New year, new laws: What states are doing differently in 2026

0:00Support for WBUR comes from Is Business Broken? a podcast from the Mehrotra Institute at Boston University that explores questions like, why is innovation in healthcare so hard? Is ESG just greenwashing? And of course, is business broken? Listen wherever you get your podcasts. WBUR Podcasts, Boston. Utah already has some of the nation's strictest alcohol laws, and it's getting even stricter. Many states welcome the new year with new laws.

0:42It's Thursday, January 1st, and this is Here and Now Anytime from NPR and WBUR Boston. I'm Shiko Fowoodi. Today on the show, Zoran Mamdani is officially sworn in as New York City's mayor. We have an opportunity to show that by serving New Yorkers, we can also showcase a politics that can serve working people wherever they may be. And there's a new popular song at piano bars these days. What does that say about our evolving society? I think we're not producing culturally unifying songs in the way that we might have as much in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, even up to and including the 2000s. But first, new state laws go into effect today.

1:31If you're planning a trip to Hawaii this year, you'll have to pay a new fee that will help fund the battle against the effects of climate change. And in Utah, a new law prevents certain people with DUI convictions from purchasing alcohol. Let's get into more of these new laws with David Lieb. He's a reporter covering trends in state governments across the country for the Associated Press, and he spoke to Celeste Headley. So let's talk about this new Hawaii law. You report that it's the first in the country of its kind that will help deal with climate change. What does it do? Well, that's correct.

2:03Now, many cities and states already charge a special tax on hotel stays or vacation rentals. But what's new about Hawaii's is that it is the first tax dedicated to helping fight the effects of climate change. Anyone staying at a hotel there will pay an extra roughly 1 % more per day, a little less than that, on their daily room rate. And the funds will go to things like replenishing sand on eroding beaches or removing invasive grasses. Is anyone concerned that this might make tourism in Hawaii prohibitively expensive, that it'll lead to a decline in tourism? Well, that hasn't been raised as an issue, primarily because if you're going to Hawaii and you're coming from the mainland, you're already banking on spending some money in the first place.

2:47That's true. Now, for the state of Hawaii, they're estimating that this green fee, as they call it, will generate about$100 million annually. Oof, that's some change. Let's come back to the mainland, though, to Utah. The new law there is aimed at keeping alcohol out of the hands of people convicted of drunk driving. How does this new law work? Well, Utah already has some of the nation's strictest alcohol laws, and it's getting even stricter. In this case, anyone convicted of extreme driving under the influence, that's with a blood alcohol contact that's fairly high, will have to surrender their driver's license.

3:23And if they want a new ID, they're going to have to come with a red stripe across the front and the words that say, no alcohol sale. Now, the point of all this is, obviously, to prevent people from selling them alcohol. So as part of that, people who work at restaurants and bars are going to have to check the ID of every customer, regardless of age, whether you're 8, 28, 58, or 108. Yeah, even if your head has a lot of gray hairs like mine. Even if you have no hair, exactly. Have restaurants talked about how they might go about enforcing this? Well, in some cases, restaurants may already have a policy of checking every customer's ID.

4:05This gives them some backup if you think about it. But now you say, well, we've got to check no matter your age. So in a way, it's a bit of insurance for them. Although it doesn't prevent somebody I'm dining with from ordering a martini and then handing it to me. Well, no. And of course, there's always ways around these drunken driving laws or drinking under the age laws. OK, so let's move a little further west to California. California is, I guess, investing in the pharmaceutical business. and they're now, as of 2026, going to become the first state to sell California-brand insulin? Is that correct?

4:40What's the purpose of this law? That is right. This actually goes back three years when California started getting into this business. At the time, people were complaining about high prescription drug prices, and that's still a common complaint today. So they struck an agreement with a nonprofit called Civica to sell state-branded generic drugs. It took a while to develop a product, but starting January 1st, you can buy a CalRX brand insulin pen. It will cost you about$11 per pen or$55 for a pack of five. The idea is it's supposed to help bring down the prices overall in the market. You know, this has been your beat for a little while.

5:18How do you sort of identify when a law might become more nationalized, when a law goes beyond state borders and might be picked up in other places? Well, one thing we are looking for this year are first-of-its-kind laws, like several we've been talking about. Things that just sort of stand out as unique or interesting. I'll tell you another one. It's in the state of Georgia. If you really like Donald Trump there, starting in 2026, you can get an America First license plate. Now, that's, of course, the phrase that Trump likes to use a lot. But it's going to cost you a little extra, about$90 for an American first license plate and$55 to renew it compared to the cost of$20 for a standard plate.

5:58And that's still going to be available after Donald Trump is no longer president? Well, it's available in 2026 at least. I don't know how long they will be available. That's right. Yeah. I will say there are other states that are also rolling out special license plates this year. You can get a red, white, and blue one in Michigan. You can get a liberty flag license plate in South Carolina. And the reason these are rolling out has to do in part with it's the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence this year. Right. David Lieb covers trends in state governments across the country for the Associated Press.

6:34David, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Glad to be here. Happy New Year. You too.

