Phyllis Kimber Wilcox |
On July 1, two new laws took effect in California, one impacts school start times for both middle and high schools, and the second addresses the issue of ghost guns.
School Start Times
This law addresses research that has determined early school start times have long term detrimental effects on teens who need more sleep than adults. Lisa Lewis. parent, journalist and author of the book The Sleep Deprived Teen: Why Our Children Are So Tired and How Parents And Schools Can Help Them, in association with lawmakers and a group called Start School Later, were instrumental in passage of the new law.
Concerned over the effects early school start times had on her teenage son, Lewis began to research the topic. Lewis stated, “There was a body of research about teen sleep and the link between that and early school start times that went back for decades. It’s a huge issue of how it (lack of sleep) affects mental health, mental health rates have worsened.”
Also, according to Lewis, rates of depression are higher, rates of anxiety are higher, suicidality rates go up actual suicide rates go up..so across the board there are some very very serious issues that come from being sleep deprived.
The new law requires that middle schools cannot begin earlier than eight o’clock in the morning and High schools cannot begin earlier than eight thirty in the morning. There are exemptions for rural school districts.
Ghost Guns
This law addresses ghost guns, which are homemade guns that lack serial numbers and are therefore untraceable by law enforcement. These guns are increasingly used to commit crimes.
The new law closes a loophole in California law related to ghost guns and domestic violence restraining orders and red flag laws. Effective July 1, these guns will be included in state law in relation to these concerns by allowing law enforcement and the courts to remove such weapons from a person believed to be dangerous as a way to prevent crimes and possibly save lives.