California began 2026 with a sweeping new wave of legislation: hundreds of new laws, ranging from stricter rules on data privacy and AI use, bans on subjects such as plastic lining for paper bags and cat declawing, to expanding worker protections and healthcare access.
With over 900 bills passed in 2026, many question whether the state has the resources and infrastructure to effectively enforce such a massive wave of legislation. Notable new laws affecting schools laws include: school districts must adopt policies limiting cell phone use by July 2026; all K-12 public schools required to have at least one all-gender restroom; CSU campuses must provide automatic admission for students with 2.5 GPA at 16 of 22 campuses and school zone speed limits automatically dropping to 20 mph by 2031.
Additional laws include: grocery stores banned from providing any plastic bags; state minimum wage increases to $16.90 per hour; food delivery services are required to provide refunds for undelivered or wrong orders and offer human customer service; cat declawing banned statewide unless medically necessary; many new AI regulations.
While supporters say the measures push the state to be a national leader on consumer and labor rights, critics warn the regulations could drive up costs and push businesses out of state.
Ethan Lindsey, a college student studying law, said, “I don’t think many of these laws are enforceable, and many will just lead to raising taxes at the cost of a law that won’t be enforced or make a big impact.”
Among the most debated measures are new restrictions on artificial intelligence; these new laws prohibit AI chatbots from posing as licensed professionals, require disclosure when police use AI to make reports, and add protections for minors interacting with AI systems.
However, many problems arise with this: how will this be enforced, how will users be able to tell if it’s a human being or not, especially since AI chatbots are trained to mimic humans.
Jeff Isola ’98, AP Government teacher, stated, “I think it’s a valiant effort to try and put in legislation to reduce the impact of AI, but in terms of enforcing it, I just don’t see how; the rate AI is going right now is going to outpace our ability to detect it and control it.”
Aidan Lemcke ’26 summed up the uncertainty many feel by saying, “We won’t really know if any of this actually matters until a year from now. Either these laws change our lives, or we forget they exist. California keeps like throwing spaghetti at the wall, but how many will stick?
At the end of the day, many of these laws may fade away into obscurity, some could change our day-to-day lives, but we don’t know right now, we just have to wait and see.
