Published: June 30, 2009 08:44 pm      

New laws

Soda ban, alumni urns among items now covered

New laws are taking effect in many states across the nation today, including one in Maryland that will more closely monitor the activity of SWAT teams.

Police will have to issue a report to the governor every six months about SWAT team activity. They also must report anytime a team kills or injures a pet.

The law is an outgrowth of a raid on a suburban Washington mayor’s home last year when police killed the family’s two black Labradors. Police cleared the mayor and said he was a victim of a scheme in which drug dealers drop deliveries at the homes of unsuspecting recipients to be picked up by someone else later.

In West Virginia, vinegar is no longer regulated by the state. The state has dropped an obsolete law banning the adding of caramel color to apple cider vinegar to falsify its appearance. Agriculture Commissioner Gus Douglass said the law, enacted in the 1930s, is no longer needed because the Food and Drug Administration regulates vinegar, which now comes in a variety of forms.

In Ohio, truck drivers will be able to travel at 65 mph on most interstates, the same as cars.

Minnesota is requiring police to search right away when adults disappear under suspicious circumstances. Until now, some law enforcement agencies were waiting 24 to 48 hours to look into such cases, since adults can choose to go away without telling others.

Some of the new laws are designed to protect the health of children. California, for instance, is banning soda from high school cafeterias. Mississippi will require anyone 17 or younger to get written permission from a parent or guardian before using an indoor tanning facility.

Then there is Florida’s new law that allows state universities to create mausoleums to hold urns of ashes of devoted alumni. The law was requested by the University of Florida, where officials said they get calls about once a month from Gator alums who want to have their ashes spread on the school’s football field, known as “The Swamp.”