New laws statewide to focus on safety, salaries
Hundreds of new laws passed by the California Legislature will take effect in the new year, from legalizing jaywalking in many scenarios to a higher minimum wage for more workers. Most of them take effect on Jan. 1. Here are 13 laws coming to California in 2023:
Jaywalking: Pedestrians will no longer be cited for crossing the street outside of a crosswalk, unless they are in immediate danger of being hit. AB2147, by Assembly Member Phil Ting, DSan Francisco, prohibits police officers from stopping or citing people for jaywalking “unless a reasonably careful person would realize there is an immediate danger” of a collision with a vehicle or bicyclist.
Minimum wage: California’s $15 minimum wage will expand to nearly all employees, including those working for small businesses. The hourly wage increase applies to employees of businesses with 25 or fewer workers. It’s the final step in a seven-year plan to phase in a statewide $15 minimum wage, which extended to employees of larger businesses in 2022. The minimum wage will rise an additional 50 cents, to $15.50, across the board, including an inflationary adjustment the state added this year. Legislators approved the wage increases with SB3 in 2016, by then-Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. Many cities in the Bay Area have ordinances that require a higher base wage.
Mental illness: By October 2023, San Francisco and six other California counties will begin to implement a new system called Care Court, which seeks to get severely mentally ill people off the streets and into treatment. SB1338 will create a new way for family, community members, probation officers and others to refer people with psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia into treatment. Under the law, judges will order people to participate in treatment plans and require counties to provide services to them.
All counties must begin the program by December 2024.
Housing: Developers looking to build housing in sleepy commercial areas, such as vacant parking lots, strip malls and office parks, will have an option to fast-track their projects. AB2011, by Assembly Member Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, streamlines zoning and permit approvals for housing in many urban areas, as long as about 15% of rental units will be designated affordable. Wicks’ bill also allows developers to hire nonunion workers for the projects as long as they pay such workers prevailing wages and offer health benefits. The bill takes effect July 1.
Abortion: Nurse practitioners will be able to perform first-trimester abortions without a doctor’s supervision under another new law taking effect in 2023. SB1375, by Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, is one of about a dozen new laws intended to increase abortion access in California, some of which have already taken effect.
Gunmaker lawsuits: Companies that make or sell illegal firearms in California could face a host of new lawsuits. SB1327, by Sen. Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys (Los Angeles County), allows private citizens to sue firearm manufacturers and dealers in civil court, with a minimum bounty of at least $10,000, if they sell assault weapons or ghost guns, including precursor parts, in California. The bill’s bounty-hunter provision, using private lawsuits as an enforcement mechanism, is modeled on a restrictive Texas abortion law. A related bill, AB1594 by Ting, will allow California residents, its attorney general and local governments to sue gunmakers and sellers for harm their products cause if they break state law. It mostly takes effect July 1.
Criminal records: Many people with prior convictions or arrests will be able to shield their past from criminal background checks. SB731, by Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, will not erase a person’s criminal record but will let people have their record electronically sealed from public view. Previous offenders qualify only if they’ve completed all terms of their court sentence, including any prison or probation time, and kept clear of the justice system. The option won’t be available to people convicted of a serious or violent felony, such as murder, kidnap, rape or any crime that requires a person to register as a sex offender. The law takes effect July 1.
COVID misinformation: Doctors who spread incorrect claims about COVID-19, including about the effectiveness of vaccines and untested treatments for people who get infected, will more easily face discipline. AB2098, by Assembly Member Evan Low, D-San Jose, makes it easier for the Medical Board of California to discipline physicians who spread incorrect claims about COVID-19 by defining such activity as “unprofessional conduct” under state law. The medical board is the state agency charged with licensing and disciplining physicians, and it can suspend a doctor’s license or mandate probation for misconduct. Two antivaccine doctors, backed by conservative activists and the left-leaning American Civil Liberties Union, are already challenging the law in court.
Loitering: Police will no longer be allowed to arrest and cite people they suspect of walking the streets in search of sex work. SB357, by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, repeals a 1995 law that prohibits loitering in public places with the “intent to commit prostitution.” LGBTQ advocates labeled the loitering prohibition a “walking while trans” ban because they said it resulted in police targeting transgender women and women of color over innocuous factors such as how they dress or where they stand on the street.
Fur: Fashionistas will no longer be able to buy new mink coats or chinchilla vests. AB44, by Assembly Member Laura Friedman, D-Glendale (Los Angeles County), outlaws the sale and manufacture of new fur clothing and accessories. The law passed in 2019, but legislators delayed implementation until 2023 to give retailers time to unload their inventories. Retailers can still sell secondhand fur clothing or decor. The ban won’t apply to faux fur, which is generally made from plastics. It also doesn’t apply to leather, taxidermied animals, cowhides and the full skin of deer, sheep and goats.
Salary transparency: California employers with more than 15 employees will need to start including pay scales in their job postings in 2023. SB1162, by Sen. Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, also requires employers to give workers the pay scale for their jobs and maintain job title and wage history data for each employee. That data will be subject to inspection by the state labor commissioner, who could impose fines of up to $10,000 for violations. Limón said the measure is designed to help women and people of color close pay gaps with white and male co-workers.
Lunar New Year: Asian Americans and others who celebrate Lunar New Year will have a new state holiday to mark the occasion. AB2596, by Assembly Member Evan Low, D-Sunnyvale, establishes Lunar New Year as a state holiday and allows any state employees to take a day off in observation. Lunar New Year, a major celebration in many Asian cultures, is typically observed at the end of January or the beginning of February, when the first new moon of the year starts. The date of the holiday will vary by year, but will typically correspond with the second new moon after the winter solstice.
Rape kit DNA: Police departments will be prohibited from using the DNA profile of sexual assault survivors in investigations of unrelated crimes. SB1228, by Wiener, bans law enforcement from using victim DNA profiles, including rape kits, for any purpose other than identifying the assailant. Wiener proposed the bill after The Chronicle revealed that the San Francisco Police Department was using DNA from rape kits to identify suspects in unrelated crimes, prompting a national outcry. The Board of Supervisors also approved a local ordinance to ban the practice.