With the start of the new fiscal year in California on Wednesday, dozens of laws take effect, including a zoning overhaul to boost denser housing development near transit, requirements for an all-gender bathroom in every school and streamlined rules for food labeling.
Because of California’s size and its major role in the U.S. economy, some of its laws are likely to have a cascading effect even for people outside the state.
Here are some of the new laws that are now live:
Several new laws will affect California’s schools and students this year.
SB 760 requires every school district, county office of education and charter school serving any grades from kindergarten to grade 12 to provide and maintain at least one all-gender restroom at each school.
That restroom must include clear signage indicating it’s open to all genders and be unlocked and easily accessible to students. The restrooms are held to the same standards as gendered restrooms, regularly cleaned and stocked with toilet paper, soap and paper towels or hand dryers. Schools can convert an existing restroom to satisfy the requirement.
“Across the country, we’ve seen a growing number of states pass laws limiting restroom access for transgender students or requiring students to use facilities based on their sex assigned at birth,” said Jorge Reyes Salinas, the communications director for Equality California, which sponsored the bill. “And California has chosen this different approach, which is expanding options rather than restricting them.”
Schools are facing another deadline ahead of the next academic year. Under AB 3216, every school district, charter school and county office of education must now have a policy limiting or banning the use of smartphones unless in the case of an emergency.
“We know that excessive smartphone use increases anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues — but we have the power to intervene,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a press release when he signed the legislation in 2024. “This new law will help students focus on academics, social development, and the world in front of them, not their screens, when they’re in school.”
Additionally, public middle and high schools, along with public colleges and universities, must now print the Trevor Project’s LGBTQ+ suicide hotline number on student ID cards.
Los Angeles Assemblymember Mark González authored AB 727 last year in direct response to President Donald Trump’s termination of the dedicated LGBTQ+ option for youth who contact the 988 crisis intervention hotline.
In California, when transgender and nonbinary people change their names, gender and sex identifiers on official documents, those petitions are public records that have, in some cases, led to people being forcibly outed and harassed.
In 2024, a transgender woman in Stanislaus County sued for the right to seal her records after she was outed on social media. A state appeals court ruled she had a right to keep those records confidential to avoid threats and harassment.
While a 2023 law already required courts to keep those records confidential for minors, the Transgender Privacy Act extends that protection to people of all ages this year.
“As the Trump Administration attempts to make transgender and nonbinary people the scapegoats for their fascist takeover, California must stand up to protect them,” state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said in a press release.
SB 59 applies to any petition filed on or after July 1, and people with older records can request their records be made confidential as well. It also prohibits anyone other than the petitioner from posting confidential records online.
California is now the first state in the nation to standardize confusing food date labels. Manufacturers use more than 50 different phrases, such as “sell by,” “use by,” “best by,” “expires by,” “freeze by” and “freshest before.”
Now, only two labels are permitted: “BEST if Used by” will indicate a food’s peak quality, and “USE by” will signal when a food item is no longer safe to eat.
Many of the other labels were meant to help store clerks with inventory management, but they often confuse consumers who may ultimately throw away food out of fear of getting sick, contributing to the state’s 6 million tons of food waste each year.
“AB 660 is a monumental step to keep money in the pockets of consumers while helping the environment and the planet,” said Thousand Oaks Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, who authored the bill, in a 2024 press release.
In another first-in-the-nation food law, California now requires restaurants with 20 or more locations to disclose allergens on their menus, either in physical or digital form. It covers the nine major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, sesame and soybeans.
California passed a wave of blockbuster housing laws in 2025.
In an effort to address the state’s housing crisis, a new law makes it easier to build multi-family housing near transit stops like trains and buses.
SB 79, among the most significant housing bills in decades, overrides local government zoning restrictions to allow for taller, denser housing within a half-mile of major transit hubs.
Wiener, who authored the bill, argues it gets at the heart of the state’s affordability crisis while also boosting revenue for public transit agencies, many of which have faced severe budget crunches since ridership plummeted during the pandemic.
“SB 79 unwinds decades of overly restrictive land use policies that have driven housing costs to astronomical levels, forcing millions of people to move far away from jobs and transit, to face massive commutes, or to leave California entirely,” Wiener said in a statement. “By allowing more homes to be built near public transportation, SB 79 also strengthens our transit systems, increases transit ridership, and reduces traffic congestion and carbon emissions.”
California now bans the sale of “Glock-style” handguns, aiming to close a loophole that makes it possible to easily convert certain semiautomatic pistols into fully automatic weapons. The conversion uses a device called a “switch” that can be made at home with a 3D printer and installed with a screwdriver.
“No gun sold in California should be just a screwdriver away from becoming a machine gun,” San Francisco Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, who co-authored AB 1127, said in a statement. “We are closing a deadly loophole that has fueled gun violence in our communities.”
A second law, SB 241, requires firearms dealers to complete an annual training that includes identifying straw purchasers, preventing the theft of firearms and ammunition and recognizing buyers who may use the gun unlawfully or to harm themselves.
A third law, signed in 2023 and effective July 1, adds “ghost gun” parts to the definition of a firearm for the purposes of reporting a lost or stolen firearm.
Existing law required gun owners to report the loss or theft of a firearm within five days of when they reasonably should have known. Now, AB 725 extends that requirement to firearm frames, receivers and precursor parts, with failure to report punishable as an infraction or misdemeanor.
California public schools are now barred from using any derogatory Native American term as a school or athletic team name, mascot or nickname.
The bill, AB 3074, expands a 2015 law that banned only the term “Redskins.” It now includes, but is not limited to, Apaches, Big Reds, Braves, Chiefs, Chieftains, Chippewa, Comanches, Indians, Savages, Squaw and Tribe.
Schools operated by a tribe or tribal organization are exempted from this law.
In 2005, the American Psychological Association called on schools and sports teams to retire the use of all American Indian mascots and symbols, citing research that they have a negative effect on the self-esteem and mental health of Indigenous children.
No more lunging for the remote when the TV volume spikes at a commercial break. SB 576 stops streaming platforms like Netflix and YouTube from playing ads louder than the video content.
The rule builds on a federal law, the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act, which already applies to broadcast television stations and cable operators but not streaming services.
Another tech-driven change in California will affect autonomous vehicles like Waymo and robotaxis, which can now be cited for traffic violations. Under AB1777, the companies must also set up 24/7 emergency response telephone lines for passengers and first responders.