New laws in 2014: From tanning bed bans to ‘lemon pets’

Greg Toppo, USATODAY

Illinois is also home to new laws prohibiting unmanned aerial drones.

If you’re a pale 17-year-old in Illinois, get your indoor tanning sessions in now. Starting Wednesday, they’re strictly forbidden.

A new state law takes effect Jan. 1 that bans anyone under 18 from using tanning salons in the Land of Lincoln. Illinois becomes the sixth state to keep teens out of the facilities, part of a growing trend of regulating tanning facilities to help reduce the risk of skin cancer, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), a Denver-based group that tracks lawmaking.

STORY: Minn. starts to test aid recipients for drugs
STORY: Calif. law to require 3 feet between car, bike

The new measure is one of an estimated 40,000 new laws, regulations and resolutions approved by state legislatures in 2013, many of which take effect Jan. 1. Among them:

• Arkansas voters must now show a photo ID at polling places, while Virginia voters for the first time will be able to register online.

• In Colorado, 16-year-olds will be able to pre-register to vote, but must still wait until they’re 18 to vote.

• California students must be allowed to play school sports and use school bathrooms “consistent with their gender identity,” regardless of their birth identity.

• In Oregon, new mothers will now be able to take their placentas home from the hospital — some experts say ingesting it has positive health benefits. Another new state law bans smoking in motor vehicles when children are present.

Minimum-wage increases take effect in four northeastern states: Connecticut’s rises to $8.70 an hour; New Jersey’s to $8.25; and New York’s and Rhode Island’s to $8. In nine other states, the minimum wage rises automatically because it’s indexed to inflation.

Perhaps most significantly, Colorado adults age 21 or older will be able on Wednesday to buy up to an ounce of marijuana for recreational use from a state-licensed retail store. Marijuana advocates expect many of the new stores to be up and running by then, and observers say the new Colorado regulations are a sign of things to come.

“I think state legislatures will be faced with the marijuana issue” in 2014, says Jane Carroll Andrade, NCSL’s spokeswoman.

In Washington state, regulators are combing through more than 2,000 applications for similar stores after voters approved a similar measure in 2012, says Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). He expects the first Washington stores to open in a few months.

“Other states are watching Colorado and Washington because it will continue to come up,” Andrade says.

Armentano, who likens these developments to the state-led reversal of Prohibition in the 1930s, says a dozen states are due to debate marijuana legalization measures in the coming year or so. “The genie’s out of the bottle and it’s simply not going back in.”

Many new state laws take effect 90 days after they’re signed, but a few states, like California, Colorado, Illinois and Oregon, get extra attention this time of year because traditionally many laws in these states take effect on Jan. 1.

As a result, life changes a bit more radically for Illinois residents each new year: On Wednesday, in addition to the tanning measure, they’ll find that they can now return a pet or be reimbursed for veterinary costs if an illness was not disclosed by the seller. So-called “lemon pets” laws already exist in 21 states, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Also in Illinois: Anyone who flicks a cigarette butt on a street or sidewalk could be fined at least $50 for littering; police must receive training on the psychological and physiological effects of stun guns, and penalties are now tougher for inciting a violent flash mob or riot via social media.

Illinois also becomes the 13th state to prohibit handheld cellphones while driving. Meanwhile, school districts on Jan. 1 will be able to install cameras on school buses to photograph drivers who pass them when buses are stopped. And school-based sex education must include information about both abstinence and contraception.

Illinois is also home to tough new laws prohibiting unmanned aerial drones. Come Wednesday, it’ll be illegal to use a drone to interfere with hunters or fishermen — and police must get a warrant to use a drone for surveillance, except in cases of terrorism or if a suspect is fleeing a crime scene. Even with the warrant, police must destroy information gathered within 30 days unless it’s linked to a crime, says Ed Yohnka of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.

Lawmakers in both parties overwhelmingly passed the new surveillance prohibition, he says. “They understood that it was something that could occur in the relatively near future, and so there was a desire to get on top of it.”

Contributing: The Associated Press and Reuters

What’s new Jan. 1

A sample of other state laws taking effect Jan. 1:

Colorado: Drivers will see a new annual $50 fee for plug-in electric cars. Colorado is one of several states looking to capture revenue from alternative fuel, electric and hybrid vehicles.•

Connecticut: New gun-control laws in the aftermath of the school shooting in Newtown include mandatory registration of all assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines bought before April 2013, and creation of a statewide registry that will track parolees whose crimes involved weapons.•

Delaware: Sale, possession or distribution of shark fins prohibited.•

Florida: Expanded early voting.•

Maine: Becomes the 48th state to require a check-off for organ donation on driver’s licenses to promote organ donation.•

Oregon: Privately run websites that feature police mug shots must take down photos for free if subjects can show they were not guilty or that charges were dropped.•

Rhode Island: Becomes the eighth state to enact a so-called “ban the box” law that prohibits prospective employers from inquiring into an applicant’s criminal history on written job applications.

 

• New laws include retail marijuana sales in Colorado
• Minimum wage increases take effect in 13 states
• Connecticut has some new gun-control laws in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre

 

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated where the National Conference of State Legislatures is based. It’s based in Denver.

By CAP Action War Room

Congress Must Avoid Another Manufactured Crisis And Extend The Highway Trust Fund

Unless Congress acts to extend the Highway Trust Fund before the August recess, we will be facing not a government shutdown but a construction shutdown that threatens hundreds of thousands of jobs.

As we have written before, the Highway Trust Fund provides the overwhelming majority of transportation funding to fix roads, bridges, and railroads. It’s income is generated from a federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel. Why is it running out? It’s been 20 years since that tax has been increased, and a combination of inflation, better fuel efficiency, and reduced driving have substantially reduced the amount the gas tax brings into the HTF and has threatened its solvency as a result. The Department of Labor has estimated that the fund will be depleted this fall.

Here is what’s at stake: if Congress doesn’t make a fix, more than 1,000 construction projects would be at risk. States would have to scale back their plans to improve transportation, and would lack the certainty of federal transportation funding to be able to plan for the future. Over a hundred thousand roadway projects and 5,600 railway projects could see delays. And above all else, because of this nearly 700,000 jobs would be at risk.

Those are most drastic implications and necessitate immediate action. And now is an especially bad time to cause another manufactured economic crisis. As we found out in last week’s jobs report, our economy is picking up steam that we simply cannot put in jeopardy.

But Congress should do more than just prevent this crisis — it should invest long-term in American infrastructure for a 21st century economy. That would mean taking serious action to address the fact that the American Society of Civil Engineers graded the nation’s infrastructure a ‘D+’. It would mean we could get to work fixing the nearly 8,000 bridges in this country that could collapse at any moment. It would mean investing in 21st-century programs like faster broadband and high-speed rail.

There is a solution out there already: President Obama’s budget calls for a $302 billion investment in infrastructure, a large portion of which would come from closing tax loopholes that benefit special interests. But absent that, we need more than just the temporary, short-term fixes currently being considered. We’ve seen what it is like to ricochet from crisis to crisis: it’s not good for American families, and it’s not good for our economy.

BOTTOM LINE: Sen. Patty Murray, in a speech on the Senate floor, sums it up appropriately: “Families can’t afford to have a few members of Congress putting jobs at risk once again,” she said. “And with the clock winding down, we can’t afford to put this off any longer.” Let’s extend the Highway Trust Fund, invest in our nation’s infrastructure, and keep America working.