How will California’s new laws affect…

Hundreds of new California laws take effect on Jan. 1, imposing a raft of new mandates on scores of issues, including rules dictating when plastic straws will be handed out at restaurants, that workplace sexual harassment settlements are disclosed and that set new limits on the ownership of guns.

Some laws were the direct result of recent events — among them proposals crafted following the national #MeToo discussion and rules aimed at avoiding a repeat of recent catastrophic and deadly wildfires. A few laws taking effect in 2019 are holdovers from years past, with delayed implementation designed to smooth the transition for the state’s businesses and the public.

And some — including a new, official sport — are quintessentially Californian.

See which laws went into effect in 2018 »