Edhat Staff
As we start the year 2024, several new laws are now implemented in California, covering various aspects of life in the state. These laws aim to address issues related to minimum wage, housing, guns, abortion, schools, and more.
Employment
One significant change will be an increase in the minimum wage. Starting from January 1, 2024, the minimum wage in California will go up to $16 per hour, ensuring better compensation for workers across the state. This increase aims to promote a fair and livable wage for employees.
In April, AB 1228 will go into effect to raise the minimum wage of fast-food workers to $20 an hour. In June, some health care workers will begin seeing increases to their minimum wage depending on the type of facility they work in, to eventually reach a $25 minimum wage for the entire industry by 2033.
Another state bills make it easier for employees to establish retaliation claims against their employer and another requires employers to allow both hourly and salary workers to earn a minimum of five paid sick days a year.
There are also new protections for workers who use cannabis outside of working hours. An employer is now prohibited from requesting information from an applicant’s prior cannabis use, and employers are prohibited from discriminating against a worker or applicant based on their use of cannabis off the job and away from the workplace. Those who work in building and construction trades and federal workers are exempt from this.
Housing
California is known for its high housing costs, and new laws aim to address this issue.
Starting in July, landlords are prohibited from charging more than one month’s rent for a security deposit.
Additionally, places of worship or independent higher education institutions are allowed to build a housing development project on their property “by right.”
Public Safety
In response to continued increases in mass shootings, state lawmakers passed two laws affecting gun buyers and carriers. One law places new limits on concealed carry firearm permit holders and another imposes an 11% tax on firearms and ammunition to help fund violence prevention programs.
Child sex trafficking has been redefined as a serious felony for repeat offenders meaning they could face up to life in prison.
In response to the increase of fentanyl overdoses, jail time has been increased for those trafficking more than a kilo of fentanyl.
An “Ebony Alert” has been established for missing young Black women and children.
Assembly Bill 360 prohibits “excited delirium” from being a medically ruled cause of death, which has been used by coroners in other states, including Minnesota for the classification of the death of George Floyd.
For victims of childhood sexual assault, the statute of limitations has been eliminated for assaults that occur on or after January 1.
Assembly Bill 2282 enhances criminal penalties for those who use swastikas, nooses, desecrated crosses and other hate symbols on schools, cemeteries, religious institutions, businesses and other private and public spaces.
AB 413 prohibits stopping or parking a vehicle within 20 feet of an intersection or crosswalk clear of parked vehicles.
AB 436 keeps cities and counties from imposing cruising bans on city streets.
Health
Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade and eliminated a woman’s right to choose, Governor Gavin Newsom and lawmakers have taken action. They passed SB 345, which sets legal protections for healthcare providers who mail abortion pills or gender-affirming prescriptions out of state. SB 385 allows physician’s assistants to perform surgical abortions without the direct supervision of a doctor. For those mourning a reproductive loss, SB 848 requires employers to provide five days of time off for workers who went through the loss, including a miscarriage, stillbirth, or unsuccessful embryo transfer, insemination or adoption.
For mental health, a new bill makes it easier for counties to put those with severe mental illness into medical treatment or temporary psychiatric holds. The law expands who can be put into an involuntary hold to include those who are addicted to drugs or alcohol or who are unable to keep themselves safe.
Consumer
Retailers are now required to have a gender-neutral toy section.
The Right to Repair Act will require manufacturers of devices that cost more than $50 to provide consumers and repair shops with parts, tools, or instructions to repair the device.
Hidden fees no longer is a new law starting in July that will require websites to show the actual cost of a service or item upfront. This includes hotel or short-term rental stays, event tickets and food delivery services, preventing companies to hide fees that are only shown during checkout.
Another law will require social media companies to disclose how they address hate speech and disinformation. Tech companies are expected to provide reports to the state attorney general on how they address violations of user terms.
SB Stoner says “They do grow and pick a lot of our crops. That’s the main and only substantive benefit to that population for the country as a whole.”
Do you see how racist that is?? I’m sure it’ll be deleted soon.
“It’s not racist to call illegals from South America, illegals from South America.” – That’s not at all even close to what you said.
“You know as well as I that the majority….” – Again, not what you said.
” Also Ed staff, it does seem that whenever someone cries “this comment is racist because they mentioned race” you guys delete it. ” – Again, no. Your comment WAS racist, as most of yours are. More importantly though, it was deleted BEFORE Anonymous called it out.
Keep filling that jar with those racist tears.
This article FAILS to mention that the State of California will provide health insurance for approximately 700,000 illegal immigrant residents aged 26-49. Yes, you read that correctly, those here legally are required to BUY (pay for) ever increasing Medical Insurance, but those here illegally, NOT taxpayers, get FREE Medical Insurance…The added cost comes as California is faced with a major budget crisis due to a “severe revenue decline.”
According to California’s non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) report released Thursday, the state’s budget deficit has grown exponentially in just a few months’ time, up more than $54 billion from just $14.3 billion in June.
These INSANE Policies are from our ONE-PARTY- RUN State that no longer is a Democracy with “Checks and Balances…:
Yes truly awful that all human beings have the right to health care.
It’s INSANE that we have MEDICAL CARE at all! We’re SHORT CIRCUITING one of Nature’s MOST IMPORTANT laws – NATURAL SELECTION. Our SPECIES is headed DOWN THE TUBES for sure, if we keep letting the WEAK and SICK survive to REPRODUCE. You can see direct evidence of this decay in the fact that crazy loons like to semi-randomly CAPITALIZE words.
Hahahahahahaha. That was GOOD.
