Cannabis cafes, AI and parking: How new California laws could affect you in 2025

California lawmakers passed roughly 1,200 bills last year, including some that resulted in unforeseeable wins by Republicans, promising protections for consumers and small strides for those in the entertainment industry. In the summer of 2023, actors’ and writers’ unions shut down Hollywood during a months-long strike, ultimately negotiating new contracts around the use of artificial intelligence in their industry. Last April, Laguna Beach High School officials investigated a student who circulated AI-generated sexually exploitative images, and in Beverly Hills, a group of eighth-graders was expelled for their involvement in superimposing pictures of their classmates’ faces onto simulated nude bodies through artificial intelligence. The bill’s author said giving tenants only five days to respond was “uniquely short” and could often result in a landlord winning a case, without the tenant getting a day in court. The bill’s author stressed the importance of teaching students about this court case to help them “learn of the civil rights challenges faced by Mexican Americans in this state.” Gender expression in schools: A first-in-the-nation law now bans school districts from requiring staff or teachers to disclose to parents if a student starts using a new pronoun or identifies as a different gender.