The new year brought a fresh crop of state laws into effect. These range from minimum wage increases to police reform to abortion restrictions. The new laws also include measures to protect animals, cut taxes and more. Here are some of the notable ones that went into effect Saturday, the first day of 2022.
New York City law
The New York City Council has approved a bill that would amend the City’s data breach notification requirements to align them with those of the State’s SHIELD Act. Under the bill, city agencies that experience a security breach involving private identifying information of persons must disclose that fact to affected individuals, as well as to the New York City Department of Investigation and other relevant government offices.
A state-level response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this bill requires that a governor must get the support of a majority of several executive officials in order for a state of emergency declaration to last longer than 30 days. This bill is aimed at curbing the rash of overly expansive emergency declarations made by state governors during the pandemic, including those that exceeded two years in duration.
California
The state’s toughest living space standards for breeding pigs are now in effect. The new regulations will prohibit hog farms from housing more than 300 pigs in any one building or lot, and will require that the animals have access to outdoors areas at all times.
Illinois
The State Senate has passed a bill that would expand the definition of “mental illness” to include the “inability to control impulses, feelings and behaviors.” The bill is called the Gus “Jett Hawkins” Law, named after a Black student who was forced to remove his braids from school after he was told they violated a dress code. It now heads to the State Assembly for consideration.
Missouri
The State House of Representatives has approved a bill to make it a misdemeanor for people without a valid permit to sleep or camp on state-owned lands. The bill is a response to a nationwide racial reckoning that has seen the killing of many Black people by police officers.
While the legal industry’s dominant provider sources, law firms and in-house legal departments, routinely collaborate, they operate from different economic models, cultures, remits, technology platforms and end-user expectations. They remain in their infancy when it comes to undergoing a paradigm shift from provider to customer-centricity. When that happens, the profit engine will revert from legacy delivery models that rely on self-congratulatory awards and preserving margins to one fueled by customer impact, higher net promoter scores and agile, on-demand resources with verifiable material expertise and experience. The “new” in law new will be the catalyst for this transformation.