PASSING LIKE KIDNEY STONES

You naïve little creatures probably assumed the state’s slate of new laws were handled in one fell swoop in last week’s Sheet. Wrong. The California Legislature passes laws like kidney stones: It takes a while and it’s painful, but once they are ready to go they come flowing out in a flood. Lucky us. That the legislature passed roughly 800 bills in 2025 proves the obsessive-compulsives’ mantra: Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

So here we go again with one final look at some of the more important new laws hitting the books in 2026.

Housing Help

Hot and Cold: Black-market stove and refrigerator sales will take a hit now that landlords must include a working stove and refrigerator in rental units when a new lease is signed. And when those two items get pulled for a manufactures’ recall, the landlord has to replace them within 30 days. Currently, the only thing a landlord needed to put in a unit was adequate heating and hot water.

Less Red Tape: A number of infrastructure projects have been exempted from the lengthy review process mandated under the California Environmental Quality Act. Backers hope the exemption will help speed construction and lower costs which would help ease the state’s ongoing housing crisis. Environmental groups disagreed and claimed the exemptions will remove protections for wildlife and fragile ecosystems.

Less Red Tape, Again: Retrofitting an existing, independent restaurant should get a little easier because of streamlining the process to approve approval the work. The new regulations attempt to make remodeling small restaurants less annoying. Corporate and chain restaurants are not included.

Love Oil and Uber, not AI

Drill Baby Drill: The California oil patch will get more holes punched in it after approval of a bill to allow 2,000 new oil wells a year in Kern County through 2036. The drilling okay is intended to slow gas price hikes due to refineries shutting down. Environmentalists were not happy, citing the state’s pledge to move to renewable energy and away from fossil fuels.

More Minimum Money: The state’s minimum wage will hop up from $16.50 to $16.90, starting Jan. 1. Some counties have a higher minimum wage, but not Inyo or Mono. Sorry.

Union Drive: A new law curves around a recently approved ballot initiative and gives Lyft and Uber drivers the right to unionize and engage in collective bargaining while remaining independent contractors. All ride-hail drivers are covered. Silicon Valley’s giant digital gig companies were aghast but couldn’t stop the new law.

Real Rules for AI: Artificial intelligence companies are now required to notify users under 18 at least once every three hours that the chatbot they are chatting with is not human (so tiny attention spans are no longer a kid issue?). Artificial intelligence companies now need to take reasonable measures to keep chatbots from generating sexually explicit content or producing suicide or self-harm content. Artificial intelligence companies must also publicly disclose their security protocols.

Delete Delete Delete: Social media platforms are required to provide an easily accessible and usable button in the settings that allows users to delete the account. (Go look right now.)

Light Beats Darkness: California has a new state holiday: Diwali, known as the festival of lights, which is a major holiday for members of the Hindu, Sikh and Jain faiths. Schools can close and state employes can take the day off. Diwali is generally celebrated in late October or early November.

Health and Happiness

Fertile Moves: Large employer health insurance plans are required to cover the cost of fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization, for everyone regardless of marital status, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Cheaper Insulin: Patients will only pay $35 out-of-pocket for a 30-day supply of insulin, with insurance companies picking up the rest of the cost. The state will also start selling $11 insulin pens through CalRx, the state prescription program. Roughly 3.5 million California adults diagnosed with diabetes will benefit from the less expensive insulin.

Privacy Protections: Healthcare providers and employees providing gender-affirming services who are being harassed or threatened can apply to the Secretary of State to have their home addresses left out of certain public record requests. The same privacy protection is already extended to those working in reproductive healthcare services.

Getting ICEd Out: A patient’s immigration status or birthplace cannot be provided to immigration agents by healthcare providers or officials. Immigration officials are also prohibited from accessing nonpublic spaces in hospitals and clinics without a search warrant or court order.

Legal Moves and Law Enforcement

Divorce Made Easy: Married couples wanting to uncouple by seeking an uncontested, amicable divorce can now apply for a cheaper, quicker way to divorce. They can file a joint petition for dissolution of their marriage or a legal separation, which will reduce the legal hassles associated with divorce.

No More Masks: Law enforcement officers are banned from wearing masks or face coverings that hide their identity while on duty and must visibly display their name or badge number doing operations. The new law was in response to ICE and federal agents concealing their identity and agency affiliation during immigration raids.