California lawmakers passed more than 1,000 bills this year, many of which Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed to become laws in 2024.
Dozens of new regulations and expansions of previous laws will go into place once the calendar flips to January in the Golden State, from cannabis and minimum wage increases to housing expansions and firearms limitations.
HOUSE PREPARES FOR EARLY 2024 SHAKE-UP WITH SLEW OF SPECIAL ELECTIONS
Cannabis use
When the new year hits, California employers will be barred from asking employers about cannabis use outside of work. Assembly Bill 2188, which Newsom signed in 2022, prohibits an employer from discriminating against a person in the hiring and termination process based on their cannabis use off the job and restricts traditional drug tests for cannabis use.
A new second law expands that bill under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, which Newsom signed in October, and further cements the previous Assembly bill by protecting workers or applicants from discrimination based on information about past use of cannabis that is learned from a criminal history.
“Testing or threatening to test bodily fluids for cannabis metabolites has been the most common way that employers harass and discriminate against employees who lawfully use cannabis in the privacy of their own homes,” Dale Gieringer, director of the California chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said in a statement, adding the new laws will not affect worker safety.
“Numerous studies have found that workers who test positive for cannabis metabolites have no higher risk of workplace accidents,” Gieringer added.
Minimum wage increases
Two new laws will increase the minimum wage for millions of California workers, including for healthcare and fast food workers.
Due to a state law targeting inflation, California’s statewide minimum wage will increase to $16 an hour starting Monday.
In September, the Democratic governor signed Assembly Bill 1228 into law, implementing a $20-per-hour minimum wage for fast-food workers in California at chains with 60 or more locations around the nation. It is set to take effect April 1.
In October, Newsom signed a bill increasing the minimum wage for healthcare workers in the state from $15.50 an hour to $25 per hour, phased out over several years. Projections show the new law, backed by healthcare unions, will cost the state $4 billion amid a massive budget deficit.
Housing
Earlier this year, Newsom signed a massive housing package of dozens of bills aimed at addressing California’s housing crisis. Senate Bill 4 will expedite low-income housing development on religious lands and on surplus land owned by nonprofit colleges.
On top of affordable housing developments, California is expanding tenants’ rights under Assembly Bill 12 by ensuring renters will not be asked for a security deposit larger than one month’s rent.
“Massive security deposits can create insurmountable barriers to housing affordability and accessibility for millions of Californians,” Democratic Assemblyman Matt Haney, the bill’s author, said in an October statement. “Despite skyrocketing rents, laws on ensuring affordable security deposits haven’t changed substantially since the 1970’s.”
Firearm restrictions
A legal battle has caused confusion over new rules and regulations regarding firearms in California taking effect in a few days after a federal judge temporarily blocked Senate Bill 2, a law limiting places concealed carry firearm permit holders can bring their guns.
Last week, United States District Judge Cormac J. Carney issued an order to block one of the bill’s regulations, preventing licensed gun carrying in certain public places such as churches, parks, stadiums, libraries, museums, banks, casinos, and other areas.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, said his office is filing an appeal to the district court’s decision.
“If allowed to stand, this decision would endanger communities by allowing guns in places where families and children gather,” Bonta said in a statement. “I have directed my team to file an appeal to overturn this decision. We believe the court got this wrong, and that SB 2 adheres to the guidelines set by the Supreme Court in Bruen. We will seek the opinion of the appellate court to make it right.”