By Mary O’KEEFE

It is that time of year again for Californians to get to know the multitude of laws their legislative representatives have passed in 2024. There are about 1,000 new laws that hit the books the first day of 2025. 

According to CalMatters, legislators actually presented about 5,000 bills. In total 1,200 bills were passed by legislators; Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed 200 of those presented. 

Below is the list of 12 new laws highlighted by the Speaker’s Office:

• AB 2017: A bank or credit union is prohibited from charging a consumer a non-sufficient funds fee when consumer’s attempt to initiate a transaction is declined instantaneously or near instantaneously due to non-sufficient funds.
• SB 1075 requires a credit union to provide a member notice each time the credit union assesses an overdraft fee or non-sufficient fund fee. 
• AB 2123: This eliminates employers’ ability to require employees to use accrued vacation leave before accessing California’s Paid Family Leave Program. 
• AB 2863: This law would require businesses to maintain verification of the consumer’s affirmative consent for at least three years, or one year after the contract is terminated – whichever is the longer period. This would help those who sign up for a subscription and find the initial contract is not clear. 
• AB 2801: Requires landlords to return deposits in full if rental is left clean and requires landlords to take pictures of property if claiming damage or cleaning fees.
• AB 3206: This extends the sale of alcohol to 4 a.m. but is limited to the 100-person VIP club of the LA Clippers’ new Inglewood arena. 
• SB 1144: This law requires an online marketplace to establish and maintain a policy prohibiting the sale of stolen goods on the marketplace and to provide a mechanism to notify the marketplace of the sale of stolen goods, as specified, and would require an online marketplace to alert local, regional or state law enforcement agencies in California if it knows or should know that a third-party seller is selling or attempting to sell stolen goods to a California resident, except as specified

One of the laws that may be a little tough to get used to the “daylighting law.” This law requires vehicles to be parked at least 20 feet away from the approaching side of all crosswalks. Drivers who park within 20 feet of a crosswalk could find a citation when they get back to their car. The citation can be issued even if there is no sign posted regarding the new rule. The no-parking zone decreases to 15 feet if there is a curb extension.