The new year marks the start of numerous new state laws affecting a broad swath of life from birth to marriage to death and, of course, taxes. Most take effect Tuesday. A look at some of them:
ABORTION
States continue to move in different directions. A new Washington law will require contraception coverage in health insurance and, if a policy covers maternity care, also will require it to cover abortions.
In Tennessee, a new law says if an ultrasound is performed before an abortion, the woman must be given the opportunity to learn the results.
Arizona will require increased state reporting about abortions, and providers must ask women if they were coerced into seeking the procedure or are victims of sex trafficking or sexual assault.
ASSISTED SUICIDE
Hawaii will become the sixth state, along with Washington D.C., to legalize medically assisted suicide. The law will allow doctors to fulfill requests from terminally ill patients for fatal prescription medication. Two health care providers must confirm a patients diagnosis, prognosis and ability to make decisions about the prescription.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
A Louisiana constitutional amendment, approved by voters, will require unanimous juries in order to convict people of serious felony crimes. It reverses a Jim Crow-era practice that had allowed as few as 10 members of a 12-person jury to convict defendants in cases not involving death sentences. Oregon will now be the only state to allow convictions under split juror verdicts.
A California law will prohibit people age 15 and younger from being tried as adults for crimes.
DRUNKEN DRIVING
Utah is adopting the nations strictest drunken driving threshold 0.05 percent blood alcohol content. The states hospitality and ski industries have expressed concern that the new law will exacerbate Utahs reputation as a Mormon-dominated state where its tough to get a drink. But proponents include the National Transportation Safety Board, which says people start to become impaired with a first drink.
An Idaho law will require first-time convicted drunken drivers to have an ignition interlock device installed on their vehicles for one year.
EQUALITY
A new Oregon law will expand equal pay requirements. The law extends an existing prohibition on sex-based pay discrimination to also include race, color, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability and age. Pay differences must be based on seniority, merit, experience and other factors. Employees who prevail in complaints with the state Bureau of Labor and Industries can recover back pay for up to two years.
California will require corporate boards of publicly traded companies to include women by the end of 2019.
