Groundwater regulation, undocumented driver’s licenses, rules on workplace safety, harassment among Jan. 1 additions

Sacramento has a hefty present for Californians to open Thursday morning — about 930 new laws go into effect in the new year.

A few don’t go into effect until July 1, but many start New Year’s Day.

Three laws that many hope will boost how California deals with its severe drought will give the state the authority to start regulating groundwater for the first time.

Under those laws, local agencies will be required to develop sustainable management plans to make sure priority groundwater basins are sustainable by 2040.

Homeowner associations no longer will be allowed to fine members for letting their lawns go brown or replacing them with drought-tolerant landscaping.

Among other laws that become effective Thursday, people in California who are here without legal documentation will be able to apply for driver’s licenses. That law, Assembly Bill 60, was passed in 2013, but its effective date was delayed until Jan. 1, 2015, giving the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) time to open four driver’s license processing centers, expand hours and hire more staff.

The closest of the four new centers to Benicia is in San Jose. While the DMV will be closed New Year’s Day and won’t open until Friday, applicants can make appointments through the agency’s website, www.dmv.ca.gov.

Also getting the right to acquire a new ID: state prison inmates, who will be eligible for California Identification cards once they’re released.

The definition of unfair immigration-related practices will be expanded to include threatening to file or the actual filing of a false report or complaint with a state or federal agency, and employers won’t be allowed to discriminate or retaliate against an employee who updates the person’s personal information based on a lawful change of name, Social Security number or federal employment authorization document.

Nor can those receiving public assistance be discriminated against by employers.

Companies that already provide mandatory sexual harassment prevention training must include an “abusive conduct” component. Farm labor contractors’ supervisory employees and non-supervisory employees also must undergo sexual harassment prevention training.

Other new labor laws:

• Companies that contract for labor will be liable for wage and hour violations.

• Recovery periods taken in compliance with heat illness regulations are paid breaks and count as hours worked.

• Employers who pay less than minimum wage will face both citations and civil penalties, restitution and liquidated damages under another new law that changes how the labor Commissioner enforces existing penalties.

• Another new law provides a waiting time penalty if unionized theatrical and concert venue employers violate final wage payment time frames set in a collective bargaining agreement.

• Child protection laws will provide for additional penalties for those who violate provisions involving minors 12 and younger, and the statute of limitation for claims of violation of employment laws is suspended until the minor becomes 18.

• Other new laws have provisions requiring certain contractors to pay prevailing wages and require public contractors must certify they won’t ask applicants for specific jobs to disclose whether they have a criminal history.

• Another law requires companies that provide certain services to minors to provide written notices to parents or guardians and address the company’s policy about employee criminal background checks.

• Employers will be required to fix serious workplace safety violations, and those requirements would remain in place during most appeals unless the appellant can demonstrate that the suspension wouldn’t be detrimental to the health and safety of employees.

• Employees also may use emails to report serious work-related injuries.

• Employers must post new workplace requirements and provide written notice to newly hired employees, including changes that won’t take place until July 2015.

•The types of employees who are eligible for protected time off for emergency duty will be expanded, but health care providers need to tell employers when they are designated as emergency rescue personnel and when they’ll be deployed for emergency duty.

• Unpaid interns and volunteers will be protected from harassment or discrimination, including religious belief or religious accommodation requirements.

In another addition to state law, privacy protections will be extended to those who take nude pictures or videos of themselves and expect those photographs to remain private. In the past, those protections didn’t apply to so-called “selfies,” pictures made of and by the photographer.

Those who expect to disseminate those photographs and clips without the person’s consent — actions sometimes called “revenge pornography” — can be charged with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor accusation.

The protection gets a further boost in July, when a second law will let someone whose nude pictures and videos were disseminated without permission sue under a pseudonym and seek monetary damages.

Another law regulating photographs makes it illegal in California for websites to charge embarrassed people to remove mug shots. Commercial websites that violate the law could face a $1,000 civil penalty for each violation.

In the arena of assisted-living facilities, fines will be increased substantially, changing from a $150 minimum to a maximum of $10,000, for cases of major violations in state-licensed homes.

If the violations lead to a death, the maximum fine will be $15,000. Elderly residential care homes would be prevented from accepting new clients until they correct serious health and safety violations or for failing to pay state fines.

Sexual activity in colleges and universities got lawmakers’ attention: Institutions will need to revise how they define consent to sexual activity in campus judicial hearings, as the standard has changed from whether someone said “no” to whether all involved said “yes.” This applies to the burden of proof in those hearings, not in criminal cases.

Teenagers will see privacy protections reduced and penalties increased if they’re convicted of committing sex acts on someone who has passed out from alcohol or drugs, or who can’t give consent because of a disability.

Meanwhile, childhood sex abuse victims will have more time to accuse their abusers. Previously, they had to file charges before they turned 28. The new law extends this to age 40.

To accommodate same-sex couples who have children, birth certificates will give them the option of selecting among “mother,” “father” and “parent.” In the case of deaths of transgender people, coroners will be required to describe the gender based on how the person lived, not the deceased’s anatomy.

New laws for schools and day care centers:

• Public high schools must submit graduating senior students’ grade-point averages to the California Student Aid Commission so the number of students who receive Cal Grant awards can be increased.

• Parents of children in kindergarten through 12th grade will have the right to know what pesticides are used on those schools’ grounds as well as in many of the state’s licensed child-care centers.

• Schools will be required to have epinephrine automatic injectors, called “epi-pens,” and school nurses must be trained to use them on students in emergencies.

• School districts will find fewer barriers when they choose to fire teachers who sexually abuse students.

• It will be illegal to smoke at in-home day care centers both during and after hours.

• Students who play contact sports will face more restrictions. If a student suffers a head injury, he or she must wait seven days and have a doctor’s note before returning to the sport. Students will be limited to two full-contact practice sessions each week.

Other laws that are effective Jan. 1:

• State legislators will get a chance to view ballot initiatives before they appear on ballots, a change that will affect petitions aiming for 2016 ballot measures.

• Diners who choose to eat outside will be allowed to bring their pets to restaurants that offer outdoor seating.

• Penalties for those convicted of possession of crack and powder cocaine have been made equal.

• Farm animals must be housed more humanely under a law approved by voters in November 2008. The animals no longer can be caged in a way that prevents them from turning freely, lying down, standing up and fully extending their limbs.

• A previous law requiring California egg producers to give laying hens 116 square inches of space will be extended to those shipping eggs into California.

Laws effective in July:

• California workers who didn’t have paid sick leave before will get it in July under a law that lets them earn an hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

• Another law effective in July requires smart phones made after July 1, 2015, to be equipped with anti-theft technology that lets the owner temporarily or permanently disable the phone if it is lost or stolen. Purchasers would be able to enable the so-called “kill switch” or opt out if they prefer.

• A new fee will be charged mattress purchasers for a mattress recycling program that begins July 2015.