These new California laws go into effect in 2024

A slew of new laws signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in the fall are set to take effect in California. They include more Airbnb cancellation refunds, a new state mushroom and protections for complaining about your wages at work. 

Here are the most high-profile new laws that may impact the lives of Californians in the new year. 

Since the late 1990s, Japanese restaurants in California without a full liquor license have been able to sell shochu — the spirit distilled with koji with an ABV of 24% or less — but they couldn’t call it that. Instead, they were forced to mislabel it as Korean soju, a distinct drink with a different distilling process, which has for decades had an exemption in the beer and wine license. Now, thanks to the passing of Assembly Bill 416, shochu can be proudly served under its actual name in your local California sushi bar.

A landlord can no longer prevent tenants in California from storing and charging their e-scooters and electric bikes in their apartment, unless the building has a safe, long-term storage unit. Senate Bill 712 takes effect on Jan. 1.

In perhaps the strangest piece of legislation of the year, California now has an official state mushroom (“Mushrooms are important for both wildlife and people,” the bill’s text reads). Joining the poppy, redwood and bear flag is the California golden chanterelle. If you’re a hiker or a forager, you already know all about the fan-shaped, orangey fungi. They’re found below oak trees and are particularly common after rainy weather.

The designation does not add any special protections to the mushroom but is instead meant to highlight and honor a unique California species. 

Renters rejoice: As of July 1, 2024, you no longer need to save up more than two months’ rent to put down a security deposit. Assembly Bill 12 limits landlords of unfurnished residential properties to asking for one month’s rent as the deposit. Landlords with one or two rental properties, totaling no more than four rental units, are exempt from the law.

Two new laws signed by Newsom have made it harder to fire employees in California.

With some exceptions, Assembly Bill 2188 prohibits bosses from discriminating against employees for using cannabis outside of work, or for finding traces of THC in a blood or urine test. Senate Bill 497 aims to ensure that employers can’t retaliate against workers for discussing their wages, asking how much coworkers earn or encouraging others to ask for a raise. Both laws go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

A concert ticket that suddenly doubles in price when you click through to the payment screen should soon be a nuisance of the past in California. Senate Bill 478 prohibits “hidden fees” from being added to the advertised cost of hotel reservations, sports tickets, car rentals and more.

“The days of bait-and-switch pricing practices are over,” state Sen. Nancy Skinner, who co-authored the bill, said in a statement. “… Californians will know up front how much they’re being asked to pay.”

There has been some confusion over the interpretation of the law when it comes to restaurants. The California Attorney General’s Office confirmed to SFGATE that restaurant service fees and mandatory tips are not going away. 

“SB 478 will not bar restaurants from charging service fees,” a spokesperson from the AG’s office wrote over email. “Those fees, however, must be included in restaurants’ advertised prices. The Department of Justice will continue to meet with industry groups in advance of July 1, 2024, when the law will become effective, to discuss implementation of the law.”

As of New Year’s Day, any single-occupancy bathroom in every business across California must now put up an all-genders sign on the door. “Restrooms are a necessity of life, and access to them influences our ability to participate in public life,” California Assemblymember Phil Ting, bill author, said in a statement. “Restricting access to single-occupancy restrooms by gender creates problems of safety, fairness, and convenience.”

The career of a professional mixed martial arts fighter can be a short one. Now, when fighters leave the ring and hang up their gloves, they can expect to be getting a little financial help. The retirement fund, which may begin being created as soon as January, is not coming out of the state coffers but from a $1 cut of MMA ticket prices and souvenirs.

“Your body doesn’t forget. And many times you don’t realize you’ve taken one hit too many until decades later,” former MMA star Ronda Rousey said at the State Capitol earlier this year. “Everyone loves you when you’re fighting in the octagon, but will any of those people be there for you when you’re in your nineties paying the price?”

Senate Bill 407, written by state Sen. Scott Wiener, hopes to prevent LGBTQ foster children from being placed in homes with unsupportive caregivers, through more stringent vetting of potential foster parents. The new law requires potential families to “demonstrate an ability and willingness to meet the needs of a child, regardless of the child’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”

“LGBTQ youth deserve a supportive and affirming home the same as any other child,” Wiener said in a statement. “I’m proud that California is taking this step to expand support for LGBTQ youth at a time when elected leaders in other states are targeting them with cruel restrictions and hate.”

The fallout from the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 continues to rumble on in American politics. A new law in California will shield the state’s doctors from legal jeopardy when mailing abortion pills to states that have criminalized the practice. Senate Bill 345 states that people in other states can remotely contact California health care providers to have abortion and gender-affirming medications shipped to them; it also provides legal protections for the providers. It goes into effect Jan. 1, 2024.