6:43Coming up next, Zoran Mamdani pulled off an amazing election victory last year. Now his work as New York City's mayor begins. We look at what's ahead after the break. Thank you.

7:24compare policies from trusted top-rated insurance companies to find you the best fit for your health, your lifestyle, and your budget. And they work for you for free. Get the right life insurance for you and save more than 50 % at selectquote.com slash anytime. That's 50 % off at selectquote.com slash anytime. Moments after the ball dropped in Times Square, Zoram Mamdani officially became New York City's mayor. Here's New York Attorney General Letitia James swearing him in. I will faithfully discharge the duties of the duties of the office of the office of the mayor of the city of New York, the mayor of the city of New York, according to the best of my ability, according to the best of my ability.

8:07So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations, Mr. Mayor. For more on his agenda for his first few weeks in office, we called up Vox host Ested Herndon. He interviewed Mamdani ahead of his inauguration and spoke to Celeste. You know, you're in New York, and I wonder if this inauguration feels different from those of the past decade or so. Yeah, I would say so. There was such expectation leading up to this moment, and that's really due to the campaign that Mamdani ran. This was something that was seen as not just a long shot, but fairly implausible. There was a sense that Andrew Cuomo would walk into office and that his really only competition was the incumbent mayor, Eric Adams.

8:45There was a slew of people running to replace that, but Mamdani wasn't even top of that list. What he has done over the last year and a half is really claw his way not only to the top of that heap, but really as a definitional figure for Democrats moving forward. And he sees himself like that. He sees this as a kind of a dual effort, not only to deliver on specifically the affordability agenda that he laid out, but he would say to provide a new model for Democrats about how you really center working class people and a kind of voter centric politics that he really wants to be a proof point for.

9:18And you asked him about his big three priorities as he takes office. And here's how he described them. The point of a rent freeze is you feel it every first of the month. The point of a fast and free bus is you feel it every day when you're waiting for a bus that sometimes never comes. The point of universal child care is so that you don't have to pay$22 ,500 a year for a single toddler. These are not things I have to explain the worth of to you or an intellectual victory. It is a material one. How might he get these priorities through the New York politics political system, though? What kind of obstacles is he up against?

9:56Yeah, he's up against several. But, you know, I think it's important to note that those big three promises, rent, freeze, childcare, and fast and free buses were things that were chosen with the idea of delivering in mind. But he's also under no illusions that it's going to be easy. One of the things that he mentioned in our interview is the need for public support to really continue pressuring politicians from the outside. Like, you know, Mamdani enters this administration as one of the most popular politicians in New York per polling. His agenda is fairly popular. One of the things he's keenly aware of is he feels as if his coalition steps back while he's in office, that that won't let those things happen.

10:34Some of the kind of public facing events he did and kind of the need he feels to bring people into City Hall to open up that process is partially self-serving because he wants them to be engaged enough so that he has that kind of calling card of the public to be able to pressure elected officials to make that agenda happen. I mean, one person I know from New York says this is the first time someone in other countries has been asking her about the new mayor. I mean, he's he's getting a lot of public attention all over the world. Here's a little bit of him talking to you about what he sees as the broader significance of his victory.

11:10These are not uniquely New York issues. These are issues that people feel outside of the city, outside of this country. And we have an opportunity to show that by serving New Yorkers, we can also showcase a politics that can serve working people wherever they may be. But, Ested, you know, notably, Chuck Schumer never endorsed Lamdani. What kind of influence might he end up having on the Democratic leadership? Well, it's going to be different from the national level to the state level. Importantly, for his agenda to happen, the most important people to endorse that have endorsed them. You know, Governor Kathy Hochul mainly, the House Speaker in Albany.

11:50Those are the folks who are going to be most in charge of whether his agenda comes to fruition. But to your point, when we look at the national level, particularly Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, even folks like Hakeem Jeffries, who were slow to do that endorsement. I think we showed the distance between Mamdani locally and the kind of his perception of Washington, D.C. That crowd is concerned about swing district races in the midterms. They're concerned that Republicans are going to be able to paint Mamdani as kind of a far left caricature and that he will be someone that drags kind of centrist, more moderate candidates down.

12:24But, you know, I think that assumption should be questioned a little bit. You know, we've seen Mamdani be able to appeal to folks. We've seen his polling numbers be driven by higher favorability than even politicians like Chuck Schumer. And to be fair, you know, his most controversial position, if we were to say that, his history of pro-Palestinian advocacy has been something that has been a sea change among the American public in terms of opinion. American public is probably closer to where Zora Mamdani is than Chuck Schumer at this point. And so I don't think it's something that is inherently controversial for Democrats.

12:59Republicans are certainly going to push that. And I think for Democrats in specific races, there's going to be some distance from a kind of big blue city mayor. And I think that makes sense. And we really hear from Democrats now that they want to be a party of Big Ten that has space for the Momdani's, but also for people who won in races back in November. People like Mikey Sherrill or Abigail Spanberger of Virginia. They want to be the party of both sides. That's Vox host Ested Herndon. Ested, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. And happy New Year, of course. Happy New Year to you, too.

13:37Coming up, tunes are a-changin' at piano bars. We'll explain why after the break.

