New Laws & Orders

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Texters will have to TTYL if they are zipping along the road in the Golden State.

Starting today, California has a New Year's resolution for drivers: Keep your hands on the wheel and off your text-messaging gadget.

Your friends will simply have to "Talk to You Later" unless you want to risk a ticket.

New Laws & Orders
- Rules governing driving under the influence get stricter. Assembly Bill 1165, by former Assemblyman Bill Maze, R-Visalia, provides zero tolerance for anyone on probation for DUI, making it illegal to drive with a blood-alcohol level of 0.01 percent or more. It also provides for license suspension. AB 2802 requires a person convicted of alcohol-related reckless driving to participate in a DUI program for at least nine months if that person has a similar conviction within 10 years.
- Now you'll know where your bottled water comes from, thanks to Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro. Senate Bill 220 requires water bottlers to reveal where they get their aqua fina on the bottle's label or on a package insert. Corbett said people pay a premium for bottled water and deserve to know whether it's from a mountain spring or straight out of the tap. The bill also requires regular inspection and maintenance of water vending machines.
- Starting today, California schools gain the authority to suspend or expel students for bullying their fellow students over the Internet, in text messages or by other electronic means. Assembly Bill 86 sponsored by Assemblyman Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, adds cyberbullying to school disciplinary codes that previously defined bullying only in terms of direct physical or verbal harassment. "You're dealing with some very fragile egos at these age levels," Lieu said.
- On the heels of employee snooping into celebrity medical files at UCLA, two laws seek to protect patient privacy. They require health care providers to safeguard patient data and to report unauthorized access within five days to the state and the individual. The state can levy penalties up to $25,000 per patient for privacy breaches. The laws are AB 211 by Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, and SB 541 by Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara.
- California becomes the first state to require every health plan and insurer to provide coverage for human immunodeficiency virus testing, regardless of whether the testing is related to a primary diagnosis. AB 1894 affects 22 million people, the California Health Benefits Review Program said. Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, D-Burbank, the bill's sponsor, said the state "again has demonstrated its global leadership in developing innovative policies to fight the HIV pandemic."
- You don't expect to get infected in a hospital. Senate Bill 1058 by Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara, will require hospitals to publicly disclose their infection rates and screen certain high-risk patients for methicillin-resistant staphlococcus aureus. The information will be made available to the public starting in 2011. SB 158 by Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, will require hospitals to provide continuing education and training for workers.
New Laws
New year starts with higher fees

The bill making it an infraction for all drivers, not just minors, to write, send or read a text message while driving is among dozens of laws that take effect today.

Other statutes regulate bottled water, give schools a tool to fight cyberbullying and crack down on drunken drivers. The New Year's landslide of laws includes a handful dealing with health, from making hospitals reveal infection rates to safeguarding patient data to requiring insurers to pay for HIV testing.

The ban on texting while driving -- Senate Bill 28 sponsored by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto -- is a follow-up to a few bills that took effect July 1. One allows adult motorists to use only hands-free devices when talking on cell phones. The other prohibits drivers younger than 18 from using any cell phone or electronic message device.

The new law makes texting by a driver younger than 18 a primary offense that can trigger a traffic stop.

Although the law spells out a $20 fine for the first offense and $50 for repeat offenses, court fees pad the cost to about $100 and $200.