Laws Archives - California Political Review

These CA Election Day rules could block news coverage of voting

November 3, 2026 By Lynn La Leave a Comment

Some California counties are issuing guidelines restricting the press from documenting Election Day proceedings at polling places in ways that appear to violate state statutes and the First Amendment.

A coalition of media outlets, led by CalMatters, and a First Amendment advocacy group sent a letter to Kern County raising these concerns, after county elections officials issued initial media guidelines prohibiting media personnel from filming from within 100 feet of poll sites and ballot drop boxes, among other limitations. The coalition has identified other counties with similar prohibitions.

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These restrictions potentially stem from recent notices and poll worker training standards from the California secretary of state. In the guidelines, electioneering — or efforts to persuade voters to vote a certain way — is prohibited. The guidelines prohibit photographing or recording voters who are entering, inside or exiting a polling place without their permission.

But as long as outlets do not try to influence voters, these restrictions go beyond what state law limits and possibly run afoul of constitutional protections of a free press, said Ginny LaRoe the advocacy director at the First Amendment Coalition, which is part of the group raising alarm.

Angélica Salceda, an attorney for American Civil Liberties Union Northern California, said she worries that the restrictions would also have a chilling effect on bystanders who may be discouraged from recording federal immigration activity that may occur near polling stations.

Salceda: “We don’t want someone who might be reporting potentially unlawful federal law enforcement activity near a polling location to be told that they’re violating the law simply because of where they’re standing. Getting that clarifying guidance from county registrars, before those restrictions are misapplied, is very important.”

Barring media from capturing voters entering vote centers conflicts with a long U.S. history of reporters gathering footage outside polling stations. News organizations have previously captured long lines, voters explaining why they are casting their ballots, and politicians showing up at polls to vote.

Dedee Verdin, a spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office, emailed CalMatters Sunday night that the office is seeking more clarity from its experts and will respond when she learns more.

Click here to read the full article in CalMatters

Filed Under: Trending News Tagged With: Laws, media, Voting

New 2025 laws hit hot topics from AI in movies to rapid-fire guns

December 28, 2024 By David A. Lieb Leave a Comment

Artificial intelligence. Abortion. Guns. Marijuana. Minimum wages.

Name a hot topic, and chances are good there’s a new law about it taking effect in 2025 in one state or another.

Many of the laws launching in January are a result of legislation passed this year. Others stem from ballot measures approved by voters. Some face legal challenges.

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Here’s a look at some of the most notable state laws taking effect:

Artificial intelligence. Abortion. Guns. Marijuana. Minimum wages.

Name a hot topic, and chances are good there’s a new law about it taking effect in 2025 in one state or another.

Many of the laws launching in January are a result of legislation passed this year. Others stem from ballot measures approved by voters. Some face legal challenges.

Here’s a look at some of the most notable state laws taking effect:

Social media limits

New social media restrictions in several states face court challenges.

A Florida law bans children under 14 from having social media accounts and requires parental consent for ages 14 and 15. But enforcement is being delayed because of a lawsuit filed by two associations for online companies, with a hearing scheduled for late February.

A new Tennessee law also requires parental consent for minors to open accounts on social media. NetChoice, an industry group for online businesses, is challenging the law. Another new state law requires porn websites to verify that visitors are at least 18 years old. But the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult entertainment industry, has filed a challenge.

Several new California measures aimed at combating political deepfakes are also being challenged, including one requiring large social media platforms to remove deceptive content related to elections and another allowing any individual to sue for damages over the use of AI to create fabricated images or videos in political ads.

Click here to read the full article in AP News

Filed Under: Trending News Tagged With: California Politics, Laws, Legislature

Southern California school district sues Gov. Newsom over new gender-identity law

July 18, 2024 By Staff Leave a Comment

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California school district involved in an ongoing legal battle with the state over the district’s gender-identity policy sued Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom Tuesday over a new law banning districts from requiring that parents be notified of their child’s gender identification change.

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The Chino Valley Unified School District and a handful of parents argued the law violates the rights of parents protected under the U.S. Constitution.

