2025 Legislation Unleashed: Navigating Controversial Changes from AI in Cinema to Gun Control Debates

Medical cannabis

Kentucky is becoming the most recent state to permit individuals to utilize cannabis for medicinal purposes. To apply for a state medical cannabis card, individuals must secure written verification from a medical professional regarding a qualifying condition, which might include cancer, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, epilepsy, chronic nausea, or post-traumatic stress disorder. Almost four-fifths of the U.S. states have now legalized medical cannabis.

Minimum salaries

Workers earning minimum wage in over 20 states are set to receive increases in January. The highest minimum wages will be found in Washington, California, and Connecticut, all exceeding $16 per hour after modest rises.

The most significant increases are slated for Delaware, where the minimum wage will boost by $1.75 to $15 per hour, and in Nebraska, where a referendum approved by voters in 2022 will add $1.50 to the existing minimum of $12 per hour.

Another twenty states continue to adhere to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

Safer transportation

In Oregon, drug use on public transit will be deemed a misdemeanor offense for obstructing public transportation. As the measure progressed through the legislature, several transportation officials expressed that drug use on buses and trains, as well as at transit stops and stations, was making both passengers and drivers feel less secure.

In Missouri, law enforcement officers have dedicated the last 16 months to warning drivers that utilizing handheld cellphones while driving is prohibited. Beginning with the new year, fines will be enforced: a $150 penalty for the initial violation, escalating to $500 for the third and any subsequent offenses, plus up to 15 years imprisonment if a driver using a cellphone causes injury or death. However, police must identify a primary violation, such as speeding or swerving across lanes, to issue citations to motorists for breaching the cellphone regulation.

Montana remains the only state that hasn’t prohibited texting while driving, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Tax reductions

tax on their monthly rent, following the repeal of a law that previously allowed cities and towns to levy such taxes. While this represents a gain for renters, the new legislation results in a financial setback for governments. An evaluation by Arizona’s nonpartisan Joint Legislative Budget Committee predicted a loss of $230 million in municipal tax revenue during the first complete fiscal year of implementation.

Meanwhile, Alabama will provide tax credits to businesses that assist employees with childcare expenses.

Kansas is abolishing its 2% sales tax on groceries. Additionally, it is reducing individual income taxes by lowering the top tax rate, enhancing a credit for childcare expenses, and exempting all Social Security income from taxes, among other measures. Taxpayers are expected to save approximately $320 million annually moving forward.

Voting liberties

An Oklahoma statute broadens voting rights to individuals who have been convicted of felonies but have had their sentences discharged or commuted, including reductions for offenses that have been reclassified from felonies to misdemeanors. Former state Senator George Young, a Democrat from Oklahoma City, sponsored the bill in the Senate.

“It is crucial that individuals who have faced challenges in their lives are given a system that reintegrates them and allows them to engage as contributing citizens,” Young stated.

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Contributors to this piece include Associated Press writers Trân Nguyễn in Sacramento, California; Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Florida; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; Randall Chase in Dover, Delaware; Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis; Bruce Schreiner in Frankfort, Kentucky; Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon; Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City, Missouri; Gabriel Sandoval in Phoenix; Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama; John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; and Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City.