The new legislation is part of a new package of policy changes that aim to reduce climate-warming emissions amidst another season of wildfires. As The Hill reports, the order also includes a provision to no longer issue new permits for oil and gas fracking by 2024.
The New Jersey Law will require the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to deny permit applications for a new project if it determines it will have a disproportionate impact on a certain community already facing environmental or health stressors.
Michigan is recognizing the commitment and sacrifices of their state’s 625,000 essential workers by offering them free education at any community college in the state.
Introduced by gay State Sen. Scott Wiener (D), the law gives judges the ability to keep LGBTQ teenagers off the state’s public sex offender registry if the teens are of similar ages, the same leeway the state already gives straight teens.
Connecticut’s CHEAPR pilot program is currently transitioning to a new version established under Public Act 19-117 which will offer rebates for both new and used electric vehicles.
The law, which is expected to come into force in 2021, means that selling, supplying or distributing a “prohibited plastic product” will be illegal. The list of banned items includes plastic straws, cutlery, and drink stirrers, as well as polystyrene cups, bowls, plates, and clamshell containers.
New Jersey has become the second state to lift restrictions that bar undocumented individuals from obtaining occupational and professional licenses, which are necessary to enter a large number of career fields.
The commission that enforces Kansas’ nondiscrimination laws will begin hearing claims from people who allege they are being mistreated because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Queensland has become the first state in Australia to criminalize gay conversion therapy, after state politicians voted to make the “highly destructive and unethical” practice illegal. Practitioners found guilty will now face up to 18 months in jail.
Oaxaca is the first state to take the measure in Mexico, which has one of the world’s highest rates of childhood obesity. About 73% of the Mexican population is overweight, compared to one-fifth of the population in 1996, according to a study by OCED.
