A new year means new laws are taking effect across America, with state-by-state plans to raise the minimum wage, improve the quality of life in city centers and slash taxes and regulations.
Starting in 2025, California towns will be allowed to set up “entertainment zones” that permit bars to sell alcohol to persons on sidewalks and public streets. It is modeled after an earlier program in San Francisco and designed to bolster foot traffic in areas still recovering from the pandemic.
The state also legalized Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes that are allowed to sell food and drinks that are not prepackaged.
Five days into the year, New York motorists will get a crash course in congestion pricing.
The plan to reduce car traffic in the heart of Manhattan is slated to start on Jan. 5 unless there is a last-minute delay like the one that upended the controversial plan last year.
Drivers entering a swath of midtown and lower Manhattan must pay $9 with an EZ-Pass or $13.50 without one during peak hours.
Pennsylvania is expanding a safe-haven law that allows parents to surrender their newborns if they cannot care for them. Starting in 2025, urgent-care centers will be added to the roster of places where parents can leave infants without facing criminal penalties, so long as the babies are 28 days or younger and unharmed.
Currently, parents can relinquish infants at hospitals or police and emergency services stations.
“Urgent care centers provide conveniently located, safe environments where parents can surrender unharmed newborns. By including these centers as an option, we can increase awareness efforts that save babies and offer them the chance to be raised in loving homes with families eager to provide care and support,” said state Sen. Michele Brooks, a Republican who sponsored the expansion.
Illinois will require gyms to allow users to cancel their memberships by email or through the gym website, and the state increased the minimum wage from $14 to $15.
In fact, more than 20 states plan to raise their minimum wages in the new year — including a 38-cent increase in Washington state to $16.66. It is the highest minimum wage in the country.
Neighboring Oregon is implementing a law that criminalizes the creation and distribution of videos that depict animal abuse. It also includes penalties for encouraging such types of abuse.
The law was inspired by a case in which a man tortured monkeys and sold the videos online. He had to be prosecuted in federal court because there were insufficient state laws to address the situation.
In Maryland, insurers will have to extend hearing-aid coverage to adults in cases where the device is prescribed, fitted and dispensed by a licensed audiologist.
Children had to be covered under existing law. Plans can limit the new benefit for adults to $1,400 per hearing aid every 36 months.
Drivers in the nation’s capital will be prohibited from turning right on a red light in the new year.
However, D.C. officials say the city didn’t set aside enough money to educate people about the change, so signs about the rules aren’t posted at all intersections and enforcement will be spotty.
Motorists in Missouri will face fines for first-time violations of its hands-free phone law, instead of getting off with a warning.
Those caught holding a phone to make calls or text while driving face a $150 penalty and fines of $250 to $500 for subsequent violations. It remains a secondary offense, however, meaning drivers have to be pulled over for a separate infraction before being punished for cell phone usage.
Kansas is zeroing out the state sales tax on food purchases under a bill that, starting in 2023, gradually phased it down.
“In just over two weeks, the state sales tax on food will finally be extinct. This elimination will save the average family of four $500 a year on groceries, keeping more money in your pockets,” Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, said on Facebook.
In Texas, lawmakers repealed a law that required annual safety inspections for non-commercial vehicles. However, motorists will be subject to a $7.50 “inspection program replacement fee” at the time of registration. Owners of new vehicles will pay an initial inspection program replacement fee of $16.75 to cover two years. Emissions tests will still be required in more than a dozen Texas counties, including major metropolitan areas.
Deeper into 2025, Georgia will launch a Georgia Promise Scholarship that gives K-12 students in low-performing schools up to $6,500 in annual funding for private school tuition, tutoring services or other qualified education expenses through an education savings account.
The Georgia Education Savings Authority was created to administer the program, which is considered a win for school-choice advocates.
Program Senior Vice President Mitch Seabaugh said they want to begin accepting applications by midyear.
“This exciting, new scholarship program is still under development and will be available to students starting in July 2025,” he said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.