Image by: Marek Ślusarczyk
Did you know more than 7 new laws are taking effect this year?
In 2022 Governor Newsom signed a handful of bills that took effect on January 1, 2023.
Some of these laws range from legalizing jaywalking, to a higher minimum wage.
- Legal Jaywalking- Bill AB-2147 allows pedestrians to Jaywalk without getting ticketed, only when safe to do so.
- Free Prison Phone Calls- Bill SB-1008 will allow free prison phone calls. Which allows prisoners to stay connected with their families.
- Eliminate Pink Tax- Bill AB-1287 eliminates gender based price differences. In other words, a women's razor will no longer cost more than a men's razor just because of the packaging and who it's targeted for.
- Increased Minimum wage- Bill (SB-3) increases minimum wage to $15.50, but some counties will have a higher minimum wage such as Orange County.
- Feather Alert System bill creates alerts for missing indigenous people.
- Transparency Pay Scale- Companies will have to post pay scales if they have 15 or more employees. A pay scale is a range of a salary for a specific job.
- New Holidays- New state holidays were signed such as Lunar New Year, on the second or third new moon which is a Chinese holiday based on the Lunar Calendar, Genocide Remembrance Day on April 24th, which is when the Ottoman government arrested and murdered hundreds of Armenian intellectuals, and lastly Native American Day on the fourth Friday of September that celebrates Native Americans.
- Passing Bicyclists- This law previously required cars to maintain a 3 ft distance with cars but now required to move to another lane when passing Bicyclists.
- Gender Affirming Care makes California a sanctuary state for transgender people, while providing health care and shielding them from mistreatment.
- Rap Lyrics In Court limits the use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal cases.
- Fur- (AB 44) Bans the sale and manufacturing of new fur clothing and accessories.
- Mental Health- (SB 1338) CARE court will launch new judicial branches in 6 California counties, which provides court-ordered mental health care in Orange County.
These laws Gavin Newsom implemented that will provide equality and stability throughout California. Most of these laws were brought up in January or February of 2022 and signed by the end of 2022.
