New laws for a new year going into effect cover smoking, texting while driving, trans-fat, toy guns and tanning bed for teens. I think this is all great. Most of these are dangerous behaviors and hopefully this will protect consumers. I wish this was a nationwide change and not just different states changing. I feel like since we are a country, each state shouldn’t be SO separate from each other. If one state has laws, I feel like all the other states should have the same laws. That is my personal opinion. Maybe one day it will be like that.

Smoking is now banned in North Carolina in restaurants and bars across the state! Good for them! I wish they would make that law in Florida already! There is nothing worse than eating and smelling cigarette smoke.

A 2006 U.S. Surgeon General’s report on secondhand smoke and personal stories about smoking-related illness helped persuade the Legislature to pass a bill in May. It was signed into law by Gov. Beverly Perdue.

Smoking is now prohibited in restaurants in 29 states and in bars in 25. There is also a partial smoking ban in Virginia.

New Hampshire, Oregon, and Illinois join 16 other states in banning texting while driving. This should be banned in EVERY state. Texting while driving is just about as bad as when I see morons reading a book or the newspaper while driving. It is just asking for an accident. There are states that don’t allow using cell-phones while driving, how come texting while driving isn’t banned everywhere? WTF?

“This legislation is important and will make our roads safer. No driver has any business text messaging while they are driving,” said Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, whose office regulates drivers.

Tina Derby, 42, of Warner, N.H., said she has no intention to stop texting while driving, despite the possible $100 fine she could receive.

“I’d better start saving my money,” Derby said.

Derby, you’re an idiot. I hope you are fined a million dollars next time you are caught texting while driving. Not only are you putting yourself in danger but you are putting ALL the other drivers on the road in danger. How selfish. How stupid of you to publicly state that you don’t want to stop texting while driving. This aggravates me SO much!

California becomes the first state to ban restaurants, bakeries and other retail food establishments from using oil, margarine and shortening containing trans fats. The law affects oil, shortening and margarine used in spreads or for frying. Restaurants can continue using trans fats to deep-fry yeast dough and in cake batter until Jan. 1, 2011.

The legislation follows moves by several major cities and fast-food chains to ban the substance.

I think this is a great law. America has the most obese people in the world. If we don’t have control of ourselves and eat right this is going to help out a lot of fat and unhealthy people. Way to go California! This should be done nationwide! Maybe Americans wouldn’t be such a joke to other countries about our weight problem here if this was done throughout the states.

Schwarzenegger signed an anti-paparazzi bill making it easier for celebrities to sue media outlets that use photographs taken when subjects have a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as when they are in their backyard. The change updates a decade-old law that allows fines against paparazzi who illegally or offensively take photos or recordings. It allows lawsuits against media outlets that pay for and make first use of material they knew was improperly obtained.

Watching an illegal dogfight will also cost you more. A new California law increases jail time for spectators from a maximum of six months to one year; Fines are increased from $1,000 to $5,000.

Good, this is great. I feel terrible for celebrities with their personal business all over the media. It is not fair to them. If they are in the privacy of their own home, they shouldn’t have to worry about being photographed. That is just wrong and disrespectful.

A new Arkansas law prohibits selling toy guns that look like the real thing, but major retailers say they don’t expect a major impact. Imitation guns used for theater productions and other events are exempted, as are replicas of firearms produced before 1898, BB guns, paintball or pellet guns.

This to me is a silly law. Little kids always have fun playing with toy guns. It’s not like they are playing with them to pretend to really kill people. It’s all in good fun like games such as cops and robbers, or cowboys. I don’t think this is going to accomplish a lot.

In Texas, teenagers under 16½ cannot use a tanning bed, and those between 16½ and 18 must have a parent or guardian’s written permission.

I think this is great, but like some of the other new laws, it should be nationwide. Tanning salons are terrible for you. I wrote an article back about it. It is just plain dangerous and any minor should be turned away without a parent’s consent. If the parent allows the child to tan, they are just asking for problems. Tanning salons are just BAD NEWS all around.

Pot smokers in the Colorado mountain resort of Breckenridge, for example, will not face city charges for possession. Criminal penalties for those over 21 who possess small amounts of marijuana or smoking paraphernalia have been eliminated.

But marijuana users are not off the hook: Pot possession remains a state crime except for patients with medical clearance. And don’t puff on the slopes: Use of marijuana at the Breckenridge ski area is still illegal under the Colorado Ski Safety Act.

And selling marijuana is still a felony.

What is the problem with pot? No one has ever died from pot. Alcohol is legal yet there are so many alcoholics and AA meetings as a result of it being legal. A pothead has never hurt anyone and they don’t have Pothead anonymous meetings because the drug isn’t addictive. I don’t get why government looks at it as such a problem? Pot should be legal in all states regardless of a medical marijuana card, which I hear just about anyone can get.

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