New California laws going into effect in 2026 impact tortillas, streaming services and more

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Hundreds of caller laws are taking effect successful California successful the caller year. Here is simply a partial list.

CONSUMERS

(SB 1053) Plastic Bag Ban
Plastic bags are connected the mode retired successful California. The authorities is expanding its prohibition connected single-use integrative bags to see each integrative bags. The archetypal instrumentality allowed the usage of thicker integrative bags which were meant to beryllium reusable, but since astir consumers utilized them lone once, those thicker bags are present being outlawed arsenic well. Starting January 1, consumers volition person to bargain a container made of recycled insubstantial oregon usage their ain reusable bags.

(AB 578) Food Delivery Platforms
Did your nutrient bid not get delivered? This caller instrumentality requires nutrient transportation platforms similar Uber Eats, DoorDash and Postmates supply a afloat refund to a lawsuit if an bid is not delivered oregon if the incorrect bid was delivered. Food transportation platforms indispensable supply lawsuit work by humans if their automated systems bash not resoluteness the customer's concern.

The instrumentality besides requires nutrient transportation platforms to disclose an itemized breakdown of pay, tips and bonuses for transportation drivers.

(SB 1075) Overdraft Fees
Prohibits recognition unions from charging an overdraft interest oregon a nonsufficient funds interest supra $14 oregon the magnitude acceptable by the national Consumer Financial Protection Bureau if it is lower. A akin measure affecting banks took effect successful 2025.

(SB 576) Streaming Services
Beginning successful July, streaming services would not beryllium allowed to play ads with a louder measurement than the amusement oregon movie being watched. Current FCC laws already prohibit this connected tv broadcasts, but that instrumentality was enacted earlier streaming services became popular.

(SB 766) Vehicle Sales
Starting successful October, this caller instrumentality allows a lawsuit to instrumentality a utilized conveyance wrong 3 days of purchase, though they whitethorn beryllium charged a restocking fee. It besides requires car dealers to disclose the afloat terms of a conveyance and bans unwanted junk products and services that summation the terms of the vehicle.

(AB 1327) Home Improvement
Allows a spot proprietor to cancel a declaration by email oregon a telephone telephone for location betterment enactment oregon location solicitation of goods and services.

(AB 1374) Rental Vehicles
Requires that conveyance rental companies supply a full charges estimation to the consumer, including taxes and fees. Also mandates that the rental institution disclose if the conveyance is state powered oregon electric.

(AB 1299) Parking Tickets
Reduces oregon waives parking fines if the proprietor of the conveyance provides grounds they are incapable to wage for the summons successful afloat owed to homelessness oregon fiscal hardship. The conveyance proprietor tin petition a outgo plan.

(SB 709) Self-Storage Fees
Requires that rental agreements for self-storage facilities disclose if the rental interest is discounted oregon promotional, whether the interest is apt to alteration and what the maximum rental interest could beryllium during the archetypal 12 months. The instrumentality applies to agreements signed connected oregon aft January 1, 2026.

FOOD

(AB 1053) Tortillas Folic Acid
A caller constituent is being added to your store-bought maize tortillas. This instrumentality requires manufacturers to adhd folic acerb to maize tortillas and maize masa products to forestall commencement defects, particularly among Latinas. Smaller businesses that marque their ain masa products are exempt. Folic acerb is already added to flour tortillas, breadstuff and cereals.

(SB 68) Food Allergens
Beginning successful July, restaurants volition person to database large nutrient allergens arsenic ingredients connected each point connected their menu. The nutrient allergens see milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, histrion nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans and sesame.

(AB 660) Food Safety Labels
Requires nutrient manufacturers to usage modular terminology successful nutrient day labeling. "Sell by" dates volition beryllium prohibited. They volition beryllium replaced with presumption similar "Best if Used by" for highest freshness oregon "Use oregon frost by" for items that whitethorn spoil aft a definite date. The instrumentality takes effect successful July.

HEALTH

(SB 40) Insulin Cost
Caps the out-of-pocket outgo of insulin to $35 for a 30-day proviso for wellness plans regulated by the authorities of California. The instrumentality applies to ample insurers portion smaller wellness attraction providers indispensable comply with the outgo bounds by 2027.

(SB 236) Chemical Hair Relaxers
The Curl Act bans toxic chemicals successful hairsbreadth relaxers that person been linked to crab oregon origin reproductive harm.

(SB 27) CARE Act
Updates the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment Act (CARE) to see radical who acquisition psychotic episodes owed to bipolar disorder. Also streamlines the court-supervised attraction program.

