North Carolina lawmakers approve mask bill that allows health exemption after pushback
A reworked version of a bill that originally caught flak for removing a pandemic-era... North Carolina lawmakers have approved a bill that allows for a public masking health exemption, which was previously removed from the public use of masks. The bill, sponsored by John Torbett, a Gaston County Republican, underwent modifications during negotiations. It was part of the response to campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza. The amended bill still increases punishments for people wearing masks while committing a crime and makes sentencing for an offense one class higher than it would have been if the person didn't wear a mask. It allows law enforcement and property owners to temporarily remove masks for identification and allows federal committees to donate money to state political party committees from accounts through which individuals can receive unlimited contributions. However, the bill's campaign finance provision was criticized by Democrats as being rushed and creating a lack of transparency.
Được phát hành : 10 tháng trước qua Associated Press, By MAKIYA SEMINERA trong Politics
State ep. John Torbett, a Gaston County Republican, outlines the changes made to a North Carolina bill that previously removed a public masking health exemption on the state House floor at the North Carolina Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. Torbett is a sponsor of the bill, which underwent modifications during negotiations by Senate and House Republicans. A group of various activists listen to Cheryl Carter, co-executive director of Democracy NC, discuss her concerns with the amended masking bill at a news conference opposing the legislation outside the North Carolina Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. The bill, which adds a health exemption and gives law enforcement and property owners the right to ask someone to temporarily remove their mask for identification, still presents risks to immunocompromised people, said Carter, who has asthma and chronic bronchitis. Dawn Blagrove, Emancipate NC executive director, voices concerns about the amended masking bill's impact on protesters at a news conference opposing the legislation outside the North Carolina Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. The bill was moved in part as a response to widespread campus protests, including at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, against Israel's war in Gaza.
The amended bill still increases punishments for people wearing masks while committing a crime. It was brought forth in part as a response to campus protests on the war in Gaza. The previous version of the bill would have also barred masking in public for health reasons.
The legislation — which previously removed a 2020 exemption for wearing a mask in public for health purposes — moved swiftly through the Senate last month. But it halted in the House after Rep. Erin Pare, Wake County’s lone Republican General Assembly member, said she wouldn’t approve it because of the health exemption removal. Republicans have a narrow supermajority in the legislature that requires all party members to remain in lockstep to approve bills and override vetoes.
The measure added language that allows people to wear “medical or surgical grade masks" to prevent spreading illnesses. It also allows law enforcement and property owners to ask someone to temporarily remove their mask for identification.
The bill would allow 527s — a special kind of political organization named after its location within the IRS code — and other federal committees to donate money to state political party committees that come from accounts through which the 527s and federal committees can receive unlimited contributions from individuals.
State Republican lawmakers contend a 2020 State Board of Elections advisory opinion that affirmed campaign giving limits had hamstrung groups like the Republican Governors Association from helping the state GOP. Iredell County Republican Rep. Grey Mills said on the House floor that it would make the process of making political contributions “equal and balanced for both parties.”
But the crux of the original legislation still remains, focusing on increasing punishments for people who wear masks while committing crimes or blocking traffic while protesting. It makes sentencing for an offense one class higher than it would have been if the person didn't wear a mask.
The bill's GOP supporters cited a need for the legislation last month as a partial response to nationwide use of masks during a wave of campus protests, including at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, against Israel's war in Gaza.
The campaign finance provision did not get as much attention at the news conference as it did from Democrats on the House floor who repeatedly blasted the change for being rushed and creating a further lack of transparency.