North Carolina moves to take away legal protections for wearers of face masks

RALEIGH, N.C. (CN) — The North Carolina Senate Wednesday passed a bill rolling back protections for mask-wearers despite concerns that it would criminalize wearing masks, even for health reasons, in public.

The bill, House Bill 237, eliminates a provision passed after the start of the Covid pandemic that explicitly allowed the public to wear masks for health reasons. Prior to that, North Carolina had a public ban on wearing masks and hoods “to conceal the identity of the wearer” that had been on the books since the 1950s.

Various exceptions exist, including masks for costumes and celebrations. But lawmakers are working to specify penalties against people who are using masks to hide their identities while committing crimes, and target protesters who are causing traffic issues with sit-ins on highways. The bill also increases penalties for convicted criminals who were wearing a mask to conceal their identity and increases the class level of their conviction.

Senate Democrats raised concerns Wednesday that removing health-related exemptions from the ban on masks will harm people who need to wear masks because they are immunocompromised and give police probable cause to stop people.

Republicans contended that the bill is intended to hold criminals accountable for attempting to disguise their identity while committing a crime, and that police will not be enforcing the ban on average citizens.

Republican Senator Buck Newton, the bill’s sponsor, told reporters that he believes some people are abusing the normalization of masks to hide their identities.

Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue, a Democrat, said that Republicans can’t ask citizens to “pick and choose” laws to follow. Democrats have cited concerns that removing the protection could have large-scale consequences for people who continue to choose to wear masks.

“Individuals will no longer be able to wear a mask in public for health and safety reasons. So it seems an absolute ban on wearing masks, and the thing about putting a ban on it, we ought not to give people the discretion to break the law,” Blue said. “The law is the law, and we ask people to observe all aspects of it.”

Senator Danny Britt called the health exception unnecessary, and said each of the statutes that bans face coverings requires the wearer to be using it to disguise themselves. Removing the section concerning health exemptions does not open people to prosecution, he said.

“So long as they are not concealing their identity, intentionally concealing their identity, they are not in violation of this law,” he emphasized on the Senate floor. He also pointed out that the district attorney had not been charging people for wearing masks in the years it was in effect before Covid.

The bill targets protesters who interrupt traffic by hosting sit-ins on major roads and highways, making it a class 2 misdemeanor, punishable with up to 60 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, protesters have disrupted traffic in major cities multiple times through sit-ins on major roads and highways, including in Durham and Raleigh. The bill creates escalating charges for protesters who block traffic and emergency vehicles, with a second offense guaranteeing a felony charge.

“I certainly have no objection to the portions of this bill that have criminal implications for people who are trying to conceal their identity because they are engaged in criminal behavior,” said Senator Natasha Marcus, a Democrat, who said she thinks it’s important to protect freedoms for people who aren’t wearing masks for nefarious purposes.

“We support the right to protest, we also support the need to crack down on those who conceal their identity and commit crimes, and we also want to protect the health of the people of North Carolina,” she said.

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