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New Laws in 2023

New Year, New Laws

Eight of my bills bills were signed into law by Governor Newsom and go into effect in 2023. These bills will make California better by uplifting women, the working class, students, and prioritizing the health and safety of all.

  • AB 1601 will protect call center workers and disincentive employers from moving jobs out of California.
  • AB 1632, the Restroom Access Act, will protect those with medical conditions who need restroom access.
  • AB 1636, the Patient Protection Act, will ensure that physicians or surgeons who commit sexual misconduct with patients would permanently lose their license through the Medical Board of California.
  • AB 1797 will keep our schools open and safe by authorizing and streamlining schools’ ability to verify their student’s vaccine record and provide data on most impacted communities.
  • AB 2134 will remove cost as a barrier to abortion and contraceptive care in the State of California and affirm our commitment to reproductive rights. This bill was accompanied by a $40 million allocation in the state budget.
  • AB 2185 standardizes best practices and increases access of medical evidentiary examinations for victims of domestic violence assault.
 
Other bills that were signed into law: 

Animals

  • AB 44 (Friedman) – 2019-20 makes it illegal to manufacture or sell a fur product in the state.
Courts
  • AB 35 (Reyes) – 2021-22 modernizes California’s medical malpractice laws to increase the cap on damages and restructures attorney fees.
Environment
  • SB 1137 (Gonzalez) – 2021-22 prohibits new oil and gas wells or extensive retrofitting of existing operations within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, nursing homes, and hospitals.
Gender Equality
  • AB 1287 (Bauer-Kahan) – 2021-22 eliminates the “pink tax” by prohibiting different prices for similar goods if they are priced differently based on the intended consumer.
  • SB 107 (Wiener) – 2021-22 enacts protections against out-of-state anti-transgender laws for those who seek gender-affirming care in California.
Housing
  • AB 2011 (Wicks) – 2021-22 makes it easier to approve 100% affordable housing projects in commercial zones and mixed-income housing projects along commercial corridors. It also requires specified labor standards on those projects.
Labor
  • SB 3 (Leno) – 2015-16 minimum wage increases to $15.50 per hour. This is a result of past Legislative action to increase the minimum wage gradually.
Cannabis
  • AB 2188 (Quirk) – 2021-22 makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a person in based on a drug screening test finding the presence of nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites in their system or for the person's off the job use of cannabis.
Farmworkers
  • AB 2183 (Stone) – 2021-22 permits agricultural employees to select their collective bargaining representative through a representation ballot card election by mailing or delivering their sealed ballot directly to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board.
Fast Food Workers
  • AB 257 (Holden) – 2021-22 establishes the Fast Food Sector Council and tasks the council to conduct a full review on what workers in the industry need to ensure fair health, safety, and employment standards and how to establish industry-wide minimum health, safety, wage, working hours, and employment standards.
Paid Leave
  • AB 1041 (Wicks) – 2021-22 expands the list of individuals for which an employee can take family leave to include a "designated person," by the employee, and allows an employer to limit the employee to one designated person per 12-month period for family care and medical leave.
  • AB 1949 (Low) – 2021-22 requires private employers with five or more employees and public sector employers to provide employees with at least 30 days of service up to five unpaid days of bereavement leave upon the death of a family member.
Public Safety
  • AB 2147 (Ting) – 2021-22 legalizes safe street crossings (jaywalking) when the road is clear.
  • SB 731 (Durazo) – 2021-22 promotes fairness in criminal background checks.
  • SB 53 (Levya) – 2021-22 makes it easier to hold cyberflashers accountable.
  • SB 1327 (Hertzberg) – 2021-22 allows civil lawsuits against illegal firearm manufacturers and distributors.
New State Holidays
Women's Health: Access to Abortion
  • SCA 10 (Atkins) – 2021-22, amended the state constitution to ensure access to abortion.
  • AB 2091 (Bonta) – 2021-22 prohibits health plans from releasing medical information related to an individual seeking or obtaining an abortion in response to the actions of an anti-choice state or foreign government.
  • AB 2223 (Wicks) – 2021-22 eliminates mandatory investigations of stillbirths. Authorities would investigate if there were evidence of foul play leading to an infant’s death.
  • AB 2626 (Calderon) – 2021-22 prohibits health care professional licensure boards in CA from suspending or revoking the license of a provider performing a lawful abortion.
  • SB 1142 (Caballero) – 2021-22 provides grants to groups that help women cover the cost of travel, lodging, child care, and other expenses that commonly create barriers to accessing abortion.
  • AB 1242 (Bauer-Kahan) – 2021-22 prohibits law enforcement from making an arrest for performing or aiding an abortion and prohibits law enforcement from cooperating with law enforcement from another state regarding lawful abortions.
  • SB 245 (Gonzalez) – 2021-22 eliminates deductibles for abortion services.