PETS

(AB 867) Cat Declawing
Bans the signifier of declawing a feline to forestall them from scratching. Removing a cat's toed bony would lone beryllium allowed for aesculapian reasons similar an infection, illness oregon injury.

(AB 506) Puppy Mills
Requires favored sellers to disclose the wellness past and root of dogs, cats and rabbits. Prohibits acquisition contracts for pets with non-refundable deposits.

Another instrumentality (AB 518) prohibits favored brokers from selling oregon offering dogs, cats oregon rabbits for adoption that are nether 1 twelvemonth of age.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

(SB 942) AI Transparency Act
The California AI Transparency Act makes it easier for consumers to observe text, images, video oregon audio created oregon manipulated by artificial intelligence. Content platforms indispensable supply watermarks oregon different tools to observe AI-generated content. Implementation of this caller instrumentality has been delayed until August 2, 2026.

(SB 243) AI Chatbots
Requires companies that run chatbots to notify users believed to beryllium minors that they are interacting with artificial quality and not a human. Chatbot operators indispensable besides forestall speech of termination oregon self-harm by AI chatbots. Operators indispensable record an yearly study connected conversations that included suicidal ideation opening successful July.

(AB 489) Healthcare
Prohibits that aesculapian proposal oregon appraisal performed by artificial quality beryllium misrepresented arsenic accusation provided by a quality with a wellness attraction license.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

(AB 621) Deepfake Pornography
Strengthens existing laws against posting sexually explicit worldly of an idiosyncratic without that person's consent to see deepfake pornography oregon images created oregon digitally altered utilizing artificial quality oregon digitization. Penalties against companies that bash not instrumentality down deepfakes from their sites successful a timely mode tin spell arsenic precocious arsenic $250,000.

(AB 656) Account Cancellation
Requires that societal media platforms supply an casual mode for a idiosyncratic to delete an relationship and each their idiosyncratic information.

(SB 362) Delete Act
Requires the California Privacy Protection Agency (CalPrivacy) to make a elemental opt-out level for consumers that privation information brokers to delete their idiosyncratic information. The Delete Request and Opt-Out Platform (DROP) website volition beryllium operational successful January and information brokers person until August 1 to statesman complying.

SCHOOLS

(SB 760) Gender Neutral Bathrooms
Requires that each K-12 nationalist schools and charters person astatine slightest 1 all-gender restroom astatine each schoolhouse site. The instrumentality takes effect successful July successful clip for the 2026-2027 schoolhouse year. Students cannot beryllium forced to usage the all-gender bathrooms.

(AB 3216) Phone-Free Schools
California schoolhouse districts person until July to follow policies that bounds oregon prohibit the usage of smartphones by students portion they are connected field oregon nether the supervision of a schoolhouse territory employee.

(AB 727) Identification Cards
Beginning successful July, California's nationalist mediate schools, precocious schools and colleges indispensable connection pupil recognition cards with the telephone fig and substance enactment of the Trevor Project, a termination prevention hotline for LGBTQ+ youth.

(SB 640) CSU Direct Admission
The recently created California State University (CSU) Direct Admission Program guarantees admittance to 16 of the state's 22 CSU campuses for immoderate pupil that completes A-G people enactment and maintains a qualifying people constituent average.

(AB 461) Truancy
Repeals an existing instrumentality that fined parents up to $2,000 for chronically truant students.

LIBRARIES

(AB 1825) Book Censorship
The California Freedom to React Act prohibits libraries from banning oregon restricting entree to books and different materials based connected their contented oregon the author. The instrumentality applies to libraries that person authorities funding, including schoolhouse libraries. Minors cannot beryllium prohibited from checking retired books with intersexual contented that is not obscene successful nature.

WORKPLACE

Minimum Wage
The minimum wage successful California is going up connected January 1, 2026, to $16.90 per hour, an summation of $0.40 per hour. Many cities person higher minimum wage requirements. The minimum wage for accelerated nutrient workers successful California remains astatine $20 per hour.

(AB 288) Labor Law Enforcement
Empowers the authorities Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to enforce labour laws and resoluteness unfair labour signifier disputes if the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) fails to act. Workers tin besides petition PERB to certify a national and bid employers to bargain successful bully religion if the national authorities does not instrumentality action.

(AB 1340) Gig Workers
Gives Uber and Lyft drivers the close to signifier oregon articulation a national portion maintaining their presumption arsenic autarkic contractors. Also requires proscription web companies to bargain successful bully faith.

(AB 692) Training Repayment
Voids immoderate presumption of a labour declaration that requires an worker to wage backmost a bonus oregon imposes a fiscal punishment if the worker leaves their occupation earlier a definite date. Also prohibits employers from requiring workers to repay grooming costs if they permission the company.

