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Most of the hundreds of new California laws that are set to take effect on the first day of the new year won’t change your life. They’re adjustments to existing laws and directions to state agencies to follow up on past priorities.
But some of them might have a profound effect on you or a loved one.
Know someone who’s struggling to conceive? One new law requires more insurers to cover in vitro fertilization.
How about someone who’s thinking about what to do after high school? Another new law compels more California State University campuses to offer automatic admission to seniors who meet their requirements.
Some new California laws are meant to confront some of the major questions of the moment, including how to regulate artificial intelligence and whether the state’s Democratic leaders can contest the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement.
In all, lawmakers passed 917 bills in 2025 and Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed 123 of them. Most of the ones he signed take effect on Jan. 1.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics. This article is republished with their permission.
