Employers in California and Illinois won't be allowed to demand access to workers' passwords for social networking sites like Facebook thanks to new laws taking effect in 2013.

In total, over 400 different laws were enacted at the state level during 2012, and will officially become laws within the next year according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

Some of the new laws became official at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, most however won't begin until later in the year. The laws in California and Illinois began at 12:01 a.m. on New Year's Eve.

Michigan's Governor Rick Snyder recently signed a similar law this month which took effect immediately according to Reuters.

"It's an invasion of privacy for private employers to insist on looking at people's private Facebook pages as a condition of employment or consideration in an application process," said Catherine Crump, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, on the ACLU's website. "People are entitled to their private lives."

The Michigan law will also discipline educational institutions for failing or dismissing a student who doesn't provide passwords and other information used for access onto private internet and email accounts, as well as social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Teachers will also be required to report suspected bullies in schools now thanks to a new law that will go into effect this year.

 Gay marriage and abortion laws that were ruled on in 2012 will also begin this year in certain locations. New Hampshire voting on getting rid of a rarely used form of late-term abortion, except in circumstances where the procedure would be necessary to save the woman's life according to Reuters.

New Hampshire's governor John Lynch vetoed the law saying it would threaten the lives of woman in rural areas. The state's legislature, which is controlled by Republican's, overrode him however.  

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