils, according to the state’s environmental conservation department.
Vermonters can use a household compost bin, buy a Green Cone solar digester to break down the scraps, feed scraps to pigs or leave it to the composting professionals. The universal recycling law will require trucking companies to provide food scrap collection services to nonresidential customers and multi-unit apartment complexes, the Burlington Free Press reported.
❚ Citing a need to respect human life, Arkansas will not allow public funding for human cloning or “destructive embryo research,” which the state defines as medical procedures or investigations that kill or injure developing humans. ACT 653 also blocks state funds from stem cell research involving embryos, the stage lasting to eight weeks after fertilization.
❚ Businesses in Washington state will be prohibited from putting expiration dates on gift cards beginning July 1. HB 1727 will also prevent gift certificate users from being hit by inactivity or service charges.
However, if a gift card is part of rewards or loyalty program, it can still expire. The law will also not apply to gift certificates given to charitable organizations as a donation.
❚ Restaurants, stores and other buildings with public restrooms in Illinois must have at least one baby diaper changing station under HB 3711. The law requires buildings either have a station in women’s and men’s restroom, or a station in a unisex restroom. Building owners must also display a sign near restroom entrances to show that a sanitary and safe changing station is inside.
❚ Nevada will join other states in preventing insurers from denying coverage to patients because of preexisting conditions. The federal Affordable Care Act currently protects people with preexisting conditions from that and higher coverage costs, but the act is facing legal challenges. A federal appeals court struck down a major part of the ACA last week, which could lead to a Supreme Court case. Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak said Nevada’s AB 170 will keep health care protections in place if the ACA is eliminated.
❚ In Georgia, HB 478 will create stricter requirements to list a person on the state’s child abuse registry, upping the age from 13 to 18. Previously, the state entered offenders who were minors into the database and didn’t remove them until they turned 18, they could prove they had been rehabilitated or more than a year had passed since the date of the act that prompted the last case.
❚ Employers cannot screen applicants based on their salary history under a New Jersey law effective Jan. 1. AB 1094 also prevents hiring managers from requiring that an applicant’s salary history falls within a minimum or maximum criterion.