Concord – The state's law permitting civil unions among gay couples will be observed most visibly on New Year's Day, but there are a host of other laws that take effect at the same time.

A group civil unions ceremony is planned at State House Plaza at 12:01 a.m. on New Year's Day, the first minute the law is in effect.

More than 40 other new laws will kick in at the same time, perhaps the most visible one a law passed in 2006 that gives vertical drivers licenses to those under 21.

The new law gives couples in civil unions the same rights, responsibilities, and obligations as married couples. Gov. John Lynch signed the bill in May. Officials at the state Bureau of Vital Statistics estimate that as many as 4,000 couples may seek civil unions in 2008. New Hampshire becomes the fourth state in the nation to allow civil unions or marriage between gay couples, after Vermont, Connecticut and New Jersey. The law also recognizes as a civil union any marriage between people of the same sex that was sealed in another state. Massachusetts is the only state with a gay marriage law. Five other states allow various forms of domestic partnership.

Driver's licenses

The state's new law on driver's licenses will make it obvious to retail clerks and bartenders when young drivers change the birth date on their licenses in hopes of buying alcohol.

The special licenses will be essentially sideways, and will plainly show the date when the holder turns 21. The license expires on that date and the driver qualifies for the traditional horizontal license.

Other changes at the stroke of midnight include a ban on the incineration of construction and demolition debris; an end to mandatory overtime for nurses; tougher laws on identity theft and computer crimes; a divorce health insurance law that continues coverage for divorced spouses, and one that allows towns to collect bigger fines from dog owners who violate local ordinances.

The incineration ban on material that is often called "C&D debris" is meant to stop lead, mercury, arsenic and other chemicals from entering the atmosphere from smokestacks. The process is legal in Maine, but not in Massachusetts. Opponents of C&D debris burning said New Hampshire would become a dumping ground for the material, which is processed by two companies in southern New Hampshire and sent out of state.

Health insurance

Health insurance companies will be required to continue coverage for divorced spouses of workers at companies they insure. The bill, which was opposed by the Business and Industry Association, would continue coverage for those spouses for three years, or until either of the spouses remarried. The law applies only to commercial insurance carriers, not companies with self-insured plans.

Hospitals, clinics and nursing homes will no longer be able to require nurses to work overtime once they have completed a 12-hour shift. Exceptions to the law contained in HB 797 include nurses who are participating in surgery, those for whom relief has not yet arrived, or instances involving public health emergencies.

A law that updates theft statutes for the high-tech age gives identify theft victims the right to seek a $5,000 award, or three times the actual damages for each incident from anyone who steals from them by stealing their identity.

A related new law, in HB 395, makes it a class B felony, punishable by up to 7-years in prison, to commit computer crimes, such as hacking into a computer or computer network, spreading computer viruses, stealing, destroying or altering data to which one is not entitled.

Increased fines

Dog owners who forget to license or leash their dog may find themselves paying heavier fines. A new law allows towns to adopt a series of heftier fines. The new limit is $50 for violating license and restraint ordinances and a maximum of $400 for second offenses against laws on nuisance, menacing and vicious dogs.

Anyone who causes serious bodily injury to a police officer while resisting arrest will face class B felony charges. State law defines serious bodily injury as "severe, permanent or protracted loss of or impairment to the health or of the function of any part of the body." Insurance adjusters who purposely low-ball their damage estimates will face stiffer administrative penalties under HB 169. The law will allow the insurance commissioner to revoke or suspend their licenses and fine them up to $2,500 for each instance.

Children involved in custody disputes will get more say on which parent they live with. The law allows courts to give "substantial weight" to a child's preference if it finds he or she has "sufficient maturity to make a sound judgement," and has not made a request based on "undesirable or improper influences."