New laws prod police, protect kids, slice taxes

California

• Bars schools from serving food containing transfats.

Florida

• Relaxes schools’ zero-tolerance policies by preventing children from being arrested or expelled for insignificant misbehavior such as bringing plastic butter knives to school, drawing pictures of guns or vandalizing property.

Kansas

• Allows women seeking abortions to see ultrasound images or hear their fetus’ heartbeat at least 30 minutes before the procedure.

New Mexico

• Abolishes the death penalty and replaces it with life in prison without parole.

Vermont

• Permits prosecutors to send teenage cell phone "sexting” cases to juvenile courts to eliminate the stigma of child pornography convictions.