“School officials do not have the right to keep secrets from parents, but parents do have a constitutional right to know what their minor children are doing at school,” Emily Rae, a lawyer representing the district, said in a statement.

But Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon called the lawsuit “deeply unserious” and said the new law “preserves the child-parent relationship.”

“California law ensures minors can’t legally change their name or gender without parental consent, and parents continue to have guaranteed and full access to their student’s educational records consistent with federal law,” Gardon said in an email. “We’re confident the state will swiftly prevail in this case.”

Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Chino Valley Unified over a rule its board approved last year requiring school staff to notify parents if their children change their gender identification or pronouns. Bonta said the law discriminated against gender non-conforming students. A judge halted the policy while the case plays out, and the district later updated the rule to broadly require parents to be notified if their child asks to make any changes to their student records.

LGBTQ+ advocacy groups lauded the new California law, while opponents said the ban makes it harder for schools to be transparent with parents.

Newsom signed the first-in-the-nation law Monday, which bans districts from requiring school staff to disclose a student’s gender identity or sexual orientation to any other person without the child’s permission, with some exceptions. It also requires the state Department of Education to develop resources for families of LGBTQ+ students in grade 7 through high school. The law will take effect in January.

Proponents of the ban say it will help protect transgender and gender-nonconforming students who live in unwelcoming households.

“This critical legislation strengthens protections for LGBTQ+ youth against forced outing policies, provides resources for parents and families of LGBTQ+ students to support them as they have conversations on their terms, and creates critical safeguards to prevent retaliation against teachers and school staff who foster a safe and supportive school environment for all students,” Tony Hoang, executive director of LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality California, said in a statement.

But some conservative groups, including the California Family Council, said the law violates parents’ rights.

“This bill undermines their fundamental role and places boys and girls in potential jeopardy,” Jonathan Keller, the council’s president, said in a statement. “Moms and dads have both a constitutional and divine mandate to guide and protect their kids, and AB 1955 egregiously violates this sacred trust.”

Click here to read full article in AP News

Filed Under: Trending News Tagged With: California Politics, Court, Laws

Bad outcomes are the consequence of bad laws, whether intended or not

November 14, 2023 By Jon Coupal Leave a Comment

With hundreds of new laws going into effect next year, the saying that “there ought to be a law” is taken way too seriously by California politicians. Regrettably, there is one law lacking – a binding requirement that forces legislators to think about the unintended consequences of the bills they enact.

Here are a couple of examples.

It shouldn’t be surprising that the Legislature sent billions of dollars in new spending to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk this session. But it was a pleasant surprise that he vetoed some of the worst, stressing it was “important to remain disciplined when considering bills with significant fiscal implications” as the state faces “continuing economic risk and revenue uncertainty.”

That random act of sanity even earned him some praise in the media with reporters suggesting that the governor was exhibiting a more moderate streak in preparation for a possible presidential run. But two bills he did sign show that his supposed fiscal discipline was short-lived.

Assembly Bill 1228 raises the hourly minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 and Senate Bill 525 raises the minimum wage for healthcare workers to $25. Taxpayer advocates and other fiscal conservative warned that these two government mandates would significantly increase costs and that those costs would be passed onto the consumer like an indirect tax.

That’s exactly what is happening. Both McDonald’s and Chipotle recently announced that they will be raising prices in California in response to the state’s minimum wage increase. While McDonald’s didn’t specify how much prices would increase, Chipotle said it would be a “mid-to-high single-digit” percentage. You can bet that other fast-food restaurants will be doing the same soon.

As for the increase for health care workers mandated by SB 525, even the state’s own Department of Finance opposed it out of concern for “significant economic impacts” and the bill analysis stated that its fiscal impact was “unknown.” The Legislature passed it anyway and now we know that SB 525 will cost $4 billion in the 2024-25 fiscal year alone. About $2 billion of that is coming directly out of the General Fund while the rest will be paid out of federal Medicaid funds.

The L.A. Times called it “one of the most expensive laws California has seen in years and comes as the state faces a $14-billion budget deficit that could grow larger if revenue projections continue to fall short.” Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that “California is poised to fall well short of its budget forecasts as the recent stock market slump erodes the state’s tax revenue.”

