No matter what state you live in get ready for more laws, more regulations, and of course ObamaCARE when the clock strikes midnight tomorrow and the calender turns to 2014. More than 40,000 new state laws are set to go into effect on Janurary first. In Colorado for example, the state that has become the California of the midwest will allow 16 year olds to ‘pre-register’ to vote, and automatically be added to the voter roles when they turn 18.
In Obamaville, Illinois, school districts can install cameras on school buses to photograph drivers who pass them when buses are stopped.
Among the wide variety of new laws NCSL has identified, several made news this past year. Newly issued insurance policies purchased through health exchanges under the Affordable Care Act will begin covering patients Jan. 1. The beginning of the year also marks the start of expanded Medicaid coverage in the states that chose to expand. In Colorado, adults will be able to walk into state-licensed shops and buy up to one ounce of marijuana for recreational use. In Connecticut, the final piece of the nation’s strictest gun-control law will click into place. Arkansas will require voters to present a photo ID at the polling place, Illinois passed a couple of laws regulating the use of drones, and in California, new rights and protections have been established for transgender youth, Internet users and inmates serving long sentences for offenses they committed as juveniles.
For a complete list of news laws that go into affect on January 1, 2014, vheck out National Conference of State Legislators.