As we enter 2025, there’s a bunch of new laws that San Diego news platform, S-Reporter, is following.

Read or scan some of the new California laws and policies that could directly affect you:

Drivers

1. Safer delivery

Starting on March 1, 2025, after ordering from food delivery services like Door Dash and Uber Eats, you must by law receive the driver’s photo and first name, enabling you to confirm their identity upon arrival.

Thank you state law Assembly Bill (AB) 375.

2. Safer intersections

Starting on January 1, 2025, you can no longer park your vehicle within 20 feet of a crosswalk. The so-called “Daylighting Law,” AB 413, is aimed at reducing accidents by increasing visibility for both drivers and pedestrians at intersections. Most states, incidentally, already have this law on the books.

3. Accident victim compensation

If you’ve ever been in a car accident, you know that liability insurance is rarely enough to cover your losses from medical bills and car repairs. Senate Bill 1107 increases the minimum liability insurance coverage for all vehicle owners, per the following:

• $30,000 minimum: Bodily injury or death of 1 person in an accident.
• $60,000 minimum: Bodily injury or death of all persons in an accident.
• $15,000 minimum for property damage

Consumer Protections

4. Save money by easily canceling online subscriptions you don’t want

Many consumers are billed for online subscriptions and agreements and upgrades that they didn’t approve or no longer want, but they don’t know how to stop the bleeding — it’s too cumbersome.  

Enter AB 2863, AKA the “Click to Cancel” law, which makes it easy to cancel, or opt out of, online subscriptions. This means businesses must receive clear consent from their customers prior to initiating a new subscription, price change, or before converting a free trial to a fee-based service. AB 2863 goes into effect on July 1, 2025.

5. Justice for victims of car break-ins

Before Sacramento intervened on this matter, someone could have broken into your car and gotten away with it if your car wasn’t locked during said break-in. Senate Bill 905, which went into effect on January 1, eliminated the “locked door loophole,” making it easier to prosecute vehicle burglary cases. Now, prosecutors just have to show that there was forcible entry in order to bring charges against perpetrators.

Housing and Homelessness

6. From Two to Eight ADUs

What we used to call a granny flat, a self-sustaining unit in your backyard, is now known by the bureaucratic buzzword Accessory Dwelling Units, or more commonly, ADU. New laws passed in Sacramento, like SB 1211, allow property owners to build up to eight detached ADUs on their property.

Sacramento politicians seem to think they’re one of the keys to the housing affordability crisis. ADUs have been controversial and, according to San Diego news reports, have divided communities. Some neighbors claim ADUs have hurt the quality of life of some neighborhoods and are owned by out-of-town investors.

7. Protections for renters and tenants

Nearly 50 percent of households in the San Diego metro area are renters, according to a new Redfin study. Almost one out of every 2 households in this increasingly high-end city are renters. So, we have to look out for our renters.

Because of Bill 2747, apartment complexes exceeding 15 apartments are now legally obligated to offer to report their tenants’ rent payments, at least those they paid on-time, to the credit agency. Now, grumpy landlords must help facilitate an improvement in their tenants’ scores by letting the credit agency know what a great job Chad is doing paying his rent on-time, except for that time when he put weed above rent, which caused a delay of one week…but that was an outlier; it doesn’t define Chad. It’s not who he is.  

Give me back my deposit!

You know the scenario: You did everything humanly possible to scrub and rinse and sweep that apartment and leave it in proper condition before you left it for greener pastures. And still, your landlord takes a $400 chunk of your $500 deposit with little or no explanation. WTF!?

Enter AB 2801, which regulates more strictly how landlords must deal with security deposits. They must now, for example, provide an itemized breakdown of any deductions made from a tenant’s security deposit along with relevant photographs.

8. Ensure mentally ill and drug-addicted Californians get the help they need.

That’s a nice way of saying what Senate Bill 43 does. What it actually does, at least in the short-term, is pave the way for more San Diegans to be involuntarily committed to mental health institutions. Before this new law, you had to be a danger to yourself or others, or gravely disabled, to be taken away against your own will.

The new law, which updates the state’s conservatorship system, broadens the definition of “gravely disabled” to include Californians who are unable to take care of themselves and provide for their basic needs, including food and shelter, due to alcoholism, drug addiction or mental illness.

SB 43 is seen by some homeless advocates as a way to forcibly remove people from the streets, whether they want to be or not. Ending homelessness, or at least getting people off the streets so they’re less visible, is a government and business priority that this law seems to advance.

According to media reports, San Luis Obispo and San Francisco began adopting SB 43 in January 2024, while San Diego County voted to delay implementing the law for one year to allow time to ramp up its mental health system and infrastructure.

Some observers view this latest law as a long-overdue response to former California Governor Ronald Reagan’s deinstitutionalization movement, which, in the mid-1960s, ended the involuntary commitment of people with mental health disorders.

One commenter on Reddit wrote: “It’s just gonna end up a prison by another name.” Another noted that “They aren’t even adequately funding programs for people who choose to get help. I don’t think programs where they can force the people in are going to get the funding they need to be successful at helping anybody.”

But cynicism aside, maybe it will get some people the help they need and enable them to turn around their lives. We will keep our eyes on this one.  

Workplace protections

9. Increase in the Minimum Wage

Good San Diego news: If you’re seeking an entry-level, minimum wage job in San Diego, you can now expect to see an uptick in your bank balance.

The minimum wage has been raised from $16.85 to $17.25 per hour.

10. Can’t require job candidates to have a driver’s license

Beginning in 2025, employers can’t require a driver’s license during the employee recruitment process. There are two exceptions: The job requires driving a vehicle and the other mode of transportation that the employee was relying on was inadequate.

Happy New Year 2025 and thank you for supporting S-Reporter, the San Diego news platform for locals.