New laws banning cellphones in classrooms and background checks for businesses take effect Aug. 1

A new wave of laws from coast to coast will go into effect on Aug. 1, covering everything from cellphone bans in classrooms to increased penalties for the retail sale of nitrous oxide to heightened checks on people who want to open a strip club.

In Louisiana, it will become illegal on Friday to bet on elections, while in North Dakota, pornography sites will be required to verify the age of a person logging in before gaining access to sexually explicit content. In Minnesota, garbage trucks were given the green light to go from 30 mph to 35 mph, and new housing protections were granted to people with service animals in training.