How California’s New Laws May Impact You
California passed almost a thousand new laws that are expected to take effect in 2023. Many of these laws began on January 1, while others will come into force later in the year.
People working at minimum wage will get a pay increase to $15.50 an hour, and the minimum wage will rise as inflation does. This is all due to Senate Bill 3, passed in 2016, but the minimum wage got a boost from last year’s unusually high inflation.
The pay range for a posted job will have to be listed under a new law affecting employers of 15 or more before someone applies for the job, rather than applicants often finding out what the pay was likely to be late in the hiring process.
California is also declaring three new holidays starting in 2023. Juneteenth, on June 19, celebrates the end of slavery. Lunar New Year adds a celebration from the lunar calendars used in many Asian nations, in late January or early February. April 24 marks Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, honoring the millions killed during World War I in Turkey by the Ottoman Empire.
One COVID-linked convenience for senior citizens is being eliminated. Drivers over 70, who could renew driver’s licenses by mail or online during the pandemic, will return to having to do so at Department of Motor Vehicle offices, effective January 1.
Veterans who qualify for special DMV plates for a service-related disability, surviving Pearl Harbor, being wounded in action, or receiving service decorations will be exempt from highway and bridge tolls under AB 2949.
Other car-related issues in the news were met with new laws. Penalties were toughened for hurting or killing someone with a car at a sideshow or exhibition. The list of places where one cannot hold such an exhibition was expanded to some off-street locations, such as parking garages and parking lots.
Catalytic converter thefts are being fought with new laws restricting whom a recycler can buy a converter from and what records they must keep of any such purchases.
Pedestrians, whose risk from sideshows might lessen under new laws, will be at near-zero risk from jaywalking arrests in 2023. Assembly Bill 2147 stops police from stopping pedestrians for such things as crossing the road outside of a crosswalk unless it presents an actual danger. Advocates had pointed to a surprisingly high number of arrests, and even some escalations to deaths of pedestrians confronted by law enforcement, for an offense usually handled by a citation.
A San Francisco incident where a woman’s rape test kit results were used to prosecute her for an unrelated crime led first to local rule changes there and then to law changes in several cities, including San Francisco. That statewide ban under Senate Bill 1228 prohibits any use of a rape kit except to find and prosecute the rapist.
California also dropped its requirement that peace officers, who include police, be either U.S. citizens or permanent residents under Senate Bill 960.
Women and girls buying everyday consumer items are getting a break under Assembly Bill 1287, which outlaws the so-called “pink tax.” This is where items marketed to women and girls carry a higher price than men, and boys pay for comparable items.
Rap artists worried about courts taking their performed words too literally got some relief. A new law requires a separate hearing about the admissibility of their lyrics if they are charged with a crime. Some prosecutors have said it shows criminal intent, while defense attorneys say creative content should not always be taken literally.
With some public meetings turning disruptive or violent in the past several years, a new law explicitly allows a presiding officer to remove someone from a meeting if they ignore warnings first.