The new year means new laws

Deepa Bharath

Several personal resolutions may or may not go into effect today.

Bills that were signed into law by the Assembly last year,

however, will take effect today.

They range from new gun laws, which require more stringent safety

measures on the part of manufacturers, to one that will extend

Megan’s Law for another three years and provide the public continued

access to the state’s database of sexual offenders.

The passage of Assembly Bill 1313 renewing Megan’s Law until 2007

is significant in many ways, said Hallye Jordan, spokeswoman for

state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer.

“Megan’s Law has proved invaluable to Californians and has helped

them find out about sex offenders living in their neighborhoods so

they can protect their families,” she said. “If it had expired, they

would not have had access to this invaluable resource.”

The attorney general not only supported AB 1313, but is proposing

that Megan’s Law should continue without an expiry date, Jordan said.

“We also want the database on the Internet so people can view the

information from the convenience of their homes,” she said. “We’ll

continue to push for that.”

The law, which is in effect in several states, was named after

Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl who was sexually assaulted and

murdered by a sex offender who lived in her neighborhood.

Also going into effect is Assembly Bill 1022, which prohibits

cities and counties from contracting for red-light enforcement at

traffic intersections based on the number of citations issued or a

percentage of revenue generated.

Costa Mesa now has red-light cameras in four of its intersections

and will likely add cameras in six other busy intersections, Costa

Mesa Police Lt. Karl Schuler said.

“We have always supported AB 1022 and have been following what the

law states already,” he said.

The cameras are managed by the city, and all citations go through

traffic officers before they are mailed off to the violators, Schuler

said. The city has issued more than 4,000 citations since spring. The

first red-light camera went online in May at the intersection of

Harbor Boulevard and Adams Avenue.

Another new law may make it harder for elementary and middle

school students to buy soda on campus. Newport-Mesa Unified School

District officials, however, have said the district stopped selling

carbonated soft drinks in 1997 in all of its schools. The district’s

policy goes even further than the new legislation, which does not

cover high schools. Newport-Mesa schools allow soda sales only during

fundraisers and after-school activities. Students may still bring

their own soft drinks in their lunch.

Most gun laws enacted every year affect the manufacturers, not the

dealers, said Randy Gerall, owner of the Grant Boys, which sells

guns.

This year, the new law requires new models of semiautomatic

handguns, beginning in 2006, to contain a safety device to prevent

accidental discharge.

While he welcomes safety laws, Gerall said most of them count

heavily on gun users to follow these laws.

“For example, I sell a gun to someone who says he has a safe in

his house,” Gerall said. “I take his word for it. But who’s to say

he’s going to put his gun in the safe?”

The solution to the problem is education, Gerall said.

“We need to educate children in schools about gun safety,” he

said. “It’s like driver’s education classes. Just because you teach a

kid to drive, he’s not going to become a race-car driver, and just

because you teach a kid about guns, he’s not going to become a

shooter. Education is the most important thing here.”

Hundreds of new California laws will hit the books on New Year’s

Day, though in some cases their effect will be delayed by months or

even years. Here’s a look at a few of them:

ENVIRONMENT

* SB 20: Starting July 1, new fees on computer and TV monitors

will go toward funding a statewide electronics recycling program.

* AB 28: Raises the refundable fees paid by consumers on

recyclable containers.

* AB 302: California becomes the first state to ban some of the

chemicals used in fire retardants. The prohibition goes into effect

in 2008.

* SB 245: Bans ocean farming of salmon, exotic and genetically

modified fish off the coast of California.

HEALTH

* SB 2: Requires many employers to help pay for their workers’

health insurance. The first phase will go into effect in 2006.

* SB 1661: California becomes the first state to provide paid

family leave, starting July 1.

* SB 322: Requires the state to develop guidelines for research

using human embryonic stem cells by January 2005.

* SB 969: Requires that people who give out medical advice over

the phone be licensed medical professionals.

* SB 582: Bans the sale of dietary supplements that contain

ephedra.

CIVIL RIGHTS

* AB 205: Widely expands civil rights of California’s gay and

lesbian domestic partners, giving them many of the rights of married

couples. Becomes effective in 2005.

* AB 17: Requires that businesses with state contracts offer the

same benefits to domestic partners as to married couples. Goes into

effect in 2007.

* AB 196: Prohibits housing or job discrimination against people

whose appearance differs from that normally associated with their

sex.

EDUCATION

* SB 5: Gives the Department of Education until 2009 to lay out

content standards for kindergarten through 12th-grade foreign

language instruction.

* AB 781: Makes Japanese-Americans who were pulled from their high

schools to be put in internment camps during World War II eligible

for honorary high school diplomas.

* SB 677: Schools have until July to begin restricting soda sales

to elementary and junior high students.

* SB 892: Requires schools to maintain clean and operational

restrooms or face the loss of state maintenance funds.

CRIME

* SB 420: Establishes a program under the state Department of

Health Services that provides medical marijuana users with a card

that protects them from arrest.

* AB 1313: Extends for three years Megan’s Law, which allows the

public access to high-risk or serious sex offenders’ information.

* AB 1101: Gives attorneys the option of revealing confidential

attorney-client information if they believe it necessary to prevent a

criminal act likely to result in death, starting July 1.

* SB 559: Allows drug offenders who have successfully finished a

drug rehabilitation treatment program to have their arrest record

with regard to drug offenses sealed.

* SB 489: Starting in 2006, requires new models of semiautomatic

handguns to contain a safety device to prevent guns from accidentally

going off.

FINANCIAL PRIVACY/

IDENTITY THEFT

* SB 1: Allows consumers to block financial companies from selling

or sharing their personal financial information, effective in July.

Part of it could be preempted by federal law.

* SB 25: Requires companies to verify the identity of credit card

applicants if the applicant’s credit report has a security alert.

Preemption by a federal law is possible.

HOMEOWNERS’ ASSOCIATIONS

* AB 1525: Gives residents of California’s 36,000 homeowners’

associations new rights to fly flags and put up signs.

VOTING RIGHTS

* AB 190: Requires that even if a person uses the wrong type of

provisional ballot, votes for candidates and measures for which he or

she is eligible to vote will be counted.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.