New US state laws take effect with fiscal year News
New US state laws take effect with fiscal year

[JURIST] New laws took effect in many US states Sunday with the start of the fiscal year on July 1, including a law in Virginia [JURIST news archive] that requires convicted sex offenders to register e-mail addresses with the state, a law in California [JURIST news archive] that bans the sales of soda in schools, and a law in Colorado [JURIST news archive] that will ban abstinence-only sex education in all schools, except for one district.

Mobile home owners in Indiana [JURIST news archive] will now be required to have weather radio after a 2005 tornado in the southwest corner of the state killed dozens of people in a mobile home park. A new law taking effect in Kansas [JURIST news archive] declares English as the state's official language [AP report]. Laws in Nevada and Minnesota will encourage alternative energy and laws in Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania will bring higher minimum wages [JURIST news archives]. The New York Times has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

US House voted to impeach President Clinton

On December 19, 1998, a divided US House of Representatives voted to impeach President Bill Clinton on charges of lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice in the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Read the Articles of Impeachment.

UK signs Hong Kong over to China

On December 19, 1984, the United Kingdom and China signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which ceded control of Hong Kong to the government of mainland China in 1997. The treaty also ensured that Hong Kong would retain its capitalist and democratic systems for at least 50 years after the transfer of power.