Bringing home the bacon tops new California laws in 2022

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — It's not often that bacon leads a roundup of new laws taking effect with the New Year in California.

But even in progressive California, that's the headline-grabber.

It's among a host of other legislation designed to safeguard employees, shield those seeking abortions, protect protesters from police, spare children from gender influence in store displays, and further ease criminal penalties to reduce mass incarceration.

Several of the laws mark national “firsts” — first minimum wage to reach $15 an hour, first to protect warehouse workers from quotas, first to mandate hourly wages for garment workers, first to require the gender-neutral displays.

They are among hundreds of new laws also addressing everything from stealthily removing condoms to handing out disposable packages of condiments.

But first...

WHAT ABOUT THE BACON?

The sausage-making stems from a 2018 ballot measure where California voters set the nation's toughest living space standards for breeding pigs starting Jan. 1.

Industry lawsuits opposing the initiative failed, but grocers and restauranteurs are now suing to force a 28-month delay. Critics including some lawmakers of both parties have called for putting off enforcement until 2024 for fear prices will rise and jobs will be lost.

California is allowing the continued sale of pork processed under the old rules, which proponents say should blunt any shortage and price surge.

$15 MINIMUM WAGE

California becomes the first state to require a $15-an-hour minimum wage for businesses with more than 25 employees, though Washington, D.C., and many California cities in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas already reached that milestone.

The minimum for businesses with 25 or fewer employees bumps to $14 with the new year and will...