Anti-masking bill gaining momentum in the N.C. General Assembly

A bill that would roll back a pandemic-era law allowing people to wear masks in public for health reasons is gaining momentum in the Republican-led N.C. General Assembly.

Why it matters: House Bill 237 is not targeted at those who wear masks for health reasons but is instead in response to the presence of masked protesters at pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses in recent weeks, Republican leaders have said.

• The bill would also increase penalties for blocking roads, a tactic that some demonstrators have used , and increase penalties for those committing crimes while wearing a mask.
• But Democrats in the Senate tried to keep the health exception in the bill, saying it could keep immunocompromised people from wearing medical masks.

Driving the news: The N.C. Senate approved the changes to the mask bill in a 30-15 party-line vote this week, The Associated Press reported .

• The N.C. House could take it up next week and potentially make some changes to it.

Flashback: In 2020, state lawmakers added an exemption to the state's public masking laws during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The pre-pandemic, anti-masking policies date back to 1953, when the state was, in part, trying to keep members of the Ku Klux Klan from wearing masks in public, The AP noted.
• During the pandemic, mask mandates in North Carolina also became a flashpoint, with Republicans often opposing Gov. Roy Cooper's mandates .

What they're saying: Republicans argued the bill is not targeting those who wear masks for health reasons.

• They noted there was no health exception prior the pandemic and no record exists of someone being arrested for masking for health reasons then, WRAL reported .

But Democrats said the exemption should stay both for the sake of immunocompromised people or those who want to protect their health.

• "No one wants to see a grandmother arrested for wearing a mask. The fact, though, is that this would criminalize that process," Democratic Sen. Natasha Marcus of Mecklenburg County said, according to N.C. Newsline .

Between the lines: The mask measure could violate federal laws that protect free speech and access to government services, disability rights and free speech advocates say, per WRAL .

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, led by a Gov. Cooper appointee, told lawmakers in a message that it had concerns with the bill.

• DHHS says a legal interpretation of the bill would not classify wearing a mask for health reasons as a crime — but it could cause uncertainty for people who might need to wear a mask, or increase harassment of those who do, the department wrote in a message to lawmakers.
• "This likely misunderstanding will have a chilling effect on the average person's willingness to wear a mask when it's appropriate for the protection of their own health and safety or the health and safety of others," DHHS wrote in the message.