A Puppy Lemon Law, Minimum Wages, Gas Taxes, Legal Marijuana Among New State Laws
By Elaine S. Povich, Stateline Staff Writer
A wide-ranging collection of new state laws went into effect Jan. 1, including legalized pot, a puppy "lemon law" and a ban on unauthorized drone surveillance. One new law protects the "Possum Drop," a Brasstown, NC, New Year's Eve event.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, states enacted nearly 40,000 laws and resolutions during 2013 legislative sessions, and many of them take effect on Jan. 1.
Many of the laws made headlines when they passed. Now state residents will feel the effects.
In Colorado, for example, adults will be able to buy up to an ounce of marijuana from state-licensed shops. Oregon will become the 13th state to license and regulate medical marijuana, and 60 state-run medical dispensaries will be allowed to sell marijuana in Illinois. Washington state is beginning to issue licenses for sales of recreational marijuana, but it may take several months for the process to get rolling.
The Colorado law may be the highest-profile of the new laws that go into effect Jan. 1. But Michael Elliott, executive director of Medical Marijuana Industry Group, a trade organization, said state and local regulations may hold up the openings of recreational marijuana outlets, many of which will expand the sales base of existing medical marijuana stores.
He said local regulations, such as those in Denver which allow neighbors near the proposed recreational marijuana stores to testify at numerous public hearings, are holding up some openings. He predicted only a dozen or so Denver locations would be open Wednesday, but many more are in the pipeline.
Health Care and Guns
On the health care front, certain Affordable Care Act provisions were supposed to take effect Jan. 1, but problems with the program's launch and delays issued by President Barack Obama’s administration have now made that day less of a "drop dead" date for some.
People who had their insurance coverage canceled are exempt from the Jan. 1 deadline to purchase new insurance or be penalized. The ACA's mandate requires everyone to have health insurance or face a penalty of $95 or 1 percent of income in 2014.
In addition to the Affordable Care Act provisions, many other health care-related state laws are going into effect across the US. A new Oregon law bans smoking in vehicles when children are present and new laws in Missouri and Montana require insurance plans to cover health care services delivered remotely through computer link-ups. Illinois and Oregon are putting tanning salons off-limits to minors, and Maine becomes the 48th state to require an organ donation check-off on driver's licenses, according to NCSL.
In another high-profile change, Connecticut, the site of the Newtown school shooting a year ago, will enact a tough set of gun laws. They include mandatory registration of all assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines purchased before April 2013, and creation of a statewide registry that will track parolees whose crimes involved the use of weapons.
Minimum wage increases also grabbed headlines in the past year and the fruits of many of those debates will show up on Jan. 1. Legislators in Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island — and voters in New Jersey — approved minimum-wage increases. In Connecticut, the new minimum is $8.70 an hour; in New Jersey, $8.25; and in New York and Rhode Island, $8. (California passed a minimum wage increase to $9 an hour, but it takes effect in July 2014; the wage goes to $10 an hour on Jan. 1, 2015.)
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