Legal citizens are not required to buy if they qualify based on means. This just expands the same thing others have benefitted from to undocumented folks as well. Rather than getting special treatment, it has been the opposite until now and this just catches them up. Undocumented folks do pay taxes. Even if working off the books, they pay rent which covers property taxes on rental properties, and they pay sales tax. If you could actually avoid taxes by being undocumented, Trump would have started living as undocumented ages ago.
Excellent analysis, thank you.
COAST – would you rather pay more from your taxes to cover those without health insurance? Without insurance, the undocumented people will still be treated and YOU will still be paying for it. So, would you rather pay more or pay less so they’re covered?
You’re going to pay one way or another. So again, more or less? I’d rather pay less.
Coast, I bet most people on here simply don’t care because the amount of taxes they pay is minimal and they think these undocumented people contribute more to the economy than they take (they don’t)
SBPOSER – why do you always resort to “insulting” people about their income? It’s childish and it shows you actually no very little about taxes. For example, when you said my “tax bill” was under 100K and then thought it was very amusing. It made no sense, just like you saying people don’t mind paying less in taxes to insure the undocumented population because their taxes are “minimal.” Pretty clear you have no clue how this works.
That’s another one of your false con assertions. Numerous studies have shown that immigrants are a net plus for our economy. But, you knew that. You’re just pandering to your politics, truth be damned. Why don’t you try to use whatever critical thinking skills you have, for once?
Not that you’ve bothered to research the topic, nor will you bother to read these studies, but others will:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2023/02/23/immigrants-make-economies-more-dynamic-increase-employment-growth/?sh=1891a7d9427c
https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/6750b0f0-c851-4fee-9619-295582fd44e8/immigrants-are-vital-to-the-us-economy-final.pdf
https://www.cbpp.org/research/immigrants-contribute-greatly-to-us-economy-despite-administrations-public-charge-rule
https://www.aclu.org/documents/immigrants-and-economy#:~:text=Contrary%20to%20popular%20belief%2C%20immigrants,not%20the%20other%20way%20around.
Anon – don’t click links from strangers on the internet.
Basic net safety 101. Not that you’d know that or think about it, but others will
Little better than your usual dodge. Got anything substantive to say, or are you going to keep your head in the sand?
CA residents pay some of the highest taxes in the US and yet we still keep voting Democratic, so we must like what we’re getting. There are a handful of other states Stoner that seem to be more aligned with your archaic views.
How does it feel to get absolutely owned every time you comment? LOL
Whoa – I’ve been absolutely owned. Probably time to go collect my tears in a jar.
Oh wait that’s you guys when people aren’t blindly following what Newsom wants you to do
Unless you have amnesia, perhaps you recall one of the reasons to insure people is because hospitals can’t refuse care to anyone in need.
You can refuse a meal, or car repairs, or any service someone can’t afford but emergency health care. Hospitals have to treat the person for free.
We can’t afford that. Healthcare is cheaper than sick care.
Oh wait, perhaps this isn’t in line with your xtian values of compassion, love, and forgiveness? Of taking care of the poor and the disadvantaged? No. Your ‘bible’ only said hate those who don’t look like you and don’t act like you.
Yawwwwwn.
The State of California’s budget deficit has grown exponentially in just a few months’ time, up more than $54 billion from just $14.3 billion in June….
Again, are we in a position to offer 700,000 + here Illegally FREE medical care…? Who is paying? Where is the money coming from? How is Cottage, UCLA and other large hospitals going to survive with MediCal payments, which are a FRACTION of the costs covered…? When you SUCKERS play by the rules, you WILL be penalized. If you have a home, job, and medical insurance, YOU will be subsidizing those with none of the three mentioned. Whether it’s subsidized housing, education, food debit cards, education— It’s CLEAR the State of California cannot SUSTAIN these insane costs attributed to the Crap-Bills our woke legislators are churning out… We are watching the buying of votes with legislation DESTROY our State. Thanks Newsom.
It’s important to look at the facts and not buzzy headlines.
“This expansion is projected to cost more than $835 million in the next six months and $2.6 billion every year thereafter. Previous expansions, which opened the door to more than 1.1 million undocumented enrollees, cost the state approximately $1.6 billion annually, according to past Legislative Analysis Office reports. The total $4 billion price tag, though significant, represents a fraction of Medi-Cal’s expansive $37 billion budget.”
https://calmatters.org/health/2023/12/undocumented-health-insurance-new-california-laws-2024/
“Who is paying?” – We are and we are paying for their health care one way or other. We are paying MORE if they aren’t insured and have to resort to the ER or urgent care every time they get sick or injured, but we could be paying LESS so they have the insurance to go to their doctors for routine and preventative medical care. It really is that simple. It will cost us LESS to provide them with Medi-Cal than to keep paying for basic health care in the emergency room and urgent care.
“If you have a home, job, and medical insurance, YOU will be subsidizing those with none of the three mentioned.” – As a decent human being, I’m happy my tax dollars go to help those who have no home, job or insurance. It’s baffling, yet predictable that you and other conservatives are not.
Who was it that said that capitalizing RANDOM words is ridiculous?
The capitalization you are complaining about is not random, it is used as emphasis because it’s simpler and faster than entering code to italicize it.
YINYANG – I recall seeing people do that on the old site. Can we really italicize here?
_testing_
Insurance for the uninsured- regardless of legal status, homes for the homeless -regardless of origin, and reparations, the crown jewel of California progressives. These programs will definitely require a wall in order to function-one to keep the taxpaying earners of California from fleeing the state.
Businesses depend on cheap (and sometimes exploited) labor.
If immigrants were all deported our economy would shut down.
Go ask Big Repug-nican business owners supporting Dump how many immigrants they employ while blaming the dems for the ‘problem’.
Numerous improvements. “excited delirium” was invented to get cops off the hook for murdering Black men: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excited_delirium