ShareThisSACRAMENTO, Calif. - Hundreds of new laws will take effect in California beginning Sunday, including those banning minors from using tanning beds, raising the age that children must use car booster seats and prohibiting the open carrying of handguns.
The Legislature's 2011 work resulted in 745 new laws, though some already have gone into effect while others will be fully enacted in future years. In 2010, there were 733 laws enacted. Both years saw significantly fewer new laws than in the past few decades.
Among the major laws that will go into effect this week:
Tanning beds: In the nation's first measure of its kind, people younger than 18 will be prohibited from using ultraviolet tanning devices in California, though doctors can prescribe their use when medically necessary.
Car seats: Children riding in cars will have to remain in a booster seat until they are 8 years old or taller than 4 feet 9 inches. Current law requires that children use the seats until they are 6. Many other states have stricter requirements.
Shark fins: California will ban the importation of shark fins. Fins already in the state can be sold and used until July 2013, when a total ban takes effect.
Youth sports: Schools will be required to remove student athletes immediately from sporting activities if they appear to have sustained a concussion or head injury. Students will be barred from returning unless a licensed health care provider gives written approval.
Vaccines: Youths 12 or older can consent to medical treatment that prevents sexually transmitted diseases. The focus is on young women and prevention of the human papillomavirus, which causes cancer and can be prevented with a vaccine.
Alcohol sales: Shoppers will be barred from purchasing alcoholic beverages using self-check out registers at supermarkets or other stores.
Cough medicine: People under 18 would be banned from over-the-counter purchases of products that contain dextromethorphan. The ingredient, used in many cough medicines, in high doses can cause hallucinations and loss of motor skills.
Diversity: Requires that public schools include historical contributions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, as well as people with disabilities, in social science instruction and teaching materials.
Handguns: New law prohibits openly carrying unloaded handguns. The ban does not apply to law enforcement, people permitted to carry loaded weapons in public, or to people selling weapons at gun shows.
College scholarships: The first phase of the Dream Act takes effect, allowing public colleges and universities that administer privately funded scholarships to award those to students who are undocumented immigrants. The second phase, which will allow undocumented students to receive publicly funded aid, begins in January 2013.
Foster care: Young adults in California's foster care system can stay in the system until they are 21 years old instead of the current cutoff at 18, with the federal government providing the funding for the extended services.
(Contact Wyatt Buchanan at wbuchanan(at)sfchronicle.com.)
Must credit the San Francisco Chronicle
