Episode 548: New Years, New Laws

[00:00:00] Allow me to welcome you to Dreas Point of View. I am your hostess, Dreya. Happy New Year. Thank you for tuning in. Make sure that you follow the show at Dreas Point of View on IG, Pinterest, Facebook and Threads, as well as on X and Spill at Dreas Point. You can also follow me at bluesky, dreaspointofview.bluesky.social. It's that time of year again for the new laws.

[00:00:32] And I like doing an episode to talk about new laws that are going on in some of these states. I feel it's important, especially for those of you who don't vote. Why wouldn't you want to know what's going on?

[00:00:45] I remember a few years back where they made jaywalking legal in, I don't know if it's California itself or just LA, but I remember reading it and I no longer stand and wait for cars to pass that aren't even on the road.

[00:01:02] While everyone else is waiting for the light to turn, I'm moving to my destination. That is the law and apparently a lot of people didn't know about it. So it's things like that that are important. So I thought I'd share some of them with you in some of these states. In the first state, it's California.

[00:01:20] California. So apparently, according to my timeline, some of these establishments will be allowing cannabis to be used.

[00:01:34] I'm not happy about that one. I'm not a smoker of any kind. So to have that smell in a lot of these places is a problem for me. It's bad enough. I got to look at dogs everywhere I eat, but I have to endure a smell.

[00:01:49] Yeah, I definitely will be ordering in or getting my things to go. They will be allowing cannabis dispensaries to sell non-cannabis infused food and drinks and allowing live music specifically where people can consume cannabis.

[00:02:05] So, yeah, it's really, if you think it's crazy now, it's really going to be crazy in some of these places. I can't believe it.

[00:02:14] Starting March 1st, a lot of these food delivery platforms will have to provide a first name and a picture of the driver when their food is being delivered.

[00:02:28] I like that idea. I've been hearing a lot of stories about food that has been left, eaten, or what have you. So it's nice to be able to put a face with a name.

[00:02:41] It's going to make subscription cancellations easier starting July 1st.

[00:02:46] There's going to be a law that requires businesses to give people the ability to cancel their renewals and continuous services the same way that they use to start their subscription.

[00:03:02] Driver's license requirements for jobs is going to be another one.

[00:03:08] It says that employers can't ask for that unless the job requires you to drive.

[00:03:19] So, that's good.

[00:03:20] And the big one is paid family leave benefits.

[00:03:26] You will no longer have to use two weeks of your accrued paid vacation to access your paid family leave benefits.

[00:03:35] So, you won't have to choose between caring for your loved ones and your vacation time.

[00:03:41] Moving on to the state of New York.

[00:03:43] It's going to allow minimum wage increases starting January 1st.

[00:03:50] It will go up 50 cents to $15.50 an hour.

[00:03:55] If you live or work in New York City, the minimum wage will be going up to $16.50 an hour.

[00:03:59] Now, that's not much to many, but it's a lot to some.

[00:04:02] More money is always more money.

[00:04:03] I've never complained about getting an increase.

[00:04:06] It will also, there's something going on with the contractors and subcontractors who do construction work on public and some private projects.

[00:04:20] But that, I guess, it started back in December.

[00:04:25] Contractors will now have to register before submitting any new bids or starting work.

[00:04:30] And subcontractors need to register before starting any new work on a covered project.

[00:04:36] And, of course, I couldn't forget Florida.

[00:04:38] They have nine laws, I believe, that go into effect.

[00:04:44] And the big one is they're protecting the minors online.

[00:04:48] Now, that one I can agree with.

[00:04:49] I don't agree with much that goes on in Florida.

[00:04:51] But that one I can agree with.

[00:04:54] I guess they'll be allowing, requiring the platforms to stop minors under 14 from creating an account.

[00:05:03] And it will stop any existing accounts held by someone under 14.

[00:05:10] You will need parental consent in order to make an account.

[00:05:14] So, I like to see how they're going to really implement that.

[00:05:18] But that's good.

[00:05:21] It's going to be a demeanor, first-degree demeanor for anyone who approaches a first responder who is doing their job.

[00:05:30] If the person violates the warning and is within 14 feet of the responder, it's a criminal offense.

[00:05:40] It's going to protect people from financial exploitation.

[00:05:44] It will be able to delay transactions or disbursements from accounts of older or vulnerable adults.

[00:05:50] I've been seeing a lot of videos about people taking advantage of old people when it comes to that.

[00:05:54] So, that will be a blessing.

[00:05:58] I also wanted to cover Illinois since one of my biggest fans is in Illinois.

[00:06:06] You've got a lot of new laws coming your way.

[00:06:09] Your minimum wage will be increased as well.

[00:06:11] It will make it easier for you to cancel your gym membership as well.

[00:06:17] It's through email or their website.

[00:06:21] I didn't think that was a big deal, but apparently it is.

[00:06:24] You will also be no longer able to ship e-cigarettes through the mail or other remote methods to anyone under 21.

[00:06:37] And digital driver's licenses will be going into effect.

[00:06:41] You can choose to, well, agencies and certain entities will choose to accept electronic IDs in place of the physical ones.

[00:06:56] But, of course, if law enforcement stops you, you have to provide your physical ID.

[00:07:04] I'm curious to know what laws in your state are you really interested in.

[00:07:13] Let me know at Drea's Point of View at Yahoo.com.

[00:07:18] Excuse me.

[00:07:19] I do have a positive news story for you, and that comes from Buffalo, New York.

[00:07:28] That is from the Buffalo Bills player, Damar Hamlin.

[00:07:36] He actually had a law that's a bill, actually, that got signed into law that aims to give resources for health, heart health around the country.

[00:07:52] He was the one who suffered cardiac arrest during a Monday night football game back in January of 2023.

[00:07:58] And he advocated for the bill, and the effort was supported by the NFL's Smart Hearts Coalition.

[00:08:11] So it will be the Hearts Act Health Education Awareness Research and AED Training in the Schools Act of 2024.

[00:08:19] It was officially signed by the president, and the bill was passed on December 10th.

[00:08:24] So congratulations to Damar Hamlin.

[00:08:28] Make sure that you are subscribed to my show and my free weekly newsletter, Drea'sPointofView.Substack.com.

[00:08:34] And please leave a review at Drea'sPointofView at Yahoo.com.

[00:08:39] As always, I thank you for listening.

[00:08:41] This has been Drea's Point of View.