Health care, police, marijuana: which laws will go into effect in the USA in 2021

As Americans meet 2021, new laws will begin to take effect from coast to coast. The response to the coronavirus pandemic and police brutality prevailed in legislative sessions in 2020, leading to the emergence of many new laws that will take effect in the new year. CBS News.

Photo: Shutterstock

New COVID and Healthcare Laws

Laws related to the coronavirus pandemic include those that offer assistance to basic workers, increase unemployment benefits, and require vacations for sick employees.

While the Legislature has considered some pandemic-related projects, most sessions ended before the current wave of cases, deaths and renewed stay-at-home orders. Lawmakers from both major parties have vowed to make pandemic relief a centerpiece of their 2021 sessions, tackling issues ranging from school reopenings to governors' emergency powers.

The virus has also reoriented attention to the country's uneven and expensive healthcare system. Common topics in 2020 were insurance and cost issues.

One of the measures taken in Washington, caps the monthly cash price of insulin at $ 100 through January 1, 2023, and requires the state health department to control insulin prices. New law Connecticut requires pharmacists to dispense a 30-day supply of price-capped diabetes drugs and devices for diabetics who have less than a week's supply. Both laws come into force on January 1.

“It is unconscionable that anyone would have to restrict or eliminate a common and widely available life-saving drug in America in 2021,” said Connecticut State Sen. Derek Slap, a West Hartford Democrat.

The highly anticipated Medicaid expansion will come in Oklahoma in the new year after years of resistance from Republicans in the legislature and governor's office. Voters approved a constitutional amendment extending the state's federal insurance program to an additional 215 low-income residents. It comes into force in July.

Legislators are to determine how to cover the state's projected $ 164 million share during their 2021 session. The cost could be significantly higher considering the number of Oklahoma residents who have lost their jobs and work-related health insurance due to the pandemic.

Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt called on voters to reject the plan. He said the state would have to "either raise taxes or cut services elsewhere, such as education, emergency services, or roads and bridges," to pay for the expansion.

New law in Georgia aims to shield consumers from unexpected medical bills by requiring insurers in many cases to pay for treatment from a doctor or hospital outside their network of providers. The law protects patients from financial liability in excess of what they would normally have to pay. Instead, insurers and service providers can refer disputes to a state insurance board. IN Minnesota there is also the so-called continuity of care law, which takes effect on January 1st.

On the subject: What laws will take effect in California in 2021 year

Police reform laws

Legislators also considered the use of force by the police against blacks and other people of color after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis led to massive protests against police brutality. Among other things, the new laws will provide for oversight and accountability, create civilian oversight commissions and require more disclosure of problem officers.

In the states including California, Delaware, Iowa, New York, Oregon and Utah, imposed bans on police strangleholds. Floyd died after a white officer pressed a knee to his neck for several minutes and continued to hold him even as Floyd pleaded to let him breathe.

Member of the State Legislature New York Walter Mosley has drawn attention to hundreds of black men and women killed by police, from Eric Garner, who died after a stranglehold by New York City police in 2014, to Floyd's death in May.

Mosley, a black Brooklyn Democrat, said Eric Garner's Anti-Chokehold Act was "an important step forward, but it won't be the last."

Despite reforms in some states, the response to Floyd's death was mixed. Similar proposals for the use of force or disciplinary action in several other states have failed, and some have even gone in the opposite direction.

From January 1 in Georgia introduced a new offense, defined as bias intimidation, which extends to the death or serious injury of police, firefighters and emergency responders. This also applies to cases involving damage to their property in excess of $ 500 due to "actual or intended employment as a first aid worker." Violations are punishable by imprisonment from one to five years and a fine of up to $ 5000.

The law was passed by Republicans despite objections from Democrats and civil liberties groups, who said the police already had adequate protection. Republicans have pushed for legislation as part of a deal to pass a new bipartisan hate crime law in Georgia.

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New York

Other notable laws coming into force in the new year

Voters in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota approved measures to legalize recreational marijuana. The New Jersey legislature, led by Democrats and Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, is working to create a legal market and update laws already in place to decriminalize marijuana possession.

Voters made Oregon the first state to decriminalize the possession of small quantities of street drugs such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. The Oregon initiative will allow people arrested with a small amount of hard drugs to escape trial and possibly jail time by paying a $ 100 fine and participating in a drug addiction treatment program.

В Colorado will prohibit homeowners from opting out of showing, renting or leasing a home based on income source or participation in a contract required to receive public housing assistance. Landlords can still do credit checks, but the law makes it an unfair housing practice if they don't do credit checks on every potential tenant.

New Hampshire will make several changes to state laws relating to sexual assault. Effective January 1, the definition of sexual assault will expand to include any sexual contact between school workers and students between the ages of 13 and 18. Previously, such contact could be considered voluntary and not criminal if the student was 16 or 17 years old. Other legislation, coming into force in mid-January, strengthens protection for victims of sexual assault and requires colleges and universities to enact sexual harassment policies. The bill would require colleges to provide free access to medical and legal support services, retaliation remedies, confidential counseling services, sexual abuse data, and prevention and response training.

Since 2021 in Georgia audits will be required before films and television programs receive the generous state tax credit that would allow them to receive the highest subsidies in any state in the United States. The benefit, which gives up to 30% off production costs, cost nearly $ 900 million in lost tax revenue in 2019, when Georgia saw a boom in film and television production. Then it turned out that some of the companies that received tax benefits were not eligible for them.

В California will require state-based companies to have at least one racial or sexual minority on their boards of directors by the end of 2021, and more such staff will be required by 2022. Companies with 100 or more employees should start submitting race, ethnicity, and gender information to state authorities.

In accordance with state law enacted in 2019, employers Connecticut are required to begin deductions from their employees' salaries for the new paid family and medical leave program. It is estimated that 100 state enterprises will be responsible for withholding half a percent of workers' wages. Qualified employees can start receiving benefits from January 000, 1. Massachusetts is also launching a new paid family sick leave program in the new year. In most cases, it offers a 12-week benefit, which is extended to 26 weeks for those caring for a soldier in treatment.

В Oklahoma expand the property tax exemption for religious institutions to include property owned by the church if it teaches children from preschool to 12th grade.

Read also on ForumDaily:

'Don't lose hope': US nurse defeats COVID-19 after eight months of fighting

To make the morning of January 1 good: what alcohol should not be drunk on New Year's Eve

Not just a vaccine: amazing scientific discoveries in 2020

Here you can, but in America you can’t: what rules do immigrants most often violate in the USA?

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.