Pushing LGBT issues, targeting gun rights, expanding protections for illegal aliens
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(Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash)
By Jake Smith
Daily Caller News Foundation
Democrat-run states are instituting a host of left-wing laws at the beginning of 2024 targeting several cultural and political issues.
States like California, Michigan, Illinois, Washington and Colorado are enacting laws pushing LGBTQ issues on their residents, as well as various restrictions to residents’ behavior that attempt to limit emissions or damage to the environment. Blue states are also targeting gun rights and expanding protections for illegal aliens.
California is initiating a new law on Jan. 1 that will fine major retailers if they don’t sell “gender-neutral” children’s toys in their stores. These items would have to be clearly marked and sectioned, and stores that refuse to comply will face a $250 penalty for the first violation and a $500 penalty for every subsequent offense.
This law also pertains to “any product designed or intended by the manufacturer to facilitate sleep, relaxation, or the feeding of children, or to help children with sucking or teething.”
“Let retailers decide what’s best for their customers and what their clientele want, but the last thing we need is for the state legislature in California to decide [what parents buy for their children],” Republican California Sen. Melissa Melendez told Fox News. “We don’t need the government trying to co-parent with us.”
Also starting in 2024, a new law in the Golden State will ban the sale of any gas-powered lawnmowers, leaf blowers, chainsaws or yard care equipment. Tens of thousands of workers in California who relied on such equipment for their businesses will be most affected by the new rule; concerns also exist over the efficacy and cost of electric-powered alternatives, according to The Sacramento Bee.
“The people most affected are going to be the Latinos that don’t have a big business,” Fulgencio Vazquez, a landscaping manager in Sacramento, told the Bee. Another landscaping small business owner, Rafael Guzman, told the Bee that big businesses would be the “only ones” to survive the new law, and noted that landscaping jobs with electric-powered equipment would take longer “because the machines don’t have the same potential.”
The law comes alongside a massive push in California to promote electric vehicles and the phase out gas-powered household appliances. California seeks to be completely reliant on green energy and 100% carbon neutral by 2045, according to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.
California is also instituting a new law on Jan. 1, 2024, that will ban employers from asking employees about their marijuana consumption outside of the workplace. It would also prevent employers from penalizing employees if they test positive for cannabis use, unless they are deemed actively high at work.
In 2024, Michigan will expand its civil rights act to prevent discrimination on the basis of “gender identity,” according to the bill text. The Michigan Supreme Court ruled that state justices must use the “preferred pronouns” of attorneys in their courtrooms starting on Jan. 1.
The judges who dissented against the ruling said that the courts should not intertwine politics with legal practices.
“This is a fluid political debate into which our judicial branch of state government should not wade, let alone dive headfirst and claim to have resolved,” Justice Brian Zahra wrote in his dissent. “Such hubris has no place within the operation of a judicial branch of state government.”