PROVIDENCE — Come New Year's Day, a slew of new laws take effect, including a boost in the state's minimum wage from $12.25 to $13 an hour.

Along with this latest step in the state's multiyear march to $15 an hour in 2025, lawmakers also set Jan. 1, 2023, as the start date for:

• The exemption of military pensions from the state income tax, and an increase from $15,000 to $20,000 in the tax exemption for other kinds of pension income received by Rhode Island retirees.

• The effective date for the Equal Pay Law passed in 2021 that requires: equal pay for "comparable work" — defined as work that requires substantially similar skill, effort and responsibility that is performed under "similar working conditions" — regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, age or disability.

• The creation of a stand-alone Department of Housing, with a Cabinet-level "secretary" — a title already bestowed on the state's housing czar, Josh Saal — at the helm.

On the way to $15/hour:Everything you need to know about Rhode Island's minimum wage in 2023

That bill was one of three housing bills with a Jan. 1, 2023, trigger date. Another is aimed at "streamlining" the housing-approval process by, for example, allowing alternates to vote when there may not otherwise be a quorum of the state housing appeals board.

• An expansion of Rhode Island's "Temporary Caregiver Insurance" benefits from a maximum of five weeks up to a maximum of six for employees who take time off from work to...

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