[ad_1]
New 12 months, new guidelines.
A whole bunch of recent legal guidelines took impact in California on Jan. 1, together with many handed by legislators within the fall. And, as I wrote earlier this week, California’s statewide minimal wage was bumped up by 50 cents, to $16 an hour.
Listed here are a number of the extra noteworthy new state legal guidelines:
Protections for hashish customers
As of Monday, California employers can not maintain off-the-clock hashish use towards most staff. Meeting Invoice 2188 prohibits companies from firing or in any other case penalizing workers for his or her marijuana use “off the job and away from the office.”
It’s also now unlawful for many employers within the state to discriminate towards workers who take a look at optimistic in drug screenings for “nonpsychoactive” traces of marijuana, which the measure says “don’t point out impairment, solely that a person has consumed hashish in the previous few weeks.”
The regulation’s protections don’t apply to some classes of staff, together with those that work in development or for the federal authorities; they will nonetheless legally be disciplined for marijuana use off the job.
One other new regulation, Senate Invoice 700, bars California employers from requesting info from job candidates about their hashish use.
Gender-neutral toy sections
Below A.B. 1084, which was handed by the State Legislature in 2021, massive retail shops that promote toys should now keep a gender-neutral part for kids. The state can advantageous noncompliant shops as much as $250 for a primary violation and $500 for every subsequent infraction.
Extra sick depart
California employers should now, below S.B. 616, present every worker with no less than 5 days, or 40 hours, of sick depart a 12 months. The outdated minimal was three days. New York, Oregon and several other different states already require employers to supply no less than 40 hours of sick depart a 12 months.
Simpler Airbnb refunds
S.B. 644 requires that accommodations, journey reserving corporations and short-term rental providers like Airbnb enable reservations to be “canceled with out penalty” inside 24 hours of reserving affirmation. The rule applies solely to reservations made 72 hours or extra earlier than the scheduled check-in.
Longer jail sentences for fentanyl crimes
Below A.B. 701, individuals convicted of dealing or making an attempt to deal greater than a kilogram of fentanyl can now be sentenced to extra jail time than was beforehand allowed. Greater than 6,000 Californians died of fentanyl overdoses in 2022.
The place we’re touring
In the present day’s tip comes from Laura Davidson:
“I really like to go to South Lake and drive the 395 alongside this splendid jap a part of our state all the way in which from Lancaster to Bishop. From the clouds to the land, it’s a wonderful drive.”
Inform us about your favourite locations to go to in California. E mail your recommendations to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We’ll be sharing extra in upcoming editions of the e-newsletter.
Inform us
What are you trying ahead to in 2024? Milestone birthdays, touring to new locations, selecting up a brand new passion?
Inform us your hopes for the brand new 12 months at CAtoday@nytimes.com. Please embody your full title and the town during which you reside.
And earlier than you go, some excellent news
A bunch referred to as Atheists United has for many years fostered a neighborhood for atheists in Los Angeles and better Southern California, a congregation of types for these outdoors the boundaries of non secular establishments.
Led by its govt director, Evan Clark, Atheists United has just lately begun organizing mountain climbing journeys, referred to as Atheist Adventures, to a number of the most spectacular and awe-inspiring state and nationwide parks on the West Coast. The journeys are designed for group members to speak about their beliefs and have a nonreligious religious expertise in nature.
On a latest outing to Zion Nationwide Park in Utah, 20 members of the group had been joined by the reporter Deborah Netburn of The Los Angeles Instances, who chronicled the journey in addition to the values and the core questions that animate the group and its members.
Referring to her 3-year-old son, Dani Hsia, a bunch member who attended the Zion outing, stated: “I need him to really feel all this stuff — to really feel humble and awe and connection.”
“These sorts of occasions are necessary to me as a result of they form how I discuss to him and assist him perceive easy methods to be a very good human,” she stated.
[ad_2]
Source link