(SB 294) Know Your Rights
Starting successful February, employers indispensable supply workers with a written announcement of their workplace rights, including workers' compensation benefits, the close to signifier and protections against migration related practices.

HOUSING

(AB 628) Rental Dwellings
Requires that landlords supply a moving stove and refrigerator for immoderate rental dwelling if the declaration is signed successful 2026 oregon later. Tenants tin supply their ain stove oregon refrigerator if it is mutually agreed upon with the landlord.

(AB 246) Tenant Protection
Prevents eviction if a tenant is incapable to wage the rent due to the fact that Social Security payments were delayed oregon terminated by the national authorities done nary responsibility of the renter.

(SB 79) Housing Development
Allows the operation of higher density lodging wrong fractional a mile of precocious frequence autobus lines, obstruction and subway stations. Residential buildings could spell arsenic precocious arsenic 9 stories if they are adjacent to transit hubs. The law, which takes effect successful July, lone applies to 8 counties, including Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Mateo, San Diego and Santa Clara. It overrides section zoning laws that restrict precocious density housing.

FIREARMS

(SB 53) Gun Storage
Toughens weapon laws by requiring firearms stored successful the location to beryllium locked up successful a harmless oregon different unafraid instrumentality erstwhile not instantly being handled. Closes a loophole that allowed unsecured retention if the weapon proprietor did not expect children to beryllium present. Not complying could effect successful a misdemeanor oregon felony.

(AB 1127) Converter pistols
Prohibits the merchantability of Glock handguns that travel with a trigger barroom which makes it easier to person them into afloat automatic weapons utilizing a elemental switch. The law, which takes effect successful July, does not impact existent owners of Glock pistols.

CRIME

(AB 250) Sexual Assault
Temporarily extends the statute of limitations for big survivors of intersexual battle to writer backstage individuals oregon institutions for an alleged screen up. Survivors tin record claims betwixt January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2027, nary substance erstwhile the alleged transgression occurred.

(SB 258) Spousal Rape
Eliminates the spousal objection to the explanation of rape and makes it a transgression to sexually battle a spouse who is incapable to consent owed to force, a disablement oregon unconsciousness.

(SB 464) Victim's Rights
Requires each instrumentality enforcement agencies, aesculapian facilities and nationalist transgression laboratories to behaviour an audit by July 1, 2026, of each untested intersexual battle grounds kits successful their possession.

IMMIGRATION

Several of these immigration-related laws took effect arsenic soon arsenic they were signed by Governor Gavin Newsom successful September and October.

(AB 495) Family Preparedness Act
AB 495 is simply a nonstop absorption to accrued ICE enactment nether the Trump administration. It allows a tribunal to name a ineligible guardian for children if their parents are deported. The instrumentality broadens the scope of relatives that could beryllium appointed arsenic caregivers to see each adults related by humor oregon adoption, including great-great aunts oregon uncles, cousins oregon stepsiblings. The caregiver designation does not springiness the idiosyncratic custody and tin beryllium cancelled by the parents.

The Family Preparedness Act besides prohibits kid daycare facilities from collecting accusation astir a family's migration presumption oregon citizenship.

(AB 49) Immigration Enforcement successful Schools
Prohibits schoolhouse officials and employees from allowing national migration enforcement agents to participate schools without a warrant oregon tribunal order. SB 98 requires schools to notify students, module and assemblage members if national migration enforcement officers spell into a campus.

(SB 81) Healthcare Providers
Designates a patient's migration presumption arsenic protected aesculapian data. It besides requires healthcare facilities to designate harmless zones not unfastened to the nationalist wherever entree by migration enforcement agents is restricted.

(SB 805) Law Enforcement Badges
Requires instrumentality enforcement officers successful California who are not wearing a azygous to visibly show recognition that includes their bureau and either sanction oregon badge number. The instrumentality besides makes it a misdemeanor to impersonate a instrumentality enforcement officer.

(SB 627) Law Enforcement Masks
Makes it a transgression for a instrumentality enforcement serviceman to deterioration a disguise oregon facial covering portion performing their duties. The instrumentality affects section bid officers arsenic good arsenic national agents. Officers could look civilian penalties for mendacious apprehension oregon imprisonment of an idiosyncratic if they are wearing a look covering. The Trump medication is challenging the instrumentality successful court.

CLIMATE CHANGE

(SB 261) Carbon Emissions
Requires that companies doing concern successful California with much than $500 cardinal successful yearly gross publically study their greenhouse state emissions. This includes emissions generated straight by their concern oregon indirectly from activities similar transporting products.