RALEIGH, North Carolina – A new, reworked version of a bill that was originally criticized for removing a pandemic-era health exemption for wearing a mask in public was approved by North Carolina lawmakers on Tuesday.
The amended bill further increases punishments for people who wear masks while committing a crime. It was presented in part as a response to protests on university campuses against the war in Gaza. The previous version of the bill would also ban the wearing of masks in public for health reasons.
After extensive debate by Democrats, the General Assembly approved the measure by a vote of 69 to 43. The state Senate approved the compromise bill last week. Now it heads to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk.
The legislation – which previously removed a 2020 exemption for wearing a mask in public for health purposes – was quickly approved in the Senate last month. But it stalled in the House after Rep. Erin Pare, Wake County’s only Republican member of the General Assembly, said she would not pass it because of the removal of the health care exemption. Republicans have a narrow supermajority in the legislature that requires all party members to remain on the same page to pass bills and override vetoes.
The House then sent the project back to a committee of GOP lawmakers to negotiate changes. They reached an agreement on the bill last week.
Measure language added which allows people to wear “medical or surgical grade masks” to prevent the spread of disease. It also allows authorities and property owners to ask someone to temporarily remove their mask for identification.
“Basically, you can wear a mask for health and safety reasons if you’re not planning on breaking the law,” said Gaston County Republican Rep. John Torbett, one of the bill’s sponsors.
Another new component could make it easier for wealthy donors to try to influence this fall’s elections without facing more direct scrutiny.
The bill would allow 527s — a special type of political organization named after its location in the IRS code — and other federal committees to donate money to state political party committees from accounts through which 527s and federal committees can receive unlimited contributions from individuals. .
State Republican lawmakers say 2020 State Election Board Advisory Opinion that asserting campaign donation limits prevented groups like the Republican Governors Association from helping the state Republican Party. Iredell County Republican Rep. Gray Mills said on the House floor that he would make the process of making political contributions “equal and balanced for both parties.”
But the core of the original legislation still remains, with a focus on increasing punishments for people who wear masks while committing crimes or blocking traffic while protesting. This makes the sentence for a misdemeanor a higher class than it would be if the person did not wear a mask.
GOP supporters cited the need for the legislation last month as a partial response to the nationwide use of masks during a wave of protests on campuses, including at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, against Israel’s war in Gaza.
The bill is a retaliatory attack on pro-Palestinian protesters who deserve the right to privacy, Shruti Parikh, head of political engagement at Asian Americans Together of North Carolina, said at a Tuesday morning news conference by a coalition of social defense groups.
“It is imperative to people that we can exercise our right to peacefully protest,” said Dawn Blagrove, executive director of the criminal justice organization Emancipate NC.
The campaign finance provision did not receive as much attention at the press conference as it did from Democrats on the House floor, who repeatedly criticized the change for being rushed and creating further lack of transparency.
“It’s crazy that a country as rich as we are, a country that prides itself on being a democracy, would let money transform what we claim to be a democracy,” House Democratic leader Rep. Robert Reives said during the debate.
Cooper also opposes the provision, his spokesman Jordan Monaghan said in a statement, but the governor’s office has not confirmed whether Cooper plans to veto it.
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Associated Press writer Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh contributed to this report.
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