As we approach 2025, federal policies will undoubtedly change when President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Despite a busy election year, many states went ahead with their own legislative sessions, passing laws addressing everything from egg restrictions to penalties for those convicted of large-scale, smash-and-grab robberies.
Gun safety advocates have praised a slew of recently enacted laws aimed at educating consumers about the dangers of gun ownership and securely storing firearms.
Meanwhile, several new laws are aimed at punishing crime with harsher sentences, extending a backlash against criminal justice reform that has been unraveling for the past few years.
Here’s a look at some laws that go into effect on January 1, 2025:
New gun laws going into effect
- California passed a package of laws strengthening gun safety regulations, including a law that requires customers to receive pamphlets about the reasons for and risks of firearm ownership. The state will also classify hate-based threats as a consideration for a gun violence restraining order.
- Colora do on Jan. 1 will require that any handgun in an unoccupied vehicle must be locked in a hard-sided container out of plain view, and the vehicle also must be locked, with some exceptions. In July, the state will also require an eight-hour training class for anyone who wants to apply for a concealed carry permit.
- New Hampshire is strengthening gun rights. The state is bolstering privacy protections around gun laws by prohibiting the use of specific merchant category codes, a piece of NRA-backed legislation found in more than a dozen other states . New Hampshire is also barring employers from forbidding employees from storing guns in locked vehicles. Those laws go into effect on Jan. 1.
As crime rates fall back to pre-pandemic levels, states take different approaches to public safety policy
- California ‘s law imposing harsher sentences for large-scale “smash-and-grab” retail theft goes into effect.
- New Hampshire’ s bail reform holds some crime suspects longer, and the majority of the bill goes into effect on Jan. 1.
- Washington state is allowing harsher penalties for negligent driving in cases that include a fatality.
- In Illinois , police will be required to undergo autism awareness training, Adult Redeploy Illinois Oversight Board will now be required to include two people who have participated in the program, and a new law will streamline the process for juveniles to clear their criminal record.
- In Missouri , a renewal of a 2012 law on criminal expungement will expand it to allow a person to increase the number of expungements sought .
Florida’s social media ban for minors going into effect amid legal challenges
The law imposes significant fines and civil liabilities on any social media sites that knowingly violate the law. However, the section of the law that addresses social media has already been challenged on First Amendment grounds.
Last month, Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office announced that the state would not enforce it on major social media platforms until the court rules on a motion for preliminary injunction. A hearing was scheduled for late February.
The law also requires any website with “materials harmful to minors” such as sexual content that is visible in Florida to include age verification to prevent access by anyone under the age of 18. Sites that fail to comply will face hefty fines. That part will take effect on January 1.
Tennessee has a similar law that takes effect on January 1.
Eggs, gym memberships and pets focus of new laws in these states
Illinois is enacting legislation to make it easier for residents to cancel their memberships. House Bill 4911, passed this summer, will allow people to cancel gym memberships via email or the gym’s website.
According to local lawmakers, Pennsylvania will join more than 35 other states in helping to protect pets in domestic violence cases by granting judges the authority to prohibit a defendant from possessing, abusing, or harming the victim’s pet. The law is set to take effect on January 17, 2025.
Beginning January 1, all eggs sold in Colorado must be from a cage-free facility. Legislation requiring this was passed in 2020. When the legislature passed the measure, an animal advocacy group threatened to introduce a ballot measure if lawmakers did not act. The law also requires Colorado egg producers with more than 3,000 hens to provide cage-free conditions.
Nevada voters approved two ballot questions to change the language of the Nevada Constitution. The state is changing the language used to refer to people with disabilities.
“Insane” will be changed to “people with significant mental illness,” “blind” to “people who are blind or visually impaired,” and “deaf and dumb” to “people who are deaf or hard of hearing.” The legislation also eliminates language that authorizes slavery and involuntary servitude as possible criminal penalties.
