Emily Rusch
Vice President and Senior Director of State Offices, The Public Interest Network
New Laws to Be Implemented in 2018
Media Contacts
CALPIRG
CALPIRG’s mission is to deliver persistent, result-oriented public interest activism that protects consumers, encourages a fair, sustainable economy, and fosters responsive, democratic government. Below is a selection of notable new laws that are being implemented in California in 2018.
Protecting Public Health:
SB 27 (Hill, 2015) – Back in 2015 California enacted a groundbreaking new law to safeguard medically important antibiotics. Starting January 1, 2018, livestock and poultry farms in California have to abide by new antibiotic use restrictions. Read our blog post on the public health significance of this policy.
AB 746 (Gonzalez Fletcher, 2017) – Community water systems are now required to conduct lead testing at selection of drinking water fountains at each school site in California by July 1, 2019. Read CALPIRG Education Fund’s 2017 report on the threat of lead in school drinking water.
Health Care and Consumer Protections:
SB 17 (Hernandez, 2017) – Prescription drug companies are required to give purchasers 60-day advance notice for specified increases in the wholesale acquisition cost of a prescription drug. CALPIRG’s recent statement following the bill signing.
SB 33 (Dodd, 2017) – In response to the Wells Fargo scandal, the legislature passed this bill to prohibit the use of arbitration clauses in contracts fraudulently created by financial institutions, starting in 2018.
Modernizing our Elections and Disclosing Money in Politics:
SB 450 (Allen, 2016) – In 2018, several Northern California counties are moving forward with The Voters Choice Act, a new model for running elections in which all registered voters receive a ballot in the mail and will have the option to mail it in, drop it off, or show up to community vote centers to register and/or vote.
AB 1436 (Feuer, 2012) – Additionally, 2018 will be the first statewide election year in which every county will offer at least one “conditional voter registration” site where an eligible resident of the county can register and vote up to and on Election Day.
AB 249 (Mullin, 2017) – Starting in 2018, The California Disclose Act will improve disclosures on political ads to clearly state the top three funders of those ads.
