{Photograph} by Oleksii Liskonih, by way of iStock.
The latest US Congress was the least productive in many years, however legislators throughout the river in Virginia have handed dozens of latest legal guidelines that may go into impact within the subsequent 12 months, most come July 1. Listed below are a number of:
• Inserting graffiti meant to intimidate by use of Nazi symbols akin to swastikas on non-public property is now a felony.
• Meals supply apps should make “clear and conspicuous disclosure” of their charges.
• Companies can’t get hold of, disclose, promote, or disseminate personally identifiable “reproductive or sexual well being info” with out customers’ consent.
• Social media platforms should restrict customers below 16 to at least one hour per day until their mother and father permit extra time.
• Folks below 21 can’t possess or purchase smoking or vaping paraphernalia, and companies that promote such objects to underage individuals will face elevated penalties.
• Anybody who manufactures fentanyl may be charged with involuntary manslaughter if their product is proven to trigger loss of life.
• It is going to be a a misdemeanor to assault a referee or different sports activities official at an newbie occasion.
• Legislation enforcement officers should bear coaching for method people who find themselves having mental-health crises. Cops may also be forbidden from “knowingly making false statements” or presenting “inauthentic reproduction paperwork” to a toddler being interrogated.
• Nobody below 21 can participate in a “fantasy contest,” an try to rein in some sports activities betting.
• Public faculties can’t serve meals that features artificial dyes.
• A “low-wage worker”—somebody eligible for extra time in the event that they work greater than 40 hours—can’t be topic to a noncompete settlement.
• Youngsters below 16 have to be compensated for content material creation.
• Unemployment compensation will go up.
• Restraints on pregnant girls in jail can be unlawful.
• Well being insurers can’t impose value sharing on prospects for diagnostic breast exams or supplemental exams.
• Most charges on reward certificates can be disallowed.
• Faculties should report confirmed or suspected pupil overdoses to folks and caregivers inside 24 hours.
• All adults in a automobile should put on security belts, even when they’re within the backseat.
• Drivers should cease for pedestrians; penalties will enhance for anybody who doesn’t cease and injures a pedestrian.
• Eating places with greater than 20 areas can’t use Styrofoam containers.
• And from January 2026 onward, entrepreneurs should honor “STOP” requests made by way of textual content message for ten years.
