With the new fiscal year starting from July 1, a whole host of new state laws are coming into effect throughout the United States, from effectively banning transgender people from restrooms, barring discussion of menstruation in schools, and book bans, to new ways to get birth control, new laws that place more restrictions on gun dealers.
Kansas has a new law that bars transgender people from restrooms, locker rooms, some shelters, and rape crisis centers. It is not clear exactly how the law will be enforced—there are no enforcement mechanisms within it—but the law takes a step that many other state laws don’t and ties the legal definition of what it means to be a man or a woman to the sex a person is assigned at birth, creating a series of obstacles for transgender people. Supporters of the law have branded it as a way to protect women, but critics note that it will effectively erase transgender people and embolden harassment. The law is going into effect despite Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s veto, as more conservative lawmakers overrode her veto.
Georgia will from now on be banning most gender-affirming procedures and hormone replacement for transgender people under 18. The law suggests “allowing the child time to mature and develop his or her own identity” before allowing gender-affirming procedures such as sex reassignment surgeries. Already, families have filed a lawsuit over the law earlier this week. Other challenges have gained some traction in the past. A federal judge in Arkansas shot down that state’s ban in recent days, while earlier this week a federal judge in Kentucky temporarily blocked a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth to allow courts to hear challenges to the law.
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In Iowa, school libraries are now required to remove books depicting sex acts. Teachers in Iowa will also be banned from raising gender identity and sexual orientation with students through the sixth grade. School administrators will also be required to notify parents if their kids ask to use different pronouns or names.
In Indiana, adults may get birth control prescriptions from their pharmacists, although they may only be prescribed for six months at a time. After one year, the pharmacist won’t be able to fill the prescription unless the woman has seen a doctor, nurse, or physician’s assistant in the previous year.
Florida has a new law that bans instruction on menstruation, human sexuality, and sexually transmitted infections before the sixth grade. Critics of the law have noted that it is divorced from reality since first periods typically arrive between the ages of 10 and 15 but are known to arrive earlier, including for 8 or 9 year olds. By sixth grade, students are usually around the ages of 11 or 12.
In Florida, residents are also now allowed to carry concealed weapons without a permit. The law doesn’t change who can buy a gun, and Florida is not an open carry state now, meaning that people can’t publicly carry a firearm that is kept in plain sight.
In California, residents, local governments, and the state attorney general will now have an easier time suing firearm retailers in court. Dealers will also be required to take more steps to make sure that they aren’t making firearms sales to those that might use a gun illegally or be at risk of harming themselves or others. Dealers are now required to “take reasonable precautions” to make sure that their weapons aren’t falling into the wrong hands.
Minnesota has a new law going into effect that places a near-total ban on no-knock warrants, after a Minneapolis police officer shot and killed Amir Locke during a no-knock warrant service last year. Locke was not the intended subject of the investigation, as The Daily Beast reported. Under the new measure, no-knock warrants can only be used when searches can’t be executed while the premises is unoccupied or when the occupants pose an imminent threat to themselves or others.
In Maryland, recreational weed is now available for purchase, sale, and possessions starting July 1. Police officers can no longer use the smell of marijuana as a probable cause to search vehicles.
In Virginia, fentanyl is now considered a “weapon of terrorism,” which means there will be an additional two to ten years of prison for manufacturing or distributing fentanyl, which has been responsible for over 75 percent of fatal overdoses in the state last year.
