California Gov. Newsom Signs Ban of Gas-Powered Lawn Mowers, Other Bills

Shortly after surviving his recall election, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed several bills, including a ban on gas-powered lawn equipment.

The new law, effective Jan. 1, 2024, will phase out gasoline-powered small engines, including those used in landscaping, power generation and recreation, Fox News reported Monday.

Newsom, a Democrat, easily survived a Republican effort to recall him earlier this year after enough residents in the state signed a petition to try and remove him from office.

Another bill Newsom recently signed will fine retailers with more than 500 employees if they do not include ''gender neutral'' aisles for children's toys in their stores.

Stores not adhering to the law could be fined $250 for the first infraction and $500 for each subsequent violation.

Yet another bill requires schools to hand out free female menstruation products to students in schools and colleges and requires students to take a mandatory ethnic studies course to graduate in the 2029-30 school year.

A further law was signed to stop restaurants from handing out single-use utensils unless the customer specifically requests them, the story said.

He is also making the filming of people near abortion clinics illegal by signing that bill in September, making the law the first of its kind in the United States.

Before the recall election, he banned fracking permits starting in 2024, and oil drilling in the state by 2045.

Newsom has banned state executions and also asked regulators to ban gasoline-powered cars and trucks in the state by 2035.

The recall election came about because residents became angry with how he has dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, issuing executive orders placing statewide restrictions, including shutting down businesses, locking down the state and issuing curfews in its biggest cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as closing churches and mandating masks in the state.

Despite his edicts, he was caught on camera not wearing a mask in The French Laundry restaurant, which he later said was ''a mistake.''

''Traditionally, we have governors who have been more centrist than Newsom. With the recall now gone, this is a governor who is really not threatened in any way,'' Bill Whalen, a policy fellow at Stanford's conservative think tank the Hoover Institution, said in a Los Angeles magazine story about the flurry of bill signings.

• Dem Gov. Newsom Defeats California Recall Effort
• No Regrets About Recall — or Elder, California Republicans Say