Hundreds of state statutes approved earlier in the year took effect on 1 July, reshaping rules on taxation, public safety and everyday life across the United States. Florida led the pack with nearly 150 measures. New provisions ban the addition of fluoride to drinking water, criminalise harassment of first responders, tighten restrictions on student cellphone use, postpone school start times and re-designate the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” Lawmakers also introduced stiffer penalties for reckless boating and authorised sales-tax holidays on hurricane supplies. Virginia’s latest legislative tranche requires adults to buckle up in rear seats, adds digital-privacy protections for children and sets new workplace-accountability rules, while Maryland brought some 300 laws online. The Maryland package raises roughly $1.6 billion by lifting the vehicle excise tax rate to 6.5 %, adding a 3 % rental-car levy, imposing a 3.5 % fee on IT and data services and increasing the cannabis sales tax to 12 %. On the West Coast, Californians saw a two-cent-per-gallon increase in the state fuel tax and a separate hike on legal cannabis, and Nevada activated almost 200 laws that include incentives for middle-income housing and a process for temporary firearm confiscation during mental-health crises. Several states also moved to bolster road safety ahead of the Independence Day holiday. Texas, New York and California highway patrols announced stepped-up enforcement targeting impaired driving, speeding and seat-belt violations from 3–6 July.