A new year means new resolutions, a new calendar and a whole bevy of new laws taking effect.
More than 40,000 new state laws went into effect throughout the U.S. at the start of 2012, with 747 new laws in California alone. Several of these laws affect college students in particular, including laws that open financial aid to undocumented students, a law to reduce bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) college students and new restrictions on employers’ rights to check the credit of job candidates.
Just a DREAM
The first part of Assembly Bill 131, or the California Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act went into effect on Jan. 1, opening up private grant and scholarship funds to undocumented students.
Though the DREAM Act affects some students at Cal Poly, it’s difficult to say how many until they have applied, Cal Poly financial aid director Lois Kelly said.
“I expect that over this year we’ll have more inquiries,” he said. “I expect that we’ll have more students contacting us to apply.”
Kelly anticipates that the financial aid office will be explaining how to apply for financial aid to more undocumented students in 2012, but just how many students, she doesn’t know.
The significant change won’t come around until 2013, though, when undocumented students also become eligible for federal and state financial aid, Kelly said.
LGBT students get an advocate
A bill meant to reduce the bullying of members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community also went into effect at the start of the year. Assembly Bill 620, or the Equality and Equal Access in Education Act, requires universities and community colleges in California designate an employee at each campus to address needs or concerns of LGBT students, faculty and staff.
Assembly member Marty Block, who wrote the bill, said he saw the need for such legislation before he was elected, while working at San Diego State University.
“I had worked at San Diego State University for many years, and part of what I did was make sure that students weren’t victims of discrimination or harassment,” Block said.
Block said he noticed LGBT students were discriminated against more than other groups, so when he got to the state assembly, he decided to do something to change that.
The bill requires that colleges publish policies on bullying and harassment, as well as designate a faculty or staff member as a LGBT contact should issues of discrimination arise.
Originally, the bill required training for faculty and staff, but this was deemed too costly. It was amended to just require that a single person was named LGBT advocate, Block said.
Because colleges don’t need to hire any new faculty, the bill is essentially cost-free, and was popular with the UC, CSU and community colleges, Block said.
“The administration of all supported it,” Block said.
To Their Credit
LGBT and undocumented students aren’t the only people given new protections and rights at the start of 2012. The state legislature also passed Assembly Bill 22, which prohibits employers from checking candidates’ credit scores.
The bill protects any job seeker who might have less-than-great credit from being judged on their credit history, said Haley Myers, senior legislative aid to the bill’s author, assembly member Tony Mendoza.
“The spirit of the bill is that employers should not be using credit checks to evaluate a candidate either for hiring or a promotion,” Myers said.
The bill went into effect last week, but has been a long time coming.
“This has been an issue that Democrats in the California legislature have been working on for probably a decade,” Myers said.
Myers herself has been working on passing the bill for the last two years.
The California Labor Federation and many unions in the state supported it, but it faced strong opposition from businesses, she said.
“This is a bill for the workers, for employees,” Myers said. “You can imagine who would be opposed is the business.”
[box]Odd New Laws
Some interesting new laws taking effect in 2012:
- Puppies not for sale. California Senate Bill 917 makes it a crime to sell a live animal on the street, highway, parking lot or at a carnival. Does this include those goldfish games?
- Shark FINes. Both Oregon and California now prohibit the sale, trade, distribution or possession of shark fins. Scientists in California can still get licenses to own shark fins for research purposes, though, under California Assembly Bill 376 and Oregon House Bill 2838.
- Taking the T out of GTL. No more underage tanning in California — California Senate Bill 746 bans minors from going to tanning salons to get their bronze on.
- Mixed messages? Four states — Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia — passed laws requiring businesses to enroll in the federal E-Verify program to determine whether or not job candidates are eligible to work in the U.S., while California passed a law prohibiting the government from requiring employers to use the E-Verify program.
- Boost ’em up. California kids are going to be staying in booster seats longer — until they’re eight years old — or at least 4 feet 9 inches tall, under Senate Bill 929.
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