 |
| Photo by 4johnny5 via Creative Commons License |
With the new year comes new laws
With all of the bickering amongst the California lawmakers it would seem a surprise that any laws were actually passed. According to this LA Times article there were a total of, "760 bills signed by California Gov. Jerry Brown."Do you know what all of the laws are? If you are looking to the media for the answers you will likely fall short. While the LA Times reports a total of 760 bills, NBC reports, "The legislature passed 750 new laws last year." So which is correct? A quick Google search of "new California laws for 2012" returns about 456,000,000 results as of this writing. None of the sites on the first page include anything from an official government agency. The second page shows a link to a PDF from pharmacy.ca.gov. It isn't until page 4 that another California Government site shows up.
Of the two links found within the first 4 pages, neither of them list all of the laws. Instead they are sites that only list the laws that affect that agency. If you want a complete list of Bills enacted during 2011, you can find them at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/NewLaws.html. Unless you have a legal degree, you may need someone to interpret them for you.
The new laws cover many areas from real estate, traffic, guns rights, bullying, and more. Using Google you can find various articles that describe the some of the "most important" laws that affect you. Here is our commentary on a few of the laws.<.p>
- Bullying
- AB 0009 - Safe Place to Learn Act
- According to Equality California this law
"tightens anti-bullying policies in California schools by ensuring that all schools have clear and consistent policies and by establishing timelines for investigating claims of bullying."
- Employment
- AB 0022 -
- This bill changes how credit reports can be used in the process of employment. It defines specific requirements and conditions under which a Credit Report can be obtained when being used to decide on the hiring of an employee. Several reports indicate that it prohibits the use of a credit report in the decision to hire someone. However, that is not my understanding of the bill.
According to aroundthecapital the bill will, "prohibit an employer or prospective employer, with the exception of certain financial institutions, from obtaining a consumer credit report, as defined, for employment purposes..."
- Prostituion
- AB 0012 - Abolition of Child Commerce, Exploitation, and Sexual Slavery Act of 2011
- This bill imposes a fine of $25,000 for any person convicted of prostitution involving a minor, according to the LA Times.
Here are some of the laws highlighted by various news articles:
Traffic
- If you are caught at a sobriety checkpoint without a license they can no longer impound the vehicle. There are some specific restrictions, so make sure you have a license to drive.
- New booster seat laws go into effect. No more carting around the neighborhood kids unless they are older than 8. If they are taller than 4' 9" they can skip the booster seat. I know adults that are not 4'9" tall.
- Electric vehicles must be plugged in for recharging when parking in an EV-designated space.
- Advertising on vehicles can now be regulated by local governments.
- For more visit CHP press release of new laws.
- Owners of a common-interest development must be allowed to rent or lease their unit unless a restriction was in place before purchase.
- Homeowners associations can now only charge the actual cost to provide HOA disclosures and governing documents when a home is being sold.
- Landlords can now ban the use of tobacco in and around a residential properly, including any common areas.
- Sellers must now disclose if the home has any water-conservation plumbing fixtures.
What new laws do you think were a long time coming?
Which laws do you think were just absurd and should never have been passed?
No comments:
Post a Comment