Sacramento — Most of the 910 new laws Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed last year take effect today.
One will make an immediate difference for more than a million Californians, many of them working behind fast-food restaurant counters: The state's minimum wage rises from $6.75 to $7.50, the first raise since 2002.
And for the first time, registered domestic partners will be allowed to file joint state tax returns. Officials estimate that most of California's 40,451 such couples will save a combined $8 million this year by doing so. Only couples of the same sex or those in which one partner is at least 62 can register.
But the most sweeping laws enacted in 2006 won't be felt immediately.
A ban on drivers using hand-held cellphones doesn't kick in until the middle of next year, and a law that lowers limits on lead content in water pipes, fixtures and fittings doesn't take effect until 2010.
Another new law allows telephone companies AT&T and Verizon to compete more easily with cable TV companies. But state authorities have until April 1 to finish writing regulations to implement it. After that, phone companies can apply for a permit to sell video services.
"We are extremely eager to get moving in California," AT&T spokesman Gordon Diamond said.
Schwarzenegger and the Legislature's Democratic leaders struck a deal to provide low-income uninsured Californians with cheaper prescription drugs.
The state has already begun negotiating with drug makers for discounts, according to the Department of Health Services, but people probably won't be able to enroll for savings until next year.
Drug companies must offer voluntary discounts within three years or lose easy access to California's giant Medi-Cal market.
One of the hardest-fought laws of 2006 will not take effect today because on Dec. 21 a Superior Court judge struck it down as unconstitutional. The judge, acting on a lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles Unified School District, blocked a law that would have given L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa greater control over the hiring and firing of a district superintendent.
The measure also would have given the mayor direct control over three high schools of his choosing, as well as the elementary and middle schools that feed them.
School board members fought Villaraigosa's plan, chafed at his depiction of the district as a failure and sued the state in October to block the law from taking effect. Villaraigosa is expected to appeal the ruling.
