New Year, New Laws

New Year, New Laws
By Pauline Vu, Stateline.org Staff Writer
December 28, 2007

As partygoers count down the seconds toward New Year's Day, not everyone will be celebrating; in fact, life is about to get tougher for Arizona's illegal immigrants and the people that hire them. That's because if businesses are found to knowingly hire undocumented workers, they could lose their licenses - amounting to a death penalty for the business.

Arizona's law is one of the most controversial of hundreds of new laws that take effect on Jan. 1. At least 31 states will enforce new laws starting then, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. So as you ring in the New Year, expect some facet of life to change, ranging from where you can smoke in Illinois to how much it costs to enter a strip club in Texas.

Another new law takes effect just after the clock strikes midnight - literally. About 20 gay couples who have already registered will gather on the steps of the New Hampshire State House in Concord to enter civil unions, including state Rep. Gail Morrison (D) and her partner. The ceremony will take place "as soon as the New Year bells have completed ringing," Morrison said. "It's because of the change in the law that we will be gathering there."

The law makes New Hampshire the fourth state to offer same-sex couples the same state-level rights provided by traditional marriage. The civil union license forms are similar to marriage license forms, except that terms like "bride" and "groom" are absent.

On the other coast, Oregon will become the fifth state to offer domestic partnerships to same-sex couples, giving them the same inheritance, hospital visitation and other legal rights afforded married couples.

Massachusetts set a precedent in July with a first-in-the-nation law that requires every uninsured resident who can afford health care to buy it. Now the state will follow up: Every able resident who still hasn't gotten health insurance by Jan. 1 will not only lose a state income tax exemption, but get slapped with monthly fines.

New York will debut the country's first airline passenger's bill of rights. Spurred by horror stories of passengers sitting on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport without food, water or working bathrooms for up to ten hours during a February ice storm, the state now requires airlines to provide food, water, clean toilets and fresh air if passengers are stuck in grounded planes for more than three hours. The airlines challenged the law, saying that only the federal government can regulate the industry, but a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit late December.

Other new laws should have a wider reach. The minimum wage will increase in 14 states, ranging from a 10-cent bump in Montana to a $1.05 surge in Iowa, according to the National Restaurant Association. New Mexico, currently at the federal minimum wage of $5.85, will increase its rate by 65 cents.

Read the full report at stateline.org