The hundreds of new laws in California that took effect on Jan. 1 cover a broad range of concerns, everything from law enforcement to healthcare to wages and salaries, which impact people in their daily lives.

Law changes this year affect everything from protecting abortion and the rights of transgender individuals to legalizing jaywalking and banning the sale and manufacture of new fur clothing and accessories.

Here are just a few of the more important new laws impacting San Diegans in 2023:

Salaries, Wages & Benefits
– AB 2963 raises the state’s minimum wage to $15.50.
– SB 1162 requires employers to make salary ranges available for job positions to applicants and employees, as well as set new pay data reporting requirements based on gender and race.
– Paid family leave, SB 951, increases the share of paid family leave provided to lower-income Californians. It extends what was a temporary increase in the benefit from 55% of wages to 60% to 70% depending on income.
– SB 1044 prohibits an employer from taking or threatening adverse action against any employee for refusing to come to work or leaving if the employee has a “reasonable belief” that the workplace or work site is unsafe.

Law Enforcement

– SB 1472 expands the criteria for “gross negligence” to include drivers involved in sideshow activity, an exhibition of speed, or speeding over 100 mph resulting in a fatality.
– AB 2000 includes parking lots and off-street parking facilities as locations where it is a crime to engage in speed contests, exhibitions of speed, or sideshow activities.
– AB 2147 prohibits police officers from stopping pedestrians for certain pedestrian-specific violations such as crossing the road outside of a crosswalk (jaywalking) unless there is an immediate danger of a crash.
– AB 1946 requires the CHP to work with other traffic safety stakeholders to develop statewide safety and training programs for electric bicycles.
– AB 1909 provides increased protections for bicyclists by requiring vehicles passing or overtaking them in the same direction to move over to an adjacent traffic lane if one is available, or slow down and only pass the bicyclist when it is safe to do so.
– SB 1087 intends to help reduce catalytic converter theft by requiring recyclers to keep documentation such as the year, make, model, and copy of the vehicle title from which the catalytic converter was removed.
– SB 960 removes the requirement that peace officers, including trainees, must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States.
– AB 1732 authorizes law enforcement agencies to request the CHP to activate a “Yellow Alert” for fatal hit-and-run crashes. The law also encourages local media to disseminate the information contained in a Yellow Alert.

– SB 1228 relating to rape kits prohibits law enforcement agencies from using the DNA collected from a sexual assault victim from being used in the investigation of an unrelated crime.
– SB 1008 provides free phone calls to people detained in California prisons and jails.

– AB 1788 involving sex trafficking penalties makes hotels subject to civil penalties if a supervisory employee knew or acted with reckless disregard of sex trafficking activity within the hotel and failed to inform law enforcement, the National Human Trafficking Hotline, or another appropriate victim service organization.

Healthcare

– SB 107 intends to make California a sanctuary state for transgender health, shielding transgender people, including youth and their parents, from legal action from states with bans and restrictions. The bill aims to stop other states from punishing children who come to California for transgender surgeries and other gender-affirming care.
– Several reproductive healthcare-related measures responding to the U.S. Supreme Court decision last year to overturn federal abortion protections. These include laws – AB 2091, AB 1242 – that protect medical records and cooperation with out-of-state entities regarding abortion, or laws to expand abortion training options and providers (SB 1375), along with a law protecting people from criminal or civil liabilities for pregnancy loss or abortion (AB 2223).

Other New Laws

– AB 1287, the “Pink tax,” prohibits gender-based pricing on products based on who they are marketed toward.
– AB 44 passed in 2019 bans the sale and manufacture of new fur clothing and accessories. It does not apply to used fur products, leather, cowhide, faux fur, or shearling.
– AB 1200 bans the sale, distribution, and offering of any food packaging that contains toxic perfluoralkyl and polyfluoralkl substances, also known as PFAS, that have been detected in the drinking water supplies of major U.S. cities.

OVERVIEW OF THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

The process by which bills are considered and laws enacted involves the California State Legislature made up of the Senate and the Assembly with 40 senators and 80 assembly members. All legislation begins as an idea or concept. The process begins when a senator or assembly member decides to author a bill. A legislator sends the idea for the bill to the Legislative Counsel where it is drafted and returned to the Legislator for the introduction.

A bill is introduced or read for the first time when the bill number, the name of the author, and the descriptive title of the bill are read on the floor of the house. The bill then goes to the Rules Committee of the house of origin where it is assigned to the appropriate policy committee for its first hearing. During the committee hearing the author presents the bill to the committee and testimony can be heard in support of or opposition to the bill. The committee then votes by passing the bill, passing the bill as amended, or defeating the bill.

Once the bill has been approved by the house of origin it proceeds to the other house where the procedure is repeated. If a bill is amended in the second house, it must go back to the house of origin for concurrence, which is agreement on the amendments. If a compromise is reached, the bill is returned to both houses for a vote.

If both houses approve a bill, it then goes to the governor. The governor can sign the bill into law, allow it to become law without his or her signature, or veto it. A governor’s veto can be overridden by a two-thirds vote in both houses. Most bills go into effect on the first day of January of the next year. Urgency measures take effect immediately after they are signed or allowed to become law without signature.