California's 800 new laws: From hands-free texting to drivers' licenses for undocumented immigrants

The state of California in the United States (US) has more than 800 new laws, most of which took effect on New Year’s Day. The new laws range from allowing driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants to permitting hands-free texting, and guaranteeing members of the clergy the option not to officiate marriages that violate their religious beliefs. According to the California publication The Sacramento Bee, state governor Jerry Brown signed around 876 laws, most of which took effect on New Year’s day. The publication also noted that a large part of the legislation was pushed by the Democrat political party, who dominate both the houses of the California State Legislature. The 2010 US Census estimated around 1,195,580 Filipinos in California, composing the largest concentration of all the states. There are around 3,430,864 Filipinos in the United States, according to the 2011 Stock Estimate of Overseas Filipinos of  the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. Some of the laws the Sacramento Bee included in its article are the following:         

• AB 2348: registered nurses can dispense birth control drugs or devices in clinics; the law is noted as a way to expand birth control access to women.

• AB 2189: around 400,000 undocumented immigrants may obtain driver's licenses. The article noted that this pertains to those in the US government’s Deferred Action program “for immigrants who came to the U.S. as youths and have led generally productive lives.”

• SB 1172: conversion therapy on homosexuals or other minors will be prohibited. However, the article noted that legal challenges to the legislation are pending.

• AB 1536: Drivers may dictate, send or listen to text messages provided these processes are done with a hands-free device.

• AB 1844: Employers cannot demand the username and passwords of his or her employees’ or applicants’ social media accounts.

The San Francisco Examiner, also based in California, also published a list of some of the laws it deemed notable, including:

• An act that guarantees clergy members not to perform nuptials that violate their religious beliefs, such as same-sex marriages; the San Francisco Examiner also noted that the law also protects denominations from losing their tax-exempt status should they refuse to perform the ceremonies;

• An anti-bullying law that will allow schools to suspend any student who creates “burn pages,” or  social media profiles that impersonate people for bullying, intimidation or mocking purposes;

• A law that prohibits employers from discriminating breast-feeding women;

• Legislation that will allow juveniles with life without parole sentences the opportunity to petition for 25 years to life sentences, and

• A law preventing landlords from requiring pet owners “
to declaw or devocalize” pets as a requirement to rent apartments.

- VVP, GMA News