A new round of Washington laws are now in effect. Here are several prominent new laws to be aware of.
People under 21 years old won’t be able to buy a semi-automatic rifle come January. The purchase age for those firearms will increase from 18 to 21 on January 1 after voters approved Initiative 1639 in November. Other parts of the initiative, which includes incentives for safe storage and new enhanced background checks for rifles that are similar to handguns, won’t go in effect until July.
The Washington State service animals law will address the misuse and misrepresentation of regular animals as service animals. It will change the definition of "service animal" and creates a civil penalty of $500 for the misrepresentation of a service animal.
Statewide minimum wage in Washington will increase to $12 after the start of the year. This minimum wage will apply to all jobs, but employees ages 14-15 may be paid 85 percent of minimum wage ($9.78). Seattle's minimum wage will go up to $16 per hour for companies with over 500 employees. Seattle companies with less than 500 employees will pay workers at least $15 per hour.
A new Washington law will require contraception coverage in health insurance and, if a policy covers maternity care, also will require it to cover abortions.
Washington will also start collecting premiums for paid leave. The new Paid Family and Medical Leave law (PFML) allows eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks paid leave for their own serious health condition or for family care, 16 weeks for combined personal health leave and family care, and two extra weeks for pregnancy complication. Workers can start collecting benefits in 2020.
The Associated Press contributed.
