Legal Resource Center News

In October 2018, the bill, SB 1343, was signed by California Governor Jerry Brown. The new law concerns California’s sexual harassment training requirements. SB 1343 requires any employer with at least five employees must provide at least two hours of sexual harassment prevention training to all supervisory employees and at least one hour of training for all non-supervisory employees within six months of their assumption. The training also must be provided once every two years.

As of January 1, 2020, new legislation has passed that prohibits the use of exotic animals in circuses within California. The only animals which are allowed to be used as of now are domestic animals, such as dogs, cats, and horses. This means that the days of viewing theatrics involving bears, monkeys, tigers, elephants and other staples of the circus have come to an end.

A recently passed law referred to as Senate Bill No. 8 came into effect on January 1, 2020. The law bans smoking of a cigar, a cigarette, or a synthetic smoking device on any state beach and any state beach in California; the law also bans the disposal of any of the previously listed items on any state beach or park as well. Any infraction to this law will result in a fine of $25 and is considered a new crime under the law.

Senate Bill No. 1249, also known as the California Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act, states that it is “unlawful for a manufacturer to import for profit, sell, or offer for sale in the state of California, any cosmetic, if the cosmetic was developed or manufactured using an animal test that was conducted or contracted by the manufacturer, or any supplier of the manufacturer, on or after January 1, 2020”.