<!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ --></p> <p>from <a href=""https://calmatters.org/author/calmattersstaff/"" title=""Posts" by="" calmatters="" staff="" class=""author" url="" fn="" rel=""author"">CalMatters Staff</a>CalMatters</p> <figure> <img decoding="async" width=""1200"" height=""800"" src=""https://i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/063025-Budget-Assembly-MG-CM-22.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1"" class=""attachment-post-thumbnail" size-post-thumbnail="" wp-post-image="" alt=""small" american="" flags="" are="" mounted="" on="" wooden="" desks="" inside="" a="" legislative="" chamber="" viewed="" from="" behind="" as="" lawmakers="" sit="" facing="" forward.="" the="" shallow="" focus="" emphasizes="" and="" carved="" desk="" details="" while="" figures="" additional="" blur="" into="" background="" under="" warm="" indoor="" lighting.="" decoding=""async"" srcset=""https://i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/063025-Budget-Assembly-MG-CM-22.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1" https:="" sizes=""(max-width:"/><figcaption>Assembly Chambers at the Capitol on June 30, 2025. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters</figcaption></figure> <p>This story was originally published by <a href=""https://calmatters.org/"">CalMatters</a>. <a href=""https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/"">Sign up</a> for their newsletters.</p> <p>Most of the hundreds of new California laws set to go into effect on the first day of the new year won’t change your life. They are corrections to existing laws and guidelines for government agencies to follow past priorities.</p> <p>But some of them can have a profound effect on you or a loved one </p> <p>Do you know someone who is struggling to conceive? A new law requires more insurers <a href=""https://calmatters.org/health/2025/12/ivf-fertility-mandate-new-law/"">to cover in vitro fertilization</a>. </p> <p>How about someone thinking about what to do after high school? Another new law requires more California State University campuses to <a href=""https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2025/12/cal-state-admission/"">offer automatic admission</a> of elderly people who meet their requirements.</p> <p>Some new laws in California aim to answer some of the big questions of the moment, including how to <a href=""https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb53"">regulate artificial intelligence</a> and whether the state’s Democratic leaders can stand up to the Trump administration <a href=""https://calmatters.org/justice/2025/09/newsom-new-immigration-laws/"">aggressive immigration enforcement</a>.</p> <p>In all, lawmakers passed 917 bills in 2025 and Gov. Gavin Newsom <a href=""https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/10/gavin-newsom-vetoes-2025/"">vetoed 123 of them</a>. Most of those signed by him come into effect on January 1.<br />CalMatters reporters describe some of the notable new laws in the stories below. We’ll update this list as we post more stories over the next few days.</p> <p>This article was <a href=""https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/12/new-california-laws-for-2026/"">originally published on CalMatters</a> and is republished under <a href=""https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/"">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives</a> license.</p> <p> Copy the HTML