13:52For a long time, one song has reigned supreme in the re-emerging piano bar scene. Sing us a song, you're the piano man. Sing us a song tonight. Well, we're all in the mood for a melody. And you've got us feeling all right. But Billy Joel's Piano Man has been taken over by a new favorite, at least at Jesse Rifkin's Piano Bar in D.C. He's been performing there for a little over four years, and he reveals what his most requested song is to Celeste. It's the modern pop song Pink Pony Club by Chapel Roan, which was originally released in 2020 during the quarantine year, but first entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the second half of 2024 and truly exploded in early to mid 2025.

14:43No question about it. Sometimes it's a two to one ratio. That's incredible. And people sing along with it. They know the words. Well, that's the key distinction there. Everybody knows Piano Man. Pink Pony Club tends to track much more demographically. Much more under age 40, heavily female. I'd say more than 90 % of the people who have requested it to me are women. And judging by what you've written about this, this seems to be one of a number of changes in the piano bar where you work, at least. And you think that the changes in what people request says something about our society, about our evolving politics.

15:17What does it say? I think we're not producing culturally unifying songs in the way that we might have as much in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, even up to and including the 2000s. So you can take Piano Man as an example, others like Don't Stop Believing, Sweet Caroline, American Pie, Living on a Prayer. I can physically see it. When I play these songs, everybody sings along, regardless of age, regardless of race, regardless of gender. A song like Pink Pony Club, though, or some of Taylor Swift's more recent songs, especially from her past decade or so, the men don't even know these songs for the most part.

15:54So I can't help but notice that the songs that you've mentioned are almost entirely male and all white. Is that what our anthem songs of the past have been? I certainly hope not. There are songs by women and by non-white artists that get everyone singing along as well. Some Chuck Berry songs really get everyone going, like Johnny B. Goode, for example. And some songs by women, too. What's Up, What's Going On by Four Non-Blondes is always a huge hit, for example. Yeah, that's a hard one to bill out. Let's hear a little bit of your playing here. You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain. Too much love drives a man insane.

16:32You broke my will. What a thrill. Goodness gracious, great balls of fire. I chew my nails and I twiddle my thumbs. I'm getting nervous, but the show is... So, I mean, that one seems like it would be fun because you're really banging it out. What are some other songs that you love performing? I love Beatles songs. It's always one of my favorite bands. I saw her standing there, always gets the crowd going, so does I Want to Hold Your Hand. But even up to and including the 2000s, there's a bunch of ones that really get everybody going. Like, Hey Now You're an All-Star, Party in the USA, a bunch of great ones, even up through the first decade of the 21st century.

17:07In the second and third decades of the 21st century, though, I don't see everyone singing along with songs in quite the same way. The media environment seems to be a little more fragmented. And this is something that you talked about in your piece, where you mourn the loss of communal singing. And I wonder, why does that matter that people are not asking for songs that everybody knows, that everyone can sing along to? Because it's just one of the great pleasures of this existence, you know, of this human life, when you can get everyone singing together at sports games or in churches or religious houses of worship.

17:40There is something about singing that really bonds people together. Something fundamental is lost when there's songs that all the women know but not all the men, or when all the young people know but not all the middle-aged or old people. Something is lost. It feels a little less of a cohesive society when that happens, you know? I mean, I can think of other songs that I feel like everyone would know all the words to, like it's raining men or I want to dance with somebody, right? What is it about a song that makes it anthemic, that makes it a song people can sing along to? Well, one is if it's a chorus that really gets everyone participating.

18:15Like the Sweet Caroline with the bum, bum, bum. Everybody joins in with that part. And then back and forths or call and response is also a thing too. So for example, in the song Build Me Up Buttercup, which is always one of the crowd favorites, I go, build me up, and they go, build me up. And it's back and forth, back and forth. Things like that. And I do feel like modern music has fewer of those kind of elements to them, unfortunately. So before we go, I mean, give us some last thoughts on this. How might we change it? Or how might people in their own lives use music to create the kind of communal experience you're talking about?

18:51There's two ways to change this, really. One is on the part of the musicians and one is on the part of ourselves. So for the former, I think we need to create more sing-along style songs of the variety that were popular a few decades ago. We're just not producing them in quite the same way. but also just on the part of you and me and everybody listening to this, make an effort to break out of your bubbles of listening to music just created to you through algorithms or if you're a fan of old music, don't just listen to the oldie station. Try listening to a top 40 station so that maybe when a song like Pink Pony Club comes up at the piano bar, even if you're not in the demographic who that song might be primarily targeted to, you can know it and you can do your part to help sing along and create that communal atmosphere that I think we so desperately need again, both in our politics and in our culture.

19:40I mean, from your lips to the ears of all Americans, Jesse Ripken is a piano bar performer in Washington, D.C., and I really appreciate it. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Thank you for having me. At the Pink Pony Club. I'm going to keep on dancing down in West Hollywood. I'm going to keep on dancing at the Pink Pony Club. Big Pony Club

20:34Moschetto, Max Liebman, and Chris Bentley. Our digital producers are Alison Hagen and Grace Griffin, and the executive producer of Here and Now is Alan Price. Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow.