New Laws in 2023

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.

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.

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

Creation of three new state holidays:

Juneteenth AB 1655 (Jones-Sawyer) - 2021-22

Lunar New Year AB 2596 (Low) - 2021-22

Genocide Awareness Day AB 1801 (Nazarian) - 2021-22