Did the governor actually know what he was doing when he signed these two costly bills? Maybe it’s wrong to assume that the higher price tags are simply “unintended consequences.” It is just as likely that he was aware of the impact to taxpayers and consumers but intended to reward political allies in labor organizations that can help further his political ambitions.

Senate Bill 616, also signed by the governor, greatly expanded mandated sick leave for employees of private-sector companies. The bill imposes new costs and leave requirements on employers of all sizes, by nearly doubling existing sick leave mandate, which is in addition to all other enacted leave mandates that already have small employers throughout the state struggling to implement and comply.

The unintended consequences of mandates such as SB 616 on California’s businesses, both large and small, is evident from countless media reports about the Great California Exodus as productive citizens and businesses move to other states. California’s unemployment rate is higher than the national average and our poverty rate, when the cost of living is taken into account, is the worst in the nation.

Click here to read the full article in the OC Register

Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: California Politics, Jon Coupal, Laws, Legislature

Rules for thee: How California Legislature Skirts Its Own Laws

February 8, 2023 By Sawyer Kamal Leave a Comment

California legislators pass hundreds of laws every year. But sometimes, they free themselves from following them.

On one emblematic issue, however, this may be the session when that changes: Lawmakers, who have pushed through major bills to support unions throughout California, may finally let their own staffers organize.

For at least the fifth time in the last 25 years, the effort came to an anticlimactic end last year as a legislative unionization bill passed the state Senate, but failed in an Assembly committee on the last day of the session.

This year, there are a lot of pieces in place that could help the new push. For one: the amount of turnover in what is now California’s most diverse Legislature ever .

The legislation was revived — and highlighted as Assembly Bill 1 on the first day of the current session Dec. 5 — by new Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, who leads the committee where it has died four out of the five times it has been proposed.

“What are we afraid of? Why are we afraid of our staff to have representation?” the Inglewood Democrat told CalMatters today. “We’ve asked the farmers to let the farmworkers unionize. We asked the hotel owners to let hotel workers unionize and the restaurant owners to let restaurant folks unionize. And we’re not letting our own folks in our building unionize. We can’t continue this.”

In addition, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon supports the idea of staff unionization. The incoming speaker, Assemblymember Robert Rivas, who is set to take the top leadership post on June 30, is one of 20 Assemblymembers and seven senators whose names were on the bill at introduction.

A wave of unionization in Democratic state legislatures across the country, plus among some congressional staff, could also help the cause. Oregon became the first state to allow legislative staff to unionize in 2021. Similar efforts were started in Massachusetts, New York and Washington state.

Legislative staff said that those movements provide a helpful template, and that they see the passage of the California bill as a question of when, not if.

“Legislative staff face the same workplace issues as other workers, but are explicitly carved out of labor protections,” staff members behind the organizing effort said via email. “We, as staff, are put in the position of asking our employer to grant us the right to organize. With AB 1, we will have the right to advocate for our interests the way all workers should.”

Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher — one of the most prominent union champions in the Legislature from 2013 until last year, when she resigned from the Assembly to become head of the California Labor Federation — says there’s no legitimate reason for legislative staff to be blocked from collective bargaining.

“It’s an argument that we hear always in unionizing efforts: Our place of work is special, it’s different, we have unique challenges,” she told CalMatters. “We have unions that are used to dealing with a variety of sticky situations. That’s something that can be worked out.”

At last count, there are more than 1,800 full-time staffers in the Assembly and Senate, including legislative directors, district coordinators, secretaries and aides.

Unionization isn’t the only area where the Legislature exempts itself. The state Senate and Assembly also set rules for other state agencies and businesses that they don’t require themselves to follow: minimum wage, whistleblower protections, public access and more.

Dan Schnur, a politics professor at UC Berkeley, USC and Pepperdine University, says there’s “no coherent argument” to be made on why legislators should not abide by the laws they pass for other Californians. He also argues that “rules for thee” damages civic engagement.

“This is exactly the type of double standard that makes voters across the ideological spectrum absolutely despise politics and politicians,” he said.

