DID YOU KNOW??

Texas is ringing in the New Year with several new laws that went into effect on Jan. 1.

1. A new indoor tanning law bars anyone under 16.5 years old from using tanning beds and requires teens under the age of 18 to present written approval from their parents at tanning salons. Lawmakers passed the new law to protect teens that are unaware of the dangers of tanning.

2. Texas college campuses will be safer places to live this year thanks to a new law that requires all incoming students who live on campus to be vaccinated for bacterial meningitis.

3. Another new law requires health care providers in Texas who care for pregnant women to test them for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B, unless the patient objects.

4. Health care providers are also now required to report all primary and secondary syphilis diagnoses by telephone within one working day of the diagnoses.

5. Another new state law is regulating cigarette manufacturers. Cigarettes sold in Texas must now, by law, be made with fire-safe paper. The law passed three years ago went into effect in 2010, attempting to make unattended cigarettes snuff themselves out. The law is intended to prevent fires caused by careless smokers.