“An estimated 36 million women of child-bearing age now live in states that have outlawed abortion. There’s also an alarming movement of states criminalizing gender-affirming care,” state Sen. Nancy Skinner said in a statement. “With Gov. Newsom’s signing of SB 345, health care providers, physically located in California, will be able to offer a lifeline to people in states that have cut off access to essential care, and be shielded from the Draconian laws of those states.”

As in every year in recent memory, Jan. 1 marks an increase in the state’s minimum wage. For 2024, California’s minimum wage goes from $15.50 an hour to $16. Thanks to two new bills, base pay for fast food workers and health care employees will also increase. Effective April 1, 2024, minimum wage for fast food workers will be $20 an hour; all national fast food chains, including franchises, are included in Assembly Bill No. 1228. Senate Bill 525 lays out a rising scale of hourly wages for health care workers. Starting June 1, health care workers must be paid at least $18 per hour, with minimum wages being set slightly higher in some circumstances, such as for employees in more populous counties. Annual increases occur for differing numbers of years.

The number of paid sick days available to California workers goes up on Jan. 1 to at least five days, or 40 hours, per year, thanks to Senate Bill 616. Before this, employers were only required to provide three days, or 24 hours. Senate Bill 848 also gives Californians the right to take up to five days of paid leave if they suffer a reproductive loss such as a miscarriage. 

Soon, you won’t even need to be nabbed by the cops to get a speeding ticket. California approved a pilot program to place speed cameras on the streets of San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Los Angeles, Glendale and Long Beach. That means a camera with a license plate reader could automatically send a speeding ticket to your house. 

The five-year trial period begins in 2024, although it may take half a year or more for the cameras to be installed and operational. If you’re ticketed in the first 60 days of a camera being installed, you’ll just get a warning. After that, though, citations from $50 to $500 will arrive in your mailbox. 

It will now be easier to cancel your accidental bookings on hotel sites, third-party booking companies and short-term rentals like Airbnb. If you cancel within 24 hours of your booking, you are now guaranteed a full refund. There’s just one caveat: The stay has to be for at least 72 hours from the time of booking.

“This first-in-the-nation law will end the confusing maze of misleading cancellation policies for lodging on the Internet,” state Sen. Steve Glazer, author of Senate Bill 644, said at the time of its signing. “Now, consumers will have a chance to correct mistakes and cancel bookings they hadn’t intended to make and get a full refund.”

California’s state-run campsites are a hot commodity, with reservations often disappearing in minutes at some of the most popular sites. Assembly Bill 618 adds penalties for no-showing to your reserved campsite, going into effect Jan. 1, 2024. If you cancel within two to six days of the first day of your reservation, California State Parks now has the right to keep the cost of the first night, plus any fees for the reservation. If you cancel or no-show within 24 hours, you risk losing the cost of your entire booking, plus reservation fees.

For voters seeking more transparency on their ballots, Assembly Bill 421 now requires the voter information guide to include more information about veto referendums. For clarity, “Yes” and “No” will instead be phrased as “Keep the law” or “Overturn the law.” In addition, the top three donors trying to get the law in question overturned will now be listed. For example, Ballotpedia noted that a bill that would regulate fast food wages and working conditions is opposed by Chipotle, In-N-Out and Starbucks.

“Excited delirium” is not recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and now it won’t be recognized as a cause of death in California either. Assembly Bill 360 bans excited delirium from being listed on death certificates. In recent years, it’s become a catch-all cause of death for police departments when someone dies in their custody, and critics have said it is disproportionately applied to Black individuals. 

AB 360 also bans law enforcement from using the term “excited delirium” in police reports, although they may describe the individual’s behavior as they witnessed it.

Missing Black women and children between the ages of 12 and 25 now have a special alert system in place. Ebony Alerts can be activated by CHP in the event a Black child or young woman is believed to be kidnapped, missing under suspicious circumstances or at risk due to developmental disabilities. State Sen. Steven Bradford, who sponsored Senate Bill 673, cited a desire to bring additional attention to the disproportionate number of missing person cases in California that involve Black youths.

Ebony Alerts will be activated like other alerts used by CHP, and you may see them starting Jan. 1 on electronic highway signs.

Among the most controversial new laws is one mandating large retailers must have gender-neutral children’s areas. Starting Jan. 1, the state can fine stores that have toy or child care departments but do not maintain “a reasonable selection of the items and toys for children” in a section that isn’t explicitly labeled for girls or boys. The law only applies to retailers with 500 or more employees across the state, and the fines are minimal. It’s no more than $250 for the first violation and $500 for any further violations.