Changes to firefighters’ health care, rideshare income reporting, and licensing mandates for service jobs are among the two dozen state laws passed in 2025 that will take effect as of Jan. 1.
The state’s Jimmy Malone Act says self-insured counties must start to provide preventative cancer screenings at no cost to county-employed firefighters. Counties may apply for a state grant to cover those screening costs.
Counties also must collect data on cost, how many firefighters were eligible, how many were screened, and how many preventative screenings resulted in a cancer diagnosis. Each county must report to state health authorities what its data showed by June 2027.
Tax sale reforms with statewide impact also will take effect in the New Year. A new law taking effect Jan. 1 changes the process by which counties can foreclose on and sell properties with unpaid property taxes.
The law (HB 59) says counties have to hold back owner-occupied residential properties from being offered at tax sale. Counties also must create a registry of properties meeting those conditions, and report that information to the state.
It’s meant to protect owner-occupied properties as well as heirs of deceased owners from being foreclosed upon too quickly. Housing advocates supported this bill as a way to prevent families from being displaced from their home because of relatively small tax debts.
Business taxation will change in the New Year as well. A new policy that was passed through the state’s umbrella budget act amends how small business owners are taxed.