By admin 
Tougher penalties for serial shoplifters. A framework for Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes. New safeguards against artificial intelligence deepfakes.
Kate Selig
New York Times
The California Legislature has passed hundreds of bills in 2024, many of which took effect on January 1 and affect virtually every aspect of life in the Golden State.
Here’s a look at some of the most prominent laws that went into effect on New Year’s Day.
Shoplifting campaign
The state has passed a series of laws targeting retail crime and property theft, including shoplifting, car burglaries and robberies.
The legislation increases penalties for repeat offenders, creates additional ways to prosecute crimes as felonies and allows police to arrest people suspected of shoplifting with probable cause even if officers did not witness the crime.
One major change will allow prosecutors to add up the value of property stolen from multiple victims, making it easier to reach the $950 threshold needed to charge a suspect with a crime.
The changes come as California voters have shifted to the right on crime issues. Although California’s overall crime rates are among the lowest on record, certain crimes, such as car thefts and shoplifting, have increased in recent years.
In November, voters approved Proposition 36, a ballot measure that imposed stiffer penalties for shoplifting and drug possession. This came into effect in mid-December.
Route for Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes
Marijuana dispensaries in California are now allowed to sell food and non-alcoholic drinks and host live events, paving the way for Amsterdam cannabis cafes.
Marijuana businesses in the state, which has the largest number of cannabis consumers in the country, rallied in support of the law.
A separate law allows local governments to create ‘entertainment zones’, where restaurants and bars can sell alcoholic drinks to-go, and outdoor drinking is allowed.
Protection against sexually explicit deepfakes
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed several artificial intelligence protections. One bill makes it illegal to create and distribute lifelike images of real people in images that cause serious emotional distress, and targets AI-generated deepfakes that are sexually explicit. Another bill would require social media platforms to provide users with a way to report sexually explicit deepfakes of themselves.
However, Newsom vetoed a sweeping AI safety bill aimed at limiting the technology’s growth, ordering lawmakers to review it in the next session.
Ban on ‘forced outings’ of LGBTQ+ youth by schools
School districts can no longer require teachers or staff members to reveal a student’s gender identity or sexual orientation to their parents.
The legislation, the first of its kind in the country, is in response to policies in some school districts that required employees to notify parents if a student began using different pronouns or identified as a gender not reflected in school records displayed.
“Teachers can still talk to parents,” Newsom said at a news conference in December. “What they cannot do under the law is fire a teacher because he is not a traitor. I just don’t think teachers should be gender police.”
Several school districts have sued the state over the legislation, and the case is pending in federal court.
Reparations for Black residents
Several laws, modeled after recommendations from the state’s Reparations Task Force, are taking effect, including a measure that broadens protections against discrimination based on hair texture and hairstyles such as braids, locs and twists that protect hair from damage and are often caused by black people are carried.
Another such law requires companies to give their employees and county officials advance notice before closing a grocery store or pharmacy. That measure is intended to prevent neighborhoods from losing their main source of food or prescriptions, which disproportionately affects predominantly Black areas.
Of the fourteen reparations bills prioritized by the California Legislative Black Caucus, six were signed into law. Some failed to pass the Legislature, and two were vetoed by Newsom. The package did not include the direct cash payments recommended by the task force.
Preventing medical debt from impacting credit scores
Healthcare providers and debt collectors are now prohibited from reporting most medical debts to credit agencies, preventing it from having a negative impact on credit reports. These reports, which are the basis for credit scores, can impact a person’s ability to secure a loan, mortgage or even a job.
According to the California Health Care Foundation, millions of Californians have unpaid medical bills, including more than half of low-income residents.
Restrictions on toxic chemicals in cosmetics and clothing
Several laws banning certain toxic chemicals in clothing and cosmetics will come into effect on January 1.
One bill concerns 24 chemicals in cosmetics, including mercury and formaldehyde. Other bills would ban the sale of cosmetic products, clothing and outdoor gear that contain PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” a group of thousands of chemicals that remain in the environment and build up in the body.
Exposure to PFAS has been linked to serious health risks, although experts are still conducting research to fully understand its effects. These chemicals are widespread in Americans’ blood and difficult to remove, as they are found in items such as pizza boxes and dental floss.
The Legislature passed the laws before 2024 but gave companies extra time to comply.
Guarantees for money made by underlying content creators
Two bills improve financial protections for children’s content creators, including influencers of children and minors featured on YouTube, Instagram and other online monetization platforms.
One bill extends the state’s Coogan Act, which protects child performers, to minors who work as content creators on online platforms. Employers must deposit at least 15% of their income into a trust account.
The other measure mandates compensation for minors appearing in monetized online content, requiring parents or guardians to put part of their earnings into a trust account.
Proactive ban on octopus farming
California bans the farming of octopuses and the sale of farmed octopuses, citing concerns about animal welfare and environmental impacts. While there are currently no large-scale octopus farms in the state, the legislation aims to prevent them from opening in the future.
The law describes octopuses as “highly intelligent, curious, problem-solving animals” that are “conscious, sentient beings.”
California is the second state to ban octopus farming and the first to ban the sale of farmed octopuses.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.