(June 27) - July brings a slew of new state laws set to take effect on the first of the month. From Vermont to California, the new statutes include relaxing zero-tolerance policies at schools, requiring compensation for the wrongfully convicted and abolishing the death penalty, among others. Check out below how the law of the land may change in your state on Wednesday.
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Alabama: Makes more women diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer eligible for treatment through Medicaid.
California: Bars schools from serving food containing transfats.
Florida: Relaxes schools' zero-tolerance policies by preventing children from being arrested or expelled for insignificant misbehavior such as bringing plastic butter knives to school, drawing pictures of guns or vandalizing property.
Kansas: Allows women seeking abortions to see ultrasound images or hear their fetus' heartbeat at least 30 minutes before the procedure.
Mississippi: Requires the state to pay $50,000 a year, up to $500,000, to people wrongfully convicted of crimes. The compensation must be sought within three years after the person is pardoned or the conviction is overturned.
Nevada: Reduces the liability of restaurants, hotel-casinos and other businesses that donate perishable foods such as bread, hot or cold dishes and leftover buffet items.
New Mexico: Abolishes the death penalty and replaces it with life in prison without parole.
Ohio: Allows the state to consider tolls to pay for major new highway construction projects.
Vermont: Permits prosecutors to send teenage cell phone "sexting" cases to juvenile courts to eliminate the stigma of child pornography convictions.
Wyoming: Specifies that the right to mine or drill for resources has legal precedence over the right to store carbon gas underground. Second law specifies that whoever injects carbon gas underground remains legally responsible for it forever.
