About 13 new California laws will be enforced this year.
According to Cal Matters, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed 770 new legislation in 2021.
Some of these laws have a grace period before they go into effect, such as mandating mental health education in schools or enforcing gender-neutral toy sections in retailers, but the majority of them go into force on January 1, of the following year.
That implies plenty of new (or revised) laws will take effect in California on January 1, 2022.
1. Slower speed restrictions
Cities can begin working on decreasing speed limits in 2022, but they won’t be able to enforce them until June 30, 2024, or until the state builds an internet gateway to judge the new penalties, whichever comes first.
2. The mail-in ballot is here to stay
As a precautionary step during the COVID-19 epidemic and presidential election in 2020, an executive order sent mail-in ballots to all registered voters in California. Assembly Bill 37 makes the reform permanent and extends it to council elections. If they want, they can still vote in person.
3. Eliminating the word “alien” from books
The word “alien” is removed from the California state code by Assembly Bill 1096. In the literature, the term will be replaced with words like “noncitizen” or “immigrant.
4. Pour second round of to-go drinks
It also means constantly ordering drinks, beer, and wine at outdoor eating parklets for the following five years.
5. Minimum Wage in California
California’s minimum wage will rise to $14 on January 1 for firms with 25 or fewer employees, and to $15 for those with 26 or more.
6. Taking control of phantom firearms
A new legislation would allow worried people to petition a judge to confiscate phantom weapons from people they believe are a risk to themselves or others.
7. Pay discrimination
AB-1003 defines deliberate theft of earnings by an employer of more than $950 over a 12-month period as grand theft, punishable by up to a year in jail or a $5,000 fine.
8. Delivery applications for food
Food delivery apps AB-286 makes it unlawful for food delivery apps to keep any amount of a tip, guaranteeing that it goes straight to the driver. If the order is for pickup, the gratuity must be paid to the restaurant.
9. Sexual assault is now linked to “stealthing”
Assembly Bill 453 criminalises the non-consensual stripping of rubber during intercourse, popularly known as “stealthing.” California was the first state to outlaw stealth.
10. New guidelines for the production of bacon
It is necessary for breeding pigs, egg-laying birds, and veal calves to have ample space to stand and move around.
11. Mugshots Protection
Mugshots released by police is restricted online in order to better protect the rights of people who have been arrested but have not yet been prosecuted.
12. Collect and eat roadkill
Humans are permitted to gather and consume “deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, or wild pig” that have been hit and killed by a vehicle. Before excavating, you must report the discovery and obtain permission, but the state is expected to provide an online and mobile-friendly method of doing so.
13. Misconduct by the police
This new legislation empowers the state’s law enforcement accrediting agency to decertify police for egregious misbehaviour, thereby removing them from the police business for offences such as sexual assault, perjury, and wrongly murdering citizens.
