SACRAMENTO — California state lawmakers in 2017 passed nearly 900 bills that Gov. Jerry Brown then signed into law. Most of them took effect Monday. The new laws cover topics ranging from the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, to the state's new recreational cannabis market, to the price of a college education.
Here are some of the laws that took effect with the new year:
IMMIGRATION
Police will no longer be able to ask people about their immigration status or participate in federal immigration enforcement actions under a law making California a sanctuary state. The law also allows jail officials to transfer inmates to federal immigration authorities only if they have been convicted of certain crimes.
It was among numerous bills designed to thwart the policies of President Donald Trump's administration.
Also starting Monday, immigration officials will need a warrant to access workplaces or employee records and landlords will be barred from disclosing tenants' citizenship. Another new law will prohibit university officials from cooperating with immigration officers.
An additional bill will bar law enforcement officials from detaining a crime victim or witness only because of an actual or suspected immigration violation, or turning them over to immigration authorities without a warrant.
CANNABIS
Sales of recreational marijuana will be legal under a 2016 voter initiative that created the nation's biggest legal drug market.
But it will be illegal to take and drive a under bill taking effect Jan. 1 that outlaws smoking and ingesting marijuana, just as it's already unlawful for drivers or passengers to drink alcohol while driving. A separate law that took effect in June bars the possession of open containers of cannabis while driving.
ON THE JOB
The state minimum wage will increase to $10.50 per hour for businesses with 25 or fewer employees and to $11 per hour for those with 26 or more employees.
Small businesses with between 20 and 49 people will have to offer 12 weeks of unpaid maternity and paternity leave to employees.
Employers can't ask job applicants about their past salaries, a measure designed to narrow the pay gap between men and women.
California will become the 10th state to require both public- and private-sector employers of five or more employees to delay background checks and inquiries about job applicants' conviction records until they have made a conditional job offer, a measure known as "ban the box."
Those arrested but not convicted of a crime may ask a judge to seal their records, a move advocates say will help them get hired.
HEALTH-RELATED
Pharmaceutical companies must give advance notice before big price increases, although a drugmakers' trade group is suing to block the measure.
It will be illegal to deny admission to long-term care facilities based on gender identity or sexual orientation or to repeatedly fail to use a resident's preferred name or pronoun.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs will start disappearing from shelves because they can no longer meet energy efficiency standards under a 2007 federal law. That leaves compact fluorescent lights or light-emitting diode bulbs under the regulations, which take effect nationwide in 2020. The federal law let California impose the higher standards two years early. Although the industry is fighting the change in court, a federal judge is letting the restriction take effect while the case continues.
EDUCATION
The first year of community college may be free for full-time, in-state students under a law that waives the $46 per unit fee for one academic year for first-time students. Lawmakers still must provide the money in the next budget. California follows Tennessee in creating the program, though California previously offered free tuition until 1984.
