State Laws and Lawsuits in 2008

I will not bore you with a data dump of all the new laws for 2008, but I will highlight a few important new California laws in 2008.

• It’s estimated that 1.4 million Californians got a raise on Tuesday when California’s minimum wage was raised to $8 per hour.
• In case you didn’t get the memo, second hand smoke is no good for the rest of us. Motorists could be hit with fines of up to $100 for smoking in a vehicle containing a child.
• CHP data shows that cell phones are the number one cause of distracted-driving accidents. SB 1613 prohibits the use of cell phones by drivers unless the driver is using a hands-free device starting July 1, 2008.
• California sued the federal Environmental Protection Agency yesterday for preventing the state from reducing greenhouse gas emissions in its cars. Wondering what all the greenhouse gases fuss about? Watch An Inconvenient Truth.