New laws coming into effect in 2024 – Clean slates, crackdowns and reforms
From coast-to-coast, U.S. states are adopting a slew of new laws in 2024, including some that wipe criminal records and a Texas crackdown on illegal immigration.
As the calendar flips to 2024, a number of new laws are coming into effect around the United States.
They include "Clean Slate" laws sealing criminal records, crackdowns on retail theft and sex trafficking, and laws affecting bail and probation.
Here are just a few new laws coming into play around the country at some point this year:
TEXAS GOV. ABBOTT SIGNS BILL MAKING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION A STATE CRIME
In March, a new Texas law will make illegal immigration, historically a federal crime, a state-level crime.
Senate Bill 4 is already facing challenges in court, but it will give local police the authority to arrest illegal border crossers and give aliens the choice to either leave the country or face prosecution.
Separately, the new "anti-DEI law," Senate Bill 17, bans diversity, equity and inclusion offices in Texas' public colleges.
Pennsylvania is overhauling its probation system while increasing the penalty for "porch pirates" to a felony and cracking down on retail theft.
Beginning in the first six months of 2024, courts will have to impose terms of probation "necessary to ensure or assist the defendant in leading a law-abiding life," and by March, stealing packages off a porch will be treated like felony mail theft.
WATCH: DoorDash driver fakes food delivery and steals package off porch: police
The state attorney general's office is also adding a division specifically to prosecute retail theft, noting that Philadelphia ranks ninth in the country for worst retail crime.
MAINE LAWSUITS TARGET DECISION TO LIMIT FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN LOCAL ELECTIONS
Florida's new bail law sets uniform statewide standards and automatically denies bail for certain offenses prior to the suspect's first court appearance.
Local courts are not allowed to set bail lower than the new state standards without approval from the Florida Supreme Court.
The law goes into effect on Jan. 1.
New York's Clean Slate Act is set to go into effect one year after it was signed on Nov. 16, 2023, but courts have up to three years to comply.
It will seal criminal records for misdemeanors after three years and felonies after eight, as long as the offender does not commit another crime.
The law does not apply to records involving convictions for murder, sex crimes, domestic terrorism or "other serious crimes."
Connecticut's version of the Clean Slate Act, signed in 2021, rolls out its next phase on Jan. 1.
Misdemeanor records, with exceptions for sex crimes and violent crimes, will become eligible for automatic erasure if the subject has gone seven years without a new conviction. Low-level felonies can be erased after 10 years.
California's Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bipartisan SB 14 into law in September, increasing the state's penalty for child sex trafficking.
Trafficking a minor for "commercial" purposes is now a serious felony, meaning a conviction carries a strike under California's "Three Strikes" law and carries stiffer punishment.
"With the passage of this bill, we are sending a clear message to child traffickers – we intend to put you out of business and behind bars where you belong," state Sen. Shannon Grove, a Bakersfield Republican, said after the bill's signing.
Taking effect on Jan. 1, Illinois' Public Act 103-0118 allows families to pursue legal action against anyone who willfully provided alcohol to someone under 18 if the minor caused death or injury while intoxicated.
Also taking effect on New Year's Day, Illinois Public Act 103-0100 is banning book bans in libraries that receive taxpayer funding, with no exceptions.
Fox News' Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
