New laws taking effect Jan 1 range from immigration law to car seat safety

Southern Oregon & Northern California - As 2017 draws closer, so do more laws on the books for Oregon and California residents.

In Oregon, new brewery licenses will become more lenient and allow breweries to sell wine and spirits along with their own beer as of January 1. However, laws surrounding immigration become more strict.

Before 2017, some immigrants got taken advantage of by getting legal advice from notaries and other people who are not licensed attorneys. In 2017, only immigration attorneys can give immigration law advice and counsel.

"This is a field of law, immigration law, that's highly complex, ever-changing," Yaschar Sarparast, an immigration lawyer at Sarpa Law in Medford, said. "It's important that people see someone who is an immigration lawyer or an accredited representative who can tell them the good and the bad of their case, not just what they want to hear."

Sarparast believes immigration law will see the most change in 2017 because of the new president and administration cracking down on illegal immigrants.

In California, nearly 900 laws were passed in 2016 that have an effective date of sometime in the coming year. The laws range from new car seat safety laws to tougher restrictions on gun ownership.

For car seat safety, all residents with a two-year-old child in the backseat of their car must have a rear-facing car seat. On top of that, laws have already been on the books that the car seat must fit properly in the backseat and be the right size for the child.

"It's critical because two-year-olds, you know, toddlers have a tendency to suffer traumatic injuries in traffic collisions and if they're facing forward, they're more apt to sustain catastrophic injuries or death," Sheriff Jon Lopey, out of Siskiyou County, said.