New Laws in California

Morning,

I was reading the paper this morning and came across a list of all the new laws Gov. Jerry Brown signed for CA.  Among them, some of which I am proud:

"Prison phones: makes it a crime for cell phones to be smuggled into state prisons and allows increased time behind bars for inmates caught with them."

Inmates are in prison for a reason and they should not be allowed to communicate through our networks such as FB or twitter for "penpals" or to harass their previous victims. 

"Job applicants: bars employers from using credit reports in deciding whether to hire someone."

I'm so glad this law was passed because our personal financial issues should not have anything to do with the way we work or our professional character, our personal finances are nobody's business and should not be a reason for someone to get hired or not.

"Human trafficking: requires large retailers and manufacturers to publicly report what steps they take to make sure those providing their supplies and products are not engaging in slavery and human trafficking."

I'm glad that CA is making large retailers like Wal-Mart and Target take steps in the avoidance of slavery and human trafficking but I also hope that CA also makes an effort to follow up on such reports and that indeed no human trafficking or slavery is taking place behind the products that large retailers provide to its consumers.

"Restaurants: may use up their supplies of shark fins purchased before Jan. 1. After that, sale of shark fins will be illegal."

I'm so glad this law was passed as I just found out earlier this year that hundreds of thousands of sharks were being fished from the sea, their fins removed, and tossed back in the ocean to drown.  Such a shame what man will do for a dollar without taking into measure the consequences that it will bring upon our food chain and the environment.  Every animal placed on this earth has it's purpose in the eco-system and I'm so glad that this has been banned in CA and I hope that in time it will be banned world-wide.

For a complete list of new laws for CA click here.