9 Notable New Laws in 2017

If you plan to hunt catfish in Illinois this year, be sure to bring your pitchfork. Using pitchforks, spear guns, and arrows to catch the fish is now legal under one of several new state and city laws that came into effect with the New Year. Some of the more notable laws taking hold across the nation, per the Wall Street Journal and Fox News:

• Tennessee has lowered the minimum age for a handgun-carry permit from 21 to 18
• Adults in Missouri can now carry a concealed firearm without a permit
• Pennsylvania hunters can shoot animals with semiautomatic rifles

• Vermont now requires paid sick leave for workers, as does Santa Monica, Calif., and Spokane, Wash.
• Illinois residents no longer have to pay a 6.25% "luxury" tax on feminine hygiene products
• Tennessee brewers can boost the alcohol content in beer and cider
• Publicly traded companies in Portland, Ore., must now pay a tax if their CEOs earn 100 times more than the average wage of all other employees
• Online shoppers in Utah now face a 4.7% sales tax
• Oregon residents are banned from releasing sky lanterns

Click for more laws, including a $1.35 tax on a two-liter bottle of soda, or read about a first-of-its-kind law involving hairdressers in Illinois. (More laws stories.)