Governor Gavin Newsom signed nearly 1,200 new laws this year, although not all of them came into force on January 1.

The one that went into effect Jan. 1 was another $ 1 increase in California’s minimum wage. For employers with 25 or fewer employees, it went from $ 11 an hour to $ 12 an hour. For employers with 26 or more employees, the minimum wage has been reduced from $ 12 an hour to $ 13 an hour. The minimum wage will increase another $ 1 an hour on January 1, 2021, and peak at $ 15 an hour in 2023.

The new laws affect a wide range of issues, including education, the environment, health care, housing and criminal justice.

At work

Companies that plan to use independent contractors will be subject to new restrictions on the situations in which they can do so, and more of these workers will now be considered as employees. The impact of this law on newspapers has been postponed for a year.

Employers can no longer require existing or new workers to accept arbitration as a condition of having a job.

Interest rates on payday or installment loans of $ 2,500 to $ 10,000 have their interest rates capped at no more than 36%.

Food service workers should wear gloves made of something other than latex.

Housing

An existing law that requires 90 days notice to tenants who are evicted from a foreclosed property will remain on the books.

Homeowners can now increase rents by no more than 5% plus inflation each year. Tenants in cities where existing controls are more stringent will keep them.

Landlords can no longer refuse a person whose rent will be partially paid with an article 8 voucher.

California homeowners now have more flexibility to build “grandma’s apartments” or small living units on their properties.

National anti-discrimination laws now apply to apartments or houses rented by companies such as Airbnb.

Criminal justice
Law enforcement officers can now only use lethal force when it is “necessary in the defense of human life,” a standard created in the wake of fatal shootings involving officers across California.
The state’s civil statute of limitations for allegations of childhood sexual abuse has been extended by an additional 14 years, allowing some to file claims up to 40 years.

Evidence of sexual assault collected using rape kits must be submitted to a criminal lab within 20 days and tested within 120 days.

California authorities can no longer sign contracts to use private for-profit prisons.

Education
School districts now have more power over the creation of new charter schools in their communities, and new teachers in charter schools will be required to hold the same credentials as those in traditional public schools, with the requirement being phased in over five years. for existing teachers. .

Children whose parents have unpaid school meal bills will not be denied access to at least a selection of alternative meals, and may not be humiliated or treated differently from other students.

Students up to the fifth grade cannot be suspended for disrupting school activities or deliberately challenging, effective the school year which begins in August. Sixth, seventh and eighth graders will also be protected against such suspensions for the next five years.

Health care

Californians will be required to have health insurance, an “individual mandate” similar to that provided by the federal Affordable Care Act which became inoperative in 2019. Penalties for not enrolling in a health care plan do will take effect only after taxes are filed in April. 2021.

Women who search for birth control pills through apps like the one offered by Planned Parenthood will no longer have to participate in a video conference with a healthcare professional to get a prescription.

State health officials will create a new standardized form that doctors will fill out for parents who want medical exemption from vaccinations for their children.

Environment

A new law banning smoking in state parks and beaches bans more than just tobacco cigarettes; this also applies to marijuana and electronic cigarettes. Even so, people will still be allowed to smoke in parking lots and on roads outside of state parks and beaches.

The law requires the state’s Department of Parks and Recreation to post approximately 5,600 signs at a total cost of $ 1.1 million to notify visitors of the ban. Once posted, people caught smoking can be fined up to $ 25.

No cigarette ends

Cigarette butts are a major source of pollution on beaches and along streams in California. Efforts to clean up rivers, streams and bays in Santa Clara County in 2019 collected more than 30 tons of trash. Smoking will be banned in state parks and beaches this year.