Legislative staffers unite

State employees other than legislative staff were granted the right to collective bargaining in the Ralph C. Dills Act, signed into law by then-Gov. Jerry Brown in 1977.

Of the 200,000-plus state workers, more than 80% are represented in one of 21 bargaining units; managers, supervisors and some others are excluded. Last week, for instance, the union representing more than 2,700 state scientists rejected a contract offer from the Newsom administration. The union, which has been without an agreement since July 2020, is seeking 43% raises.

Concerns about past staff unionization bills have included treating the Assembly and Senate as one joint employer though they operate independently, as well as potential timing conflicts between labor contracts and legislative terms.

Other lawmakers have also flagged concerns about outside interests such as unions having a say in the Legislature’s operations, where constituents’ voices are meant to be prioritized above all else.

Click here to read the full article in CalMatters

Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: California Politics, Laws, Legislature

New California laws for 2023: Abortion, Minimum Wage and More Laws That Go Into Effect in January

December 24, 2022 By Ashley Zavala 14 Comments

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —The new year will usher in hundreds of new California laws. From protecting abortion and gender-affirming health care to legalizing jaywalking, state lawmakers and the governor approved a swath of new rules in the state that take effect in January.

We take a look at those, explain the laws that go into effect later this year, and provide you an update on laws that were supposed to go into effect but may be blocked or delayed.

Health care

Gender-affirming care: SB 107 aims to make California a sanctuary state for transgender health care, shielding transgender people, including youth and their parents, from legal action from states with bans and restrictions.

Abortion: Several reproductive healthcare-related measures have either already taken effect or will at the start of the year in response to the United State Supreme Court’s decision to overturn federal abortion protections, which restricted access to the procedure in several states.

This includes laws that protect medical records and cooperation with out-of-state entities regarding abortion restrictions (AB 2091, AB 1242), expands abortion training options and providers (SB 1375), and protections for people from criminal or civil liabilities for pregnancy loss or abortion (AB 2223).

COVID-19: AB 2963 requires workplaces to continue providing employees with COVID-19 exposure notifications until 2024.

AB 2098 makes it easier for the California Medical Board to punish doctors who spread COVID-19 misinformation.

Labor

Minimum wage increase: SB 3 (2016) will raise California’s minimum wage to $15.50.

Pay transparency: SB 1162 requires employers to make salary ranges for available job positions to applicants and employees. It also sets 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. In 2025, the bill requires an increase of the benefit to 70%.

Public Safety and Criminal Justice

Rape kits: SB 1228 prohibits law enforcement agencies from using the DNA collected from a sexual assault victim from being used in the investigation of an unrelated crime.

Free prison phone calls: SB 1008 provides free phone calls to people detained in California prisons and jails.

Rap lyrics in court: AB 2799 limits the use of creative expression, such as rap lyrics, as evidence in criminal cases.

Retail theft: AB 1700 sets up a section on the state Attorney General’s office website to report stolen items.

AB 2294 gives law enforcement the ability to keep those in custody who are accused of organized retail theft.

Immigration status in court: SB 836 prohibits disclosure of a person’s immigration status in open court in a criminal case by any party unless approved by a judge.

Jaywalking: AB 2147 allows pedestrians to jaywalk (or cross the street outside of an intersection) without being ticketed, as long as the crossing is done when it’s safe to do so.

Retail

Pink tax: AB 1287 prohibits gender-based pricing on products based on who they’re marketed toward.

Fur: AB 44 (2019) bans the sale and manufacturing of new fur clothing and accessories. It does not apply to used fur products, leather, cowhide, faux fur or shearling.

Food packaging: AB 1200 bans the sale, distribution or offering of any food packaging that contains perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also knowns as PFAS.

Laws that take effect later this year

Mental Health: SB 1338, also known as CARE Court, will launch new judicial branches in six California counties in October, which would provide court-ordered mental health care to severely mentally ill, unhoused people. Those counties are Glenn, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne. The rest of the state is expected to implement the new system by the end of 2024.

Housing: AB 2011 aims to boost housing production and affordability by turning unused retail spaces into homes and communities. It goes into effect on July 1.

Guns: AB 1594 allows the state attorney general, local prosecutors and anyone who suffered harm as a result of gun violence in California to sue firearm manufacturers.

Sealed convictions: SB 731 allows most old convictions on non-violent or non-sex-related offenses in criminal records to be permanently sealed. It applies to previous convictions of those who completed their sentence and did not return to the criminal justice system.

New laws that may be delayed or blocked

Farmworker unionization: AB 2183 makes it easier for farmworkers in California to unionize. The implementation of this law has been delayed following an agreement signed by the governor and labor leaders.

The governor agreed to sign the bill, with conditions, after facing political pressure from high-profile people and politicians, including President Joe Biden.

One of those conditions involved striking out nearly half of the measure that farmworker groups had been pushing for, while another is based on the assumption the state Legislature — a completely separate body from his branch in state government — will approve the changes he wants.

Fast food workers: AB 257 would create a state council to bargain wages and working conditions on behalf of the than half-million fast food workers in the state. Opponents of the measure have said they have gathered more than enough signatures to keep the measure from going into effect, and to give voters the final say on the issue in 2024.

Click here to read the full article at KCRA

Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: 2023, California Politics, Laws, Legislature

How Will California’s New Laws Affect You?

December 31, 2021 By John Myers, Melody Gutierrez, Taryn Luna , Phil Willon 3 Comments

SACRAMENTO — The COVID-19 pandemic continued to slow the pace of governing California in 2021 as it did the year before, with the second fewest number of bills approved by the Legislature of any year since 1967, trailing only the record low number ratified in 2020.

In all, Gov. Gavin Newsom considered 836 bills covering a range of topics, a mix of proposals prompted by the current COVID crisis as well as items that have been hotly debated for years. Newsom vetoed only 66 of the bills that made it to his desk.

The Times’ list highlights 43 noteworthy new laws for 2022, including several that were approved years earlier but are only taking effect now. Most of those listed take effect on New Year’s Day. As in years past, the list mostly reflects the interests of the Democrats who hold a supermajority of seats in both the state Senate and Assembly.

Some of the most notable new laws make significant changes in criminal justice, law enforcement oversight and healthcare.

Health insurance companies must offer free COVID-19 testing for free to their customers, eliminating surprise fees and guaranteeing access to tests and vaccinations even when someone is out of a healthcare provider’s network.

Anyone who protests at a vaccination clinic must keep a distance from any patients who are within 100 feet of its entrance. Failure to do so could result in a fine of $1,000 and up to six months in jail.

A broad array of services provided by Medi-Cal, California’s healthcare program for low-income residents, will be available to all income-eligible adults age 50 and over, regardless of immigration status, beginning on May 1, 2022.
Protesters can’t videotape, photograph or otherwise record patients or providers within 100 feet of reproductive clinics. The new law also bans sharing those images online.
Electronic cigarettes will be subject to a new tax as of July 1, 2022 to be paid by purchasers, equal to 12.5% of the sales price. The proceeds will go to public health and education programs.

Click here to read the full article at the LA Times

Filed Under: Trending News Tagged With: 2022, California Politics, Laws

New California laws 2016: What to expect in the new year

December 29, 2015 By Jeremy B. White 1 Comment

As reported by the Sacramento Bee:

Like bubbles ascending a champagne flute, a bevy of recently passed California policies will float to the surface and take effect this Jan. 1. Here’s a review of some of the major items.

Vaccines

One of 2015’s fiercest fights was over SB 277, which was introduced in the wake of a measles outbreak at Disneyland and requires full vaccination for most children to enroll in school. Schools will begin vetting students to ensure they have their shots in July, before the 2016-2017 school year begins.

Search warrants

Arguing our privacy laws lag behind our technology, lawmakers passed SB 178 to require search warrants before law enforcement can obtain your emails, text messages, Internet search history and other digital data.

Ballot fees

Thinking of filing a ballot initiative? You’ll need more cash. …

Click here to read the full article

Filed Under: Trending News Tagged With: Ballot initiatives, Laws, Legislature, Sacramento, Search Warrant, Vaccination, Vaccines