Even though partisan infighting made Congress virtually ineffective in 2016, a spate of new laws were still approved and will go into effect next year.
Nineteen states, including New York and California, will ring in the year with an increase in the minimum wage.
The increase in pay will mean most for workers in Massachusetts and Washington state, where the minimum wage will go up to $11 per hour.
California will raise its wage to $10.50 for businesses with 26 or more employees. New York state is taking a regional approach, with the wage rising to $11 in New York City, to $10.50 for small businesses in the city, $10 in its suburbs and $9.70 elsewhere.
Voters in Arizona, Maine, Colorado and Washington approved increases in this year's election. Seven other states, Alaska, Florida, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio and South Dakota, are automatically raising the wage based on indexing. The other states seeing increases are Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Michigan and Vermont.