New California Laws for 2014

After spending the past week visiting family and vacationing in Southern California, I'm back home and ready to alert you California residents to some information you can use. Here are some of the new laws passed in the Golden State last year that took effect on January 1.  I'm listing some I feel you might likely encounter in daily life.

Pocketbook Issues
• Minimum wages go up by $1 to $9 an hour on July 1 and by another $1 on Jan. 1 2016 to $10.
•  Computer software, or “bots,” used to buy blocks of tickets before regular consumers get access will be outlawed, making it more difficult for scalpers to hoard the best seats.
•  Domestic workers, such as in-home aides, housekeepers and nannies, will be eligible for overtime and other benefits.
• Starting July 1, workers will be able to use the current paid family leave program to care for a seriously ill grandparent, grandchild, sibling or in-law.                                                                           • Workers in outside jobs will be guaranteed recovery periods to cool down or employers can be penalized.                                                                                                                                                  • Businesses must act to protect workers who are victims of domestic violence and cannot fire them.

On the Road
• Low-emission and zero-emission vehicles without a passenger may continue to use car pool lanes until 2019.
• Drivers who park at broken meters cannot be ticketed.
• Teenagers under the age of 18 may not text while driving, even if using “hands free" devices that use voice-command messages.
• Owners may order a special $50 “Snoopy” license plate to raise money for museums. 
• Motorists must leave three feet of space when passing bicyclists.

Education
• Districts must adopt policies allowing transgender students to use the restrooms and locker facilities of their choosing, as well as play on the sports team that matches their gender identity. (There is a referendum gathering signatures in an attempt to overturn this law.)
• Veterans who served at least one year in California and file an affidavit declaring their intention to become permanent California residents will be exempt from higher out-of-state tuition when enrolling at a California State University.
• Schools may discipline students who use social media to harass others — called “cyberbullying” — even if it occurs off-campus.

Immigrant Rights
• Unauthorized immigrants will be eligible for a driver’s license by the end of the year or sooner, once DMV adopts the regulations.
• Local authorities can no longer turn unauthorized immigrants over to federal authorities for deportation if they are suspected of only minor crimes.
• Employers could be fined up to $10,000 and lose their business license if they report or threaten to report the nonlegal status of a worker who files a complaint over unsafe conditions or sexual harassment.
• Those without proof of legal status may practice law, under certain conditions.
• Non citizens may work at polling places if they are permanent legal residents.

Guns
• The Department of Justice will start keeping records of long-gun purchases.  Previously those documents were destroyed within five days.
• Conversion kits can no longer be sold if they allow a gun to shoot more than 10 rounds.
• Purchasers of long guns will have to pass a written safety like the one now required for handguns.
• People found guilty of making violent threats will have to wait five years to own a firearm.
• Gun owners who do not keep their weapons securely stored can face criminal penalties if the gun is used in a shooting involving a child. 
• Hunters cannot use lead ammunition. This goes into effect no later than July 1, 2019, but likely much earlier, as soon as Fish and Wildlife writes the regulations.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

A big part of the reason behind the financial crash was a lack of sensible practice within the industry. Here's a rundown on the consumer protection provisions in the new financial reform bill. You can read more in this New York Times article. Yahoo News has a good synopsis here.

A new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be created, housed in the Federal Reserve. It will consolidate the functions of numerous existing bodies, and its sole responsibility will be to safeguard the interests of consumers. This was a key element championed by consumer groups such as AARP and consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren, Congressional watchdog over TARP funds.

Financial institutions and instruments such as banks, mortgage lenders, credit card and private student loan companies, payday lenders, community banks and credit unions will be subject to new rules and transparency requirements. People can get a copy of their credit report annually by going to AnnualCreditReport.com. Lenders will have to actually check people's income and assets. There can be no prepayment penalties for adjustable rate mortgages and no bonuses can be paid to salespeople based on the interest rate the customer gets. Origination fees will be capped at 3%.

Banks will have to keep a stake in the loans they make. They will not just be able to sell them all off once made, thus giving them an incentive to make sure they are extending good loans to credit worthy customers. Trading in such exotic instruments as derivatives will not be banned, but banks will be able to commit no more than 3% of their assets to them and at least they will all have to be conducted openly will full public disclosure. If banks fail the industry itself will pay the costs rather than a federal bailout fund. (Depositors' money will still be guranteed by the FDIC.)

In addition to the significant credit card reforms already enacted last year sellers will be able to offer customers discounts for paying cash but will not be able to offer discounts for using one credit card over another.

There were setbacks for consumer protection in the agreement. For one thing, auto dealers were excluded. For another, annuities escaped some of the strong scrutiny other instruments will face. But in total, these developments represent a gain for consumers and a bit of a brake for some of the recklessness that led to the latest meltdown.

It is an achievement that never would have happened under the other party and that Obama and the Democrats will tout as the midterms approach.