These are the new laws that came into effect in the United States in 2024 and the laws that are yet to come

As of early January 2024, at least six laws have gone into effect in seven states in the United States.

However, the controversial SB4 from Texas will have to wait until March. What happened on the third day of January 2024 was the Justice Department’s lawsuit against these anti-immigrant rules.

Laws that came into effect in the United States in 2024

Florida

La Nación reports that a new regulation in Florida – in effect since Monday, January 1, 2024 – “sets uniform standards across the state and denies bail for certain crimes before the suspect’s first court appearance.”

The Supreme Court now has the responsibility to set rules on bail and prohibits local courts from setting lower amounts, Noticias Telemundo points out.

The Transparency Act or SB774 also came into effect. This “requires candidates for local elected office to make public and full statements about their finances at the time of the election,” says Noticias Telemundo.

Beginning January 1, 2024, elected officials will be required to “disclose their net worth, including the value of their assets, jewelry, real estate, debts and sources of income over $1,000, and file their most recent federal tax returns.” .

Previously, “there was a requirement to report debts greater than $10,000, but now any debt over $1,000 must be disclosed.”

Texas

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With controversial Governor Greg Abbott at the helm of that state, Texas law SB4 will come into effect before the end of the first quarter of 2024.

The legislation, Al Día Dallas explains, “will come into effect 91 days after the last day of session of the current legislature, which is Tuesday, December 5, 2023. Therefore, the effective date would be Thursday, December 5. March 2024.” .

The Texas law, “considered by experts to be one of the strictest anti-immigrant regulations in U.S. history,” EFE indicates, “makes it a crime for a foreigner to enter the state illegally or attempt to enter from a foreign country.” nation.’

On Tuesday, January 2, 2024, La Nación published that “the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas in an attempt to block SB4, arguing that the application of “immigration law is a federal responsibility, and not a state liability.”

The next day, the US Department of Justice itself “filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas to try to overturn the new immigration law that makes the illegal entry of people from Mexico a crime,” EFE reported.

In the words of Attorney General Brian Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s civil division, “Texas cannot ignore the Constitution of the United States and the case law of the Supreme Court.”

Immigration laws that will apply in Texas starting in 2024

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania “is reforming its probation system, while increasing the penalty for “porch pirates” to a misdemeanor and cracking down on shoplifting,” La Nación reports, citing Fox News.

The southern media specify that from the first six months of 2024, the courts will have to impose “parole conditions necessary to guarantee or assist the suspect to lead a law-abiding life.”

Next March: “Picking packages off a porch will be treated as mail theft” –

Connecticut

On January 1, 2024, the Clean Slate Law came into effect, which will also erase the criminal records of nearly 280,000 people, El Sol News said in late December.

In this new phase of the regulations, La Nación explains, “records of minor crimes, with exceptions for sexual crimes and violent crimes, will be eligible for automatic expungement if the person concerned has not had a new conviction for seven years.”

Crimes can be expunged after ten years.

Another law in force is the ‘clean slate’, El Sol News reports. “Adult use of cannabis is now permitted, so cannabis possession charges will be removed from some residents’ criminal records.”

California

In 2024, the bipartisan SB law will take effect, increasing the state penalty for child sex trafficking in California, as approved by Governor Gavin Newsom three months ago.

In that state, “trafficking of minors for ‘commercial’ purposes is now a serious crime.” The penalties will therefore be greater.

Illinois

At the beginning of the new year, a number of laws came into effect.

N.Y

In this state they are waiting for the law that will seal criminal records for felonies after three years and for felonies after eight years, as long as the perpetrator doesn’t commit another crime… it’s New York’s Clean Slate Law.

It does not apply to records containing convictions for murder, sex crimes, domestic terrorism or “other serious crimes,” the southern media, backed by Fox News, said.

According to La Nación, New York’s Clean Slate Law “will go into effect one year after signing on November 16, 2023, but courts will have up to three years to comply.”

The state led by Governor Kathy Hochul has other bills in store, such as one aimed at significantly increasing the minimum wage for state workers, privacy on social networks and security on college campuses.

(JO)

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