20 Great New Laws

[kenny]

1. Illinois: Taxi drivers can charge passengers a $50 cleanup fee for vomiting in cabs.

2. Kentucky: A law prohibits people from releasing feral hogs into the wild.

3. New Mexico: Grocery stores, restaurants and other vendors are prohibited from claiming that their fresh chili peppers are New Mexico chilies unless they were grown in the state.

4. Pennsylvania: Punxsutawney school guidelines increase from ½ cup to ¾ cup the minimum serving of vegetables for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

5. Florida: A law forbids the shackling of women incarcerated during a pregnancy and immediately after giving birth.

6. Virginia: A law allows a brewery licensee to sell at retail the brands of beer that the brewery owns at premises.

7. Virginia: A local ordinance requires electronic messages on outdoor advertising to remain in place for at least eight seconds to avoid driver distractions.

8. Kentucky: Prisoner of War and Missing in Action flags purchased or displayed by public institutions must be made in the United States.

9. Minnesota: A law increases penalties for transporting certain aquatic invasive plants and animals.

10. Florida: A law prohibits people from videotaping a person without his or her knowledge in a residential dwelling.

11. Indiana: A nepotism law prohibits local government workers from hiring or promoting family members in their direct line of supervision.

12. Virginia: A law requires a person convicted of DUI to have an ignition interlock device in their car, operable by blowing into a breathalyzer.

13. Wisconsin: A law calls for mandatory license plates for all ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) operating in public areas.

14. Massachusetts: A law bans the disposal of medical sharps (needles, syringes and lancets) in household trash.

15. Virginia: A law allows a concealed handgun permit as a valid form of identification when voting.

16. Georgia: A law gives drivers the option of affixing a decal with the slogan "In God We Trust" on license plates in place of the county where they live.

17. Nevada: Unclaimed casino earnings will be split between the state (75%) and the casino (25%). Previously, the casino got all the money.

18. Idaho: Law enforcement can issue arrest warrants by fax.

19. Vermont: Minors (under 1 will be prohibited from using tanning beds.

20. Kentucky: (Effective July 12) A law makes it more difficult for thieves to sell stolen copper for immediate cash at recycling centers by delaying payments.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/29/us/new-laws/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

 

[justginger]

Having received one heck of an education on sun safety when I moved down under, number 19 is my favorite. Using a tanning bed before the age of 18 (just like I did, and just about every other girl in my high school did) increases your lifetime risk of malignant melanoma by 78%. Children should not be able to consent to that health risk; they are incapable of the higher level reasoning necessary (maybe cancer a long, long, long time away...or looking good in my prom dress in 3 weeks?).

 

[Missy]

Having received one heck of an education on sun safety when I moved down under, number 19 is my favorite. Using a tanning bed before the age of 18 (just like I did, and just about every other girl in my high school did) increases your lifetime risk of malignant melanoma by 78%. Children should not be able to consent to that health risk; they are incapable of the higher level reasoning necessary (maybe cancer a long, long, long time away...or looking good in my prom dress in 3 weeks?).

I totally agree with you justginger- no child should be allowed to use a tanning bed ever.

I'll go you one further- I think tanning beds should be outlawed completely. They are just too dangerous. But ofc that will never happen for the same reason smoking and other dangerous habits will never be outlawed. Because we live in a world where we are free to make our own idiotic choices and I guess I am glad for that. However stupid they may be. If you want to kill yourself with dangerous behavior so be it. I just wish more people would think.

 

[FrekeChild]

I'm thrilled about #3. Our state has been suffering financially (even more so than usual) due to places buying "New Mexico green chile" from other states/countries. Ours tastes better anyway!

 

[justginger]

I actually just blogged about sun safety, tanning, and solariums last night, missy. I consider willingly exposing yourself to harmful levels of UV (whether outside for long periods of time or in a tanning bed) to be no different than smoking. I LOVED tanning - it was time alone, warm and relaxing, to meditate and just switch off. And I walked out looking, in my opinion and nearly the entirety of the rest of society's opinion, better for it. But you know...I had to stop. DH quit smoking, and I quit tanning (long ago, I may add, around the age of 22). Both of us enjoyed our vices, but as informed adults, we knew what needed to be done.

Australians are more sun smart than Americans because they have to be. I discovered when looking up facts for the blog that the average UV index during a summer month in the US is around 7-8 (9-10 in the really far southwest, AZ/NM/TX sort of areas). In Perth, it's around 12. 13 on a particularly clear day. Thanks to that hole in the ozone, you know.

So yes, no tanning for children. But now you'll see 16 year olds laying out in their backyards in March, freezing, just desperately trying to get a hint of color before prom.

 

[Missy]

I agree justginger. Smoking and exposing yourself to UV rays without protection are both dangerous. But adults have to make their own choices. That's their right. Foolish as those choices may be.

 

[JewelFreak]

1. Illinois: Taxi drivers can charge passengers a $50 cleanup fee for vomiting in cabs.

My fave. Very handy on Saturday nights!

--- Laurie

 

[jazzoboe]

justginger- I'm glad to hear Australians are more sun-conscious these days. My mother is from Australia (and lived there until she was 19) and tells me that when she grew up spending at least 3 weeks at the beach every summer, they didn't really think about sun protection (this was the late '50's-'60's). As a result, she had been getting cancerous spots removed from her face and arms periodically for the past 15 years. Needless to say, being extremely fair skinned myself, I wouldn't dream of exposing myself to the harmful UV in tanning beds. Yes, just last night some 2nd graders I teach commented on how incredibly white I am, but I'll take exceptionally pale over cancer any day!! I guess most people just aren't nearly so aware of the possibility that it could happen to them.

 

[justginger]

It doesn't surprise me that Aussies used to be terrible about being in the sun - sounds like the stories my mother told about growing up in the States. The knowledge just wasn't there. The poor ozone quality down here now continues to make things worse though. Even with sun safety awareness, the number of skin cancer diagnoses in the last 20 years has doubled. Now 2/3 Australians will have a cancerous skin lesion in their lifetime, with 1 in 19 being a melanoma. Cover up, kids.