BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — As the new year approaches, the California Highway Patrol has compiled a list of new laws which were passed during the legislative season and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to a release from the department.
The following laws will take effect on Jan. 1, 2023:
Public Employment: Peace officers: Citizenship (Senate Bill 960, Skinner)
This law maintains that peace officers, including trainees, be legally authorized to work in the United States while abiding with federal laws and regulations. SB 960 will however, remove the requirement that peace officers be citizens or permanent residents of the United States.
Catalytic Converters (SB1087, Gonzalez) (AB 1740, Muratsuchi)
These laws will outline who can sell catalytic converters to recycling centers and also require those recyclers to archive the year, make, model and copy of the vehicle title from the vehicle the catalytic converter was removed from. Both laws were passed in an attempt to combat catalytic converter thefts.
Vehicular manslaughter: Speeding and Reckless Driving (SB 1472, Stern)
Here, the law will expand what classifies for “gross negligence” when relating to the crime of vehicular manslaughter. Drivers who participate in sideshows, racing or speeding over 100 miles per hour, which results in a fatality could now be charged with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
Motor Vehicle Speed Contests and Exhibitions of Speed (AB 2000, Gabriel)
Parking lots and off-street parking structures will now be included as locations where is illegal to participate in races, burnouts, speeding, or sideshow activities.
Endangered Missing Advisory: Feather Alert (AB 1314, Ramos)
The new “Feather Alert” will allow law enforcement agencies to send out an alert (similar to an AMBER alert) when a person of indigenous descent has been kidnapped, abducted, or reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances and certain criteria has been met to broadcast an alert. The “Feather alert” will utilize radio, television, and social media to spread the information of the missing indigenous person.
Hit-and-Run Incidents: Yellow Alert (AB 1732, Patterson)
Law enforcement agencies can request the CHP to activate a “Yellow Alert” when a fatal hit-and-run crash has taken place. AB 1732 will also allow media outlets to circulate information included in a “Yellow Alert”. The new law will use the public’s tips/assistance to help law enforcement agencies throughout the state investigate ongoing hit-and-run crashes.
Online Marketplaces: Reporting (AB 1700, Maienschein)
The Attorney General’s Office will be required to create an online reporting system for users of third-party online marketplaces to report listings of suspected stolen property. The recorded information would be made available to local law officials and the CHP’s Organized Retail Crime Task Force to aid investigators.
Bicycles Omnibus Bill (AB 1909, Friedman)
AB 1909 is similar to the ‘move over or slow down’ law. This new law will provide increased protections to bicyclists by requiring passing vehicles or overtaking a bicycle in the same direction, to move over to an adjacent lane of traffic, if one is open, or slow down and only pass the bicyclist when it is safe.
Class 3 e-bike riders will now be allowed to use approved bicycle paths and trails, bikeways, and bicycle lanes. This law will prohibit local governments from requiring bicycle registration and allow local authorities to prohibit any electric bicycle on a horse, hiking or other recreational trails.
Electric Bicycles: Safety and Training Program (AB 1946, Boerner Horvath)
CHP will be required to work with other traffic safety stakeholders such as the California Office of Traffic Safety, to develop statewide safety and training programs for e-bikes. The training program will include electric bicycle riding safety, emergency maneuver skills, rules of the road and e-bike laws. The program will launch in Sept. 2023 via the CHP’s website.
Pedestrians (AB 2147, Ting)
This law will prohibit peace officers from stopping pedestrians for certain violations such as crossing the road outside of a crosswalk (jaywalking), unless there is immediate danger of a collision.
