GIVE IT A REST, LAW DOGS

Published in the Jan. 10, 2026 issue.

The California Legislature needs to take some time off in 2026. The state’s full-time, year-round

lawmakers made laws at a breakneck pace in 2025, so they deserve a vacation. Nearly 800 new laws were proposed, voted on and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2025. 

The sheer volume of new laws puts to rest the shop-worn criticism that California is a Nanny State. It is now a full-blown Adult, Child Daycare and Senior Center State with rules and regulations for everything from cat claws to a new state snake.

The legislative onslaught included arcane, technical measures and new rules that will probably impact everyone in the state. Below is a brief recap of the more significant new laws going into effect in 2026.

Consumer Protection

Plastic Bagged: No more plastic bags at grocery stores. And this time we mean it. The state plastic bag ban started almost a decade ago when a ballot measure outlawed the single-use bags. Ah, but the loophole: grocery stores could provide a “reusable” plastic bag, which turned out to be heavy duty plastic and got thrown away anyway. Now there’s no loophole. No more plastic bags, period. Bring your own bags or get a paper sack.

Driving Costs: Annoying additional fees and taxes on rental cars must be estimated and disclosed up front, not after the machine is picked up. Plus, renters have to be told if their car is a gas hog, a hip hybrid or a virtue signaling electric model.

Volume Control: steaming services are banned from making ads louder than the music, videos or podcasts blasting into innocent ears. (Alternative: Read a damn newspaper. They are quiet.)

Fair Fees: State-chartered credit unions can only charge a maximum overdraft fee of $14.

Food Fees: Food delivery services (DoorDash, Uber Eats and others we don’t have in the Eastern Sierra) have to refund payments if the order isn’t delivered at all or if the wrong order arrives. They also have to have a real, live, breathing, awake, coherent person staffing customer service to handle complaints (can that be new law be expanded to THE ENTIRE DAMN WORLD? Asking for a friend).

Getting Schooled

You’ve Been Admitted: Qualified California public high school students will be automatically admitted and able to enroll in one of the 16 California State University schools. Students must meet the CSU minimum eligibility requirements and fill out the first round of what will lead to four years of paperwork.

Smartphones Aren’t: All public schools must adopt a policy by July 1 that prohibits or limits smartphone use by students when they are on their school campus. Local school districts can ban phones completely during the school day, or limit use to non-classroom time.

Chilling ICE: Federal Immigration Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents cannot enter “nonpublic” areas of a school or school campus without a warrant or court order. School districts are barred from providing immigration agents information about students, parents and families, teachers and district employees without a warrant. School administrators must notify families and students if federal agents conduct immigration operations on K-12 or college campuses.

Ethnic Studies: A state Office for Civil Rights will work to counter antisemitism and other forms of discrimination allegedly arising from the way some schools teach ethnic studies. The controversial new office and its goals have been challenged in the courts but in December that lawsuit was rejected by a federal judge.

Bathroom Break: Starting July 1, all public schools in the state are required to provide at least one all-gender bathroom. For the past decade, schools had to allow students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity.

Cats and Snakes (Really)

Official State Snake: In a stunning oversight, the state of California did not have an official state snake.

Well, that just won’t do, will it? No. Thankfully the legislature has crowned an official state snake: the Giant Garter Snake. That is different then a run-of-the-mill garter snake and far from the garter worn and then tossed by new brides. Hizzoner The Giant Garter Snake resides in the Central Valley and is a threatened species.

Please Claw Me: It is now illegal to declaw a cat, since slicing off a bit of toe or cutting tendons is gross and cats need claws for self-defense, to climb trees, and tear up the sofa.

Sexual Assault Claims: Sexual assault claims against private employers or organizations deemed to have engaged in a cover-up of those claims can be filed in the next two years, regardless if the statute of limitations previously barred those claims.