Now that the New Year is upon us, we thought we should let you know about several new laws that are affecting this great state for the New Year. After all, we wouldn’t want you to declaw your exotic kittie without realizing that you could be fined for it. For those of you wondering just what our do-nothing state legislature has actually done over the past year and what else the Governator has been up to other than insulting various people and trying to stop lunch-breaks, there will be 959 new laws put into effect this year. The new laws range from everything to laws on privacy to guns to the banning of foie gras to the posting of signs explaining video-game warnings.

Image courtesy of Schoolhouse Rock (of course)

One of the big one’s involves gay couples. Under a new law, gay couples that sign up as domestic partnerships will have all the same legal rights as married couples. This means that legally, they’ll be married in all but name. The new law also says that insurance companies cannot discrimate against domestic partnerships and must provide them with health insurance. Besides it making California one of the few states that actually expands the rights of gay people, it has become part of the gay marriage legal case in that those who were arguing against have said that there’s no need to allow gay marriage laws because most domestic partners have the same rights as married couples. Another big law is the restricting of the sale and ownership of .50-caliber BMG rifles, the first state to do so. Wonder who's going to try and pry those guns out of Charlton Heston’s cold, dead hands.

There are also a lot of new traffic laws in the books, those kinds of laws that safety advocates and good government types like but drive libertarian and Darwin enthusiasts nuts. One such law stipulates that children 6 or younger or weighing less than 60 pounds must be in a child safety seat when riding in a car and must ride in the backseat. And if you have your wipers going during the daytime, you now also have to use your headlights or else. Penalties will also be increased for things like driving drunk, speeding, and racing. For all you scooter riders, new laws are in the books for scooters too.

Another set of laws involve privacy issues. Your social security number, for instance, can no longer be used by state government agencies for identification purposes. Cellular Phone companies will also not be allowed to list your cell phone number in a directory unless they are given permission. Also, it is now a state law that people can now sue e-mail spammers for using false e-mail addresses and/or making false claims, a law we totally love as all those "have porn star sex" spam mails are now a totally win-win situation.

Two of the more interesting laws are a law that forbids 14 year olds from getting one of those icky, orange fake tans that are all the rage without permission from the parents, an idea we find scary not just because of the idea of a 14 year old getting that tan but a parent being okay with it. And finally, in order to keep all the Todd and Rod Flanders’ out there from accidentally buying Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas instead of some nice, wholesome game that won’t turn the kids into violent little gangstas, stores that sell video games have to post signs everywhere letting people know what the rating system for video games mean and what could be on there.

While far from a complete list, this TV news station and newspaper provide a pretty list of some of the more important laws.. If you want to a searchable database to see what every law in California is, we recommend the California Legislative Council Web site.