Across the country, the new year will usher in thousands of new state laws.

At least 20 states are increasing the statewide minimum wage starting January 1 – the highest in Washington state is $16.66 an hour. followed by California at $16.50. Kentucky is the newest state Legalization of medical marijuana and several states, including Delaware, Tighten gun control.

Here are other important state laws that go into effect on January 1st.

Taylor Swift ticket crisis leads to changes in the industry

Minnesota is the youngest state increase transparency when purchasing tickets to concerts, sporting events and other major events.

“The Ticketing Fairness Act” will require “all-inclusive pricing” to ensure ticket buyers know the total cost of a ticket in advance. The law prohibits misleading advertising and speculative pricing. The bill’s sponsor, Democratic Rep. Kelly Moeller, says the inspiration for the bill came from her experience trying to score tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in Minneapolis last summer, in what was widely viewed as the Ticketmaster fiasco.

Minnesota law also prohibits bot services from purchasing tickets to inflate costs. Gov. Tim Walz signed the bill into law over the summer. It follows a similar law signed by Maryland Governor Wes Moore.

Children under 14 are banned from social media

A Florida law goes into effect Wednesday that bans children under 14 from owning social media accounts and limits 14- and 15-year-olds to accounts authorized by their parents. However, social media companies may not immediately ban these children from their platforms.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody agreed in November not enforcing the law while the litigation is ongoing. The parties filed a motion in October suit against the Florida law Some states have made it their mission to restrict minors’ access to constitutionally protected expression.

As NPR has reported, there are states like Florida Maybe I’ll look at Australia to see how this country’s new social media ban affects children under 16.

California is increasing penalties for retail and drug crimes

Both California Democrats and Republicans say they felt pressure to pass legislation this year List of new laws Increase penalties for retail theft and drug offenses.

Taken together, the laws make it easier to combine similar offenses into charges, including across jurisdictions. They also make it a felony to break into a car, even if it’s unlocked.

The Democrats then proposed many of the new criminal laws Proposal 36 made it to the election. This measure increased penalties for drug and theft offenses and increased treatment requirements. It passed in November with about 70% approval.

New York offers maternity leave

New York State will be the first to offer the entire private sector pregnant workers 20 hours of paid leave per year for prenatal care. Federal, state or local government employees are not eligible for the new leave.

Leave may be used for monitoring purposes, consultations with a healthcare provider necessary to ensure a healthy pregnancy, end-of-pregnancy care, or fertility treatments. among other services.

Preventing forced dropouts in schools

A new California law says schools can no longer require teachers to out LGBTQ+ students to their parents.

The law comes in response to several California school districts adopting policies requiring teachers to inform parents if their child identifies with a gender other than that listed in their school records.

The new law does not prevent teachers from coming out students to their parents unless they are forced to do so.

The flat tax in Iowa is considered a model

On Wednesday, Iowa joins states that impose a flat individual income tax. The new rate for all income tax payers is 3.8%.

Along with Iowa and Louisiana, which will adopt a 3% income tax in the new year, a total of 14 states will have adopted flat income tax systems.

Democrats in Iowa warn that the new system could reduce state revenues, causing long-term budget problems for lawmakers and potentially forcing cuts to education and health services that dominate the state budget.

Recent forecasts suggest that government revenue will decline by a total of $1 billion within two years.

Republicans, including Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, say the tax cuts which the Republicans have gradually implementedwork as intended. They point out that Republican lawmakers have the ability to draw on more than $6 billion in excess funds and other reserves to make up for shortfalls in revenue.

Clay Masters is a senior political reporter for Minnesota Public Radio News. Megan Myscofski is a statehouse and politics reporter at CapRadio. Grant Gerlock is a reporter at Iowa Public Radio.