New year, new laws: Watch it with that burger!

Pennsylvania drivers who carry loaded paintball guns are now outside the law. South Carolinians who like to dress up as sheriff will now serve jail time, if caught. And citizens who eat a burger while driving will drive police around the bend in North Bend, Wash., and earn fines of $300.

While many people toasted the new year with resolutions they've already broken, states have begun enforcing arcane new laws that citizens can no longer break without legal consequence.

Some may seem quirky, even comical, but the new local and state laws of 2002 provide a road map to much of what is on the minds of common Americans and the legislators that they have elected to do their bidding.

This year, health and personal safety top an issue list that ranges from gay rights to gambling, taxes to beaver traps.

"At the local and state level, we are seeing all the key trends that have hit the radar in recent years and will continue to be at issue both in Congress and in the states," says Steven Schier, a political scientist at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.

Taxes always become a hot topic during economic hard times, as states struggle to balance recession-battered budgets. But this year also saw a range of other issues coming to the fore:

Health and safety. These perennial concerns were evident in wide-ranging new ways.

• Nine states now say it's not OK to leave kids alone in cars. The states are Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington.

• California will now let pharmacists provide women with emergency contraceptives, the so-called "morning-after pill," without a prescription.

• Another new Golden State law requires home-sellers and landlords to disclose the presence of mold in buildings.

• Oregon legislators passed tough penalties on date-rape drugs. Any person who knowingly gets another person to consume such a substance can get 10 years in prison and a $200,000 fine - 20 years if done with intent to commit rape or violence.

• In Alaska, convicted felons must pay cash to victims.

• Several states, including California and Oregon, set tougher child-seat laws, and several communities are instituting cellphone restrictions for drivers.

"People here simply felt that driving a car while talking on a hand-held cell phone was not safe," says Juan Rios, spokesman for Santa Fe, N.M., one of several cities to ban hand-held cellphone use while driving. (New York became the first state to pass such a ban on Nov. 1.)

Election reform. The events of Sept. 11 slowed the efforts of several states to push through meaningful reform, stalling the work of committees set up to study the issue. But Florida, site of the 2000 presidential election fiasco, has led the way with moves to bar punch cards and set recount standards.

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