States ready new laws on wages, weed, traffic turns; infants, animals get protections

The start of 2025 means new laws across America, with state plans to raise the minimum wage, improve the quality of life in city centers and slash taxes and regulations.

“Entertainment zones” in California will permit bars to sell alcohol on sidewalks and public streets. The program, modeled after one in San Francisco, is designed to bolster foot traffic in areas still recovering from pandemic shutdowns.

The state also legalized Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes that sell non-prepacked food and drinks.

Five days into the year, New York motorists will get a crash course in congestion pricing.

The plan to reduce car traffic in the heart of Manhattan is slated to start on Jan. 5. A last-minute delay upended the law last year.

Drivers entering a swath of midtown and lower Manhattan must pay $9 with an E-ZPass or $13.50 without one during peak hours.

Pennsylvania is expanding a safe-haven law that allows parents who cannot care for their newborns to surrender them. Urgent care centers will be added to the roster of places where parents can leave infants without facing criminal penalties, as long as the babies are 28 days or younger and unharmed.

Parents also can relinquish infants at hospitals or police and emergency services stations.

“Urgent care centers provide conveniently located, safe environments where parents can surrender unharmed newborns. By including these centers as an option, we can increase awareness efforts that save babies and offer them the chance to be raised in loving homes with families eager to provide care and support,” said state Sen. Michele Brooks, a Republican who sponsored the expansion.

Illinois gyms must allow users to cancel their memberships by email or through the gym website.

The state also increased its hourly minimum wage from $14 to $15.

More than 20 states plan to raise their minimum wages in 2025. Washington state’s 38-cent increase to $16.66 makes it the highest minimum wage in the country.

Neighboring Oregon will criminalize the creation and distribution of videos that depict animal abuse and impose penalties for encouraging such abuse.

The law was inspired by a case in which a man tortured monkeys and sold the videos online. He had to be prosecuted in federal court because state laws to address the abuse were insufficient.

In Maryland, insurers must extend hearing aid coverage to adults when the device is prescribed, fitted and dispensed by a licensed audiologist.

Existing law requires coverage for children. Plans can limit the adult benefit to $1,400 per hearing aid every 36 months.

Drivers in the nation’s capital will be prohibited from turning right on a red light.

Officials say the District of Columbia didn’t set aside enough money to educate people about the change, so signs about the rules aren’t posted at all intersections. Enforcement will be spotty.

Motorists in Missouri will face fines instead of warnings for first-time violations of its hands-free phone law.

Those caught holding a phone to make calls or text while driving face a $150 penalty and fines of $250 to $500 for subsequent violations. Cellphone use remains a secondary offense, meaning drivers won’t be punished unless stopped for a separate infraction.

Kansas is eliminating the state sales tax on food purchases under a bill that started phasing it out in 2023.

“In just over two weeks, the state sales tax on food will finally be extinct. This elimination will save the average family of four $500 a year on groceries, keeping more money in your pockets,” Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, said on Facebook.

Texas lawmakers repealed a requirement for annual safety inspections of noncommercial vehicles. Motorists will be subject to a $7.50 “inspection program replacement fee” at registration. Owners of new vehicles will pay an initial inspection program replacement fee of $16.75 to cover two years. Emissions tests will still be required in more than a dozen Texas counties, including major metropolitan areas.

Deeper into 2025, Georgia will launch a Georgia Promise Scholarship that gives K-12 students in low-performing schools up to $6,500 in annual funding for private school tuition, tutoring services or other qualified expenses through an education savings account.

The Georgia Education Savings Authority was created to administer the program, which was considered a win for school choice advocates.

Mitch Seabaugh, senior vice president of the program, said applications are anticipated by midyear.

“This exciting, new scholarship program is still under development and will be available to students starting in July 2025,” he said.