Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum
It’s party over public health now in North Carolina:
The North Carolina Senate Judiciary Committee approved an amended version of House Bill 237 on Tuesday morning that would prohibit the wearing of masks in public.
The controversial bill, which would also increase criminal penalties for those who commit crimes while wearing a mask in public, comes in the wake of protests that have erupted on college campuses across the country in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Gotta nip that in the bud, as Deputy Fife would say up the road in Mayberry.
Laws dating back to the 1950s that were enacted, at least in part, as responses to groups like the Ku Klux Klan, prohibit wearing a mask in public in North Carolina, with exceptions. Those exceptions were expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic to include people wearing masks for health reasons. Newton’s bill would remove that specific exception.
They’re just rolling back the law to what it was before COVID, dontcha know.
From the bill summary:
Under Article 4A of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes, Prohibited Secret Societies and Activities, it is generally a crime for an individual to wear a mask in public. However, under G.S. 14-12.11(a)(6), an individual can wear a mask in public for the physical health or safety of the wearer or others. If an individual wears a mask in public for health or safety reasons, a law enforcement officer can require the individual to remove the mask during traffic stops and criminal investigations when the officer has reasonable suspicion or probable cause.
Section 1 of the PCS would repeal G.S. 14-12.11(a)(6), and individuals would no longer be able to wear masks in public for health or safety reasons.
Sen. Sydney Batch (D-Wake), a cancer survivor immunocompromised during medical treatment, objected:
“My issue is that we are removing the specific section that gave people who are immunocompromised or people who were sick and just care about the community. Someone walking around with tuberculosis, wants to wear a mask to protect everybody else is no longer able to do that based on this bill.”
“No one wants to see a grandmother arrested for wearing a mask. The fact, though, is that this would criminalize that process,” said Sen. Natasha Marcus (D-Mecklenburg), adding that wearing a mask in public is life-or-death for some people. “Stated plainly, your bill will make it illegal,” Marcus added.
When Batch offered an amendment to add back the health exemption, Republicans tabled it on a party-line vote. The bill later passed the state Senate, also along party lines.
“Republicans are putting cancer patients, seniors, & folks with disabilities at risk of punishment for wearing protective masks they require when they go out in public,” tweeted Democrats’ state chair Anderson Clayton.
The bill heads to Gov. Roy Cooper’s (D) desk where he is expected to veto it. But with a GOP supermajority, Republicans will likely override it.
Imagine what they could do with a Death Star.
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