Get ready for new laws in 2025

In California, cities will now have the choice to cite offenders who park within 20 feet of a crosswalk beginning January 2025 as a way to enforce daylighting — the practice of removing cars near intersections to make pedestrians and bicyclists more visible. The law is aimed at elevating biker and pedestrian safety, but enforcement will likely vary by city. Many are choosing to implement red curbing, which will signal no-parking areas for cars, while others are taking a more hands-off approach. 

“Daylighting has been proven to save lives. We’d like to see areas near downtown and near schools for red curbing so the public knows where to park,” said Allison MacQueen, a San Mateo resident and member of local advocacy group Move San Mateo. “There’s three aspects that cities need to have — education, enforcement and infrastructure … it’s a three-legged stool, and if one isn’t there then the whole thing doesn’t work.” 

San Mateo officials have said they plan to enact more red curbing, with Second Avenue and Norfolk Street, as well as the Palm Avenue and 19th Avenue intersection, as a couple of the highest priorities.

Many other cities, like Foster City, South San Francisco and the jurisdictions covered by the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office — like Millbrae, San Carlos and Half Moon Bay, among others — will be taking an education-first approach to regulation around crosswalk parking and not proceeding with immediate citations, representatives said. 

Retail theft

Proposition 36 passed overwhelmingly by voters, but the shoplifting crackdown was also supported by the state Legislature this year. There are a handful of new laws meant to reduce theft that will take effect in 2025. Retailers, for instance, will have more latitude with issuing restraining orders to prior offenders, and there will be more identity requirements for those selling in online marketplaces. District attorneys will also be able to prosecute retail theft crimes across multiple counties.

Retail theft arrests in the county’s largest cities have spiked in the last several years. Daly City saw a 240% increase from 2019 to 2023, and based on the first few months of 2024, it is on pace to surpass last year’s figures. San Mateo has seen a roughly 75% increase in retail theft arrests since 2020, with the first few months of 2024 showing signs of a year-over-year increase. Redwood City has also seen an increase since 2020. 

Prohibition on pronoun change disclosure

Assembly Bill 1955 bans policies that force schools to tell parents about a students’ pronoun change. While some districts throughout the state may have to update their policies, many in the Bay Area, such as San Mateo Union High School District, already have such policies in place. 

“The practice has been, if a student wants to make name or pronoun change, they will speak to a counselor or admin, and the adult will walk through the process and we’ll discuss what level of information they’d prefer to share with their parents,” said Valerie Arbizu, interim Student Services director at San Mateo Union High School District. “Students are counseled pretty significantly.” 

At SMUHSD, Arbizu said teachers and staff “are not family therapists,” meaning they do not get involved in possible disagreements or concerns between parents and their kids — rather, their role mostly involves explaining the students’ options and pathways when it comes to unofficial name and pronoun changes in their record or classroom. The policy differs from requirements regarding medical interventions, such as puberty blockers or surgery, which require parental consent in California.  

Accrued vacation and paid leave program

A new law spearheaded by Assemblymember Diane Papan, D-San Mateo, will not allow employers to force employees to use up their vacation time before using the state’s paid family leave benefits. 

State-mandated paid family leave provides employees with partial wage benefits if they need time off to bond with a new child, care for a sick relative or participate in a family member’s military event. 

The program, instituted in California more than 20 years ago, has been expanded over the years — extending paid leave for up to eight weeks and allocating 90% of wages back for low- to middle-income workers, effective in 2025 onward.

While the bill is pared down compared to its previous version, Papan said it’s a necessary step toward addressing some of the tough financial and cost-related constraints many families are facing. While it isn’t meant to target one particular industry, she said she thinks it will particularly benefit female-dominated fields, as women tend to take on most of the caregiving and housework in their homes.

“With record inflation, we were looking at ways that we could ease the financial burden if one needed,” Papan said. “We saw with the last election, voters really seemed to want their electeds to know that times have not been easy.”

Penalties for housing element noncompliance

New legislation introduced by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, would allow the attorney general to impose penalties for cities that violate housing laws. The law targets jurisdictions that are especially reluctant to pass or implement a compliant housing element, which is a state-mandated document that outlines how it plans to achieve its assigned housing goals. Civil penalties may vary from $10,000 to $50,000 per month. 

